(Euless, Tex., Jan. 28, 2008) – Integrated Forensic Laboratories (IFL), a full-service criminal forensic testing laboratory, announced today that it has been accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors-Lab Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) – the first full-service, independent crime lab in the U.S. to gain this accreditation.
IFL offers complete crime scene processing services and performs firearms and toolmarks, serology, drug chemistry and arson analyses; DNA processing is done via partnerships with other forensic DNA laboratories. IFL also performs peer review and laboratory document review, and provides training for peace officers, lawyers and crime scene personnel.
IFL’s ASCLD/LAB accreditation, along with its accreditation by the Texas Department of Public Safety, means that IFL professionals are fully qualified to render expert testimony in court.
IFL currently services 15 law enforcement agencies in Tarrant, Johnson and Dallas Counties, including the police departments of Cleburne, Euless, Bedford, Hurst, and Southlake. To date, IFL has handled over 500 cases, delivering results in 90% of cases in three days or less – compared to wait times of six to nine months for testing done by other labs across the state.
“Our department is very pleased with the timeliness, quality and service IFL delivers,” said Terry Powell, Cleburne chief of police. “We were very concerned about the case backlogs we were seeing, and IFL has completely solved the problem for us. IFL is now our number-one lab resource.”
To keep costs low, IFL created the innovative “1STOP” program, which gives police departments access to all IFL services for a set monthly fee. IFL also offers its services to defense attorneys and private companies, who until now had extremely limited access to this type of forensic testing and analysis.
In 2005, the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring that all forensic laboratories be accredited by ASCLD/LAB, ABFT (American Board of Forensic Toxicologists), FQS (Forensic Quality Services), CAP (College of American Pathologists), or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS/SAMHA). Numerous smaller cities simply did not have the resources to build their labs up to these standards, and some private labs closed who did not have the resources to bring their facilities up to the accreditation standards. As a result, a serious backlog of cases developed at publicly owned laboratories across the state.
Six- to nine-month wait times now are causing financial hardships for these cities, which must feed and house suspects, spend time having officers track down suspects once the lab results come back, or some combination of both. Using the services of IFL, there is virtually no wait time.
“Independent accredited labs like IFL are the new frontier in forensics,” said Ron Fazio, IFL’s president and CEO. “Small and medium-sized cities around the country simply can’t maintain lab facilities at the level it takes to meet current standards. Big-city and state-run labs don’t have the capacity to pick up the slack. We created IFL to offer these cities a genuine cost-effective alternative, and we’re already seeing rapid acceptance.”
About Integrated Forensic Laboratories
Integrated Forensic Laboratories (IFL) is the first independent full-service forensic testing laboratory to be certified both by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Lab Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) and the Texas Department of Public Safety. IFL serves law enforcement agencies throughout Texas. IFL offers complete crime scene processing services and firearms and toolmark, serology, drug chemistry, and arson analyses. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.iflabs.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment