Benchmarking forensic volume crime performance in Australia between 2011 and 2015.

In 2011, the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency National Institute of Forensic Science Australia New Zealand (ANZPAA NIFS) ran the End to End Forensic Identification Process Project: Phase 1 (E2E1) to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies across the end-to-end forensic process in Australia and make recommendations as to how these might be addressed. The study concentrated on the analysis of DNA and fingerprint evidence in burglary offences, benchmarking current forensic processes and performance across all eight Australian States and Territories (jurisdictions). Following a positive response, overwhelming support was given for the project to be repeated four years later in order to measure any improvements.

Deliberate fires: From data to intelligence.

Deliberate fires are a very common problem affecting all countries around the world. They create a high sense of insecurity within communities, consuming and straining many resources (human and financial). Yet, despite various attempts, significantly tackling and reducing deliberate fires has remained largely ineffective, mainly due to the case-by-case approach implemented in responding to these incidents.

Assessment of the potential investigative value of a decentralised rapid DNA workflow for reference DNA samples.

Rapid DNA technology has the ability to provide DNA analysis results in real-time. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential investigative value that could be gained by using a rapid DNA workflow in Australia, for reference DNA samples. A survey of police charging stations and DNA analysis laboratories in five Australian jurisdictions identified that a rapid DNA analysis workflow could have impacted the decision to release a person of interest from custody in 0.

The international development of forensic science standards - A review.

Standards establish specifications and procedures designed to ensure products, services and systems are safe, reliable and consistently perform as intended. Standards can be used in the accreditation of forensic laboratories or facilities and in the certification of products and services. In recent years there have been various international activities aiming at developing forensic science standards and guidelines.

Dismantling the justice silos: Flowcharting the role and expertise of forensic science, forensic medicine and allied health in adult sexual assault investigations.

Forensic science is increasingly used to help exonerate the innocent and establishing links between individuals and criminal activities. With increased reliance on scientific services provided by multi-disciplinary (police, medicine, law, forensic science), and multi-organisational in the private and government sectors (health, justice, legal, police) practitioners, the potential for miscommunication resulting unjust outcomes increases. The importance of identifying effective multi-organisational information sharing is to prevent the 'justice silo effect'; where practitioners from different organisations operate in isolation with minimal or no interaction.