NCJ Number
175326
Date Published
1996
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Data routinely collected by 11 police agencies in England and Wales in 1994 were examined to determine how police agencies nationally used forensic science support related to evidence collection and analysis.
Abstract
The research examined the data regularly recorded by these police agencies on computer software called the Scenes of Crime Information Management System (SOCIMS). Results revealed wide variation in the use of forensic science support. Agencies with high crime rates tended to make forensic submissions for a large proportion of their violent crimes, while those with low crime rates tended to make submissions for a high proportion of their burglaries. The average cost per submission varied from 185 pounds to 819 pounds; the national average was 540 pounds. Much of the variation resulted from the different submission patterns. nationally, 7 percent of items sent to a laboratory were not tested, but only three agencies accounted for nearly all the untested items. Drug tests accounted for 42 percent of all submissions, 33 percent of all tests, and 16 percent of the total spent on forensic science. Tests of saliva, blood groups, and semen were consistently scored as being of little or no use to cases. Findings indicated that collating national data from SOCIMS is not currently feasible. Standardization needs to be the main consideration for developing such data. If national forensic data are collected, a central organization should produce standard categories and definitions and decide what information to collect and distribute. In addition, information should be collected manually for now and caution should be used in making comparisons between different police agencies. Tables, figures, appended tables, and 5 references