Mobile labs, big data and management in Forensic Science

One of the challenges in forensic science, is to receive results quickly after a crime happened. We will discuss in this blog three developments which help in speeding up the forensic investigation.

1. Mobile labs 
The development of labs on the crime scene is a challenging one. We can see several developments in DNA and chemistry to receive faster results after a crime has happened. Also in digital evidence we see several mobile solutions to collect the data from the crime scene. The lab-on-a-chip techniques are also contributing to faster results.

2. Big data
By using big data and analyzing the results from the past, it might be possible to have profiles of certain crimes. They can help to make a selection of techniques that work best for finding evidence at the crime scene. Since often over hundred traces are collected from the crime scene, a selection has to be made which should be analysed within 48 hours and other later.

3. Management of forensic labs
By using the right management of a forensic lab, the analysis might be conducted more efficient. Also backlogs should be prevented by using Service Level Agreements. Methods such as Lean Six Sigma can help, however most important is to spend time to the Human Resources and look that they are not overloaded with work also to maintain quality assurance as well.

The working group of ENFSI Forensic IT will have a meeting in London from 20-22 September 2016. This working group will be focussed on digital forensic science, and topics include mobile forensics, forensic data science, forensic big data platforms, chip forensics and analysis of location data.