From the 1st November 2017, Digital Forensics within the criminal justice sector entered a new era, quietly and without a major fuss or fanfare. Today the Home Office has announced the reappointment of Dr Gillian Tully to continue for a further 3 years as Forensic Science Regulator now extending to 2020. IntaForensics acknowledges the significant contribution to the Forensic science sector by the FSR and welcomes the continuance of Dr Tully.

From the 1st November 2017, the Forensic Science Regulator’s Code of Practice became mandatory. Key provisions of this are:

• Any organisation providing evidence in to the Criminal Justice system in England & Wales must comply with and be accredited to the FSR Code of Practice.
• Within Digital Forensics, organisations providing evidence to the Criminal Justice system must be accredited to ISO-17025:2005 for forensic imaging, data extraction and analysis of data on computer and mobile devices.

The FSR Code of Practice covers prosecution AND defence experts presenting digital forensic evidence in to all areas of the criminal justice system.

IntaForensics are fully committed to complying with the FSR’s requirements. The company were accredited in January 2016 at our Nuneaton laboratory for digital forensic imaging of computer devices, and have successfully retained and improved performance during surveillance audits since then.

Andrew Frowen CEO writes “IntaForensics is committed to compliance with the standard and to embracing the many benefits that arise out of that standard to the quality of science and service provision.  The company has been working towards achieving the requirements of the FSR Codes of Practice and Conduct and the scope of our ISO 17025 accreditation.  We have recently undergone a three-month programme of UKAS visits to various departments and sites in pursuit of our extension to scope”

IntaForensics are delighted to report that the company have been recommended for the following as part of our extension to scope, subject to clearance of mandatory assessment findings:

• Accreditation to the Forensic Science Regulator’s Code of Practice and Conduct
• Accreditation of our Nuneaton laboratory for extraction and analysis of data from computer devices (new extension to scope)
• Accreditation of our Nuneaton laboratory for logical and physical examination of mobile devices / phones (new extension to scope)

We anticipate closing out the mandatory assessment findings over the course of the next few weeks.  Some elements will be done sooner and therefore variations to our schedule of accreditation may occur in a staged fashion.