Forensic Intelligence

In this chapter, the term ‘intelligence’ is progressively integrated into the dominant conceptualizations that traditional forensic science laboratories implement in serving justice systems. Forensic intelligence thus expands the narrower scope of forensic science. The latter’s frame of reference eventually changes when its contribution to security studies and proactive styles of policing is envisaged. A generic forensic intelligence process is presented, which provides forensic science with a global framework demonstrating the possible collaboration between many new professions and forensic scientists who are interested in crime intelligence

De la police scientifique à la traçologie. Le renseignement par la trace

Le rôle de la police scientifique est d’abord d’exploiter les traces laissées lors d’activités criminelles. Elle est aujourd’hui équipée de technologies de traçabilité si puissantes, que celles-ci ont en peu de temps démultiplié la quantité et la variété de données mises à disposition de l’enquête judiciaire et du renseignement criminel. Or, cette évolution rapide a paradoxalement eu pour conséquence une remise en question du rôle, du statut et de l’action de la police scientifique : qu’attend-t-on aujourd’hui de ces services ? Que sont-ils supposés conclure à partir de données devenues aussi considérables que spécialisées et fragmentées ? L'auteur décrit comment la police scientifique se transforme en une nouvelle discipline appelée « traçologie ». Celle-ci s'oppose à l'hyper-spécialisation en encourageant les professionnels à adopter une vision d'ensemble essentielle pour résoudre des enquêtes complexes, analyser la criminalité sérielle et renseigner l’action de sécurité. Un ouvrage manifeste, principalement destiné aux criminalistes et criminologues concernés par l’avenir de la police scientifique, mais aussi à tous les professionnels de la sécurité, qui trouveront dans ces pages des méthodes et des modèles directement applicables, aux étudiants en sciences criminelles, aux chercheurs en quête d’interdisciplinarité et au public intéressé par les méthodes d’investigation et curieux d’en découvrir les arcanes

Expressing the value of forensic science in policing

© 2016 Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences. Only a small part of forensic science activities scattered across criminal justice systems is the object of scientific scrutiny, and is taken into account when evaluating the added-value brought by this discipline. Even in its more restricted definition, forensic science faces many embarrassing questions about its capacity to provide valid and reliably interpreted information in court. The inflation of control mechanisms increases costs and reduces the scope or availability of forensic information. The viability of forensic science, viewed through this lens, is questioned. To address this challenge, it is imperative to validly express forensic science contributions that are otherwise diluted across earlier processes. These include abductive and inductive species of inferences used in crime investigation, crime analysis and criminal intelligence. The ‘scientificity’ of these processes may be questioned, but it is not contested that they largely determine the global outcome of justice systems. As a result, they cannot be ignored. To unlock the debate, it is proposed to turn the forensic science focus from means (instruments, techniques, methods) to ends (what is the problem, what are the objectives?). This perspective naturally leads to proactive models of policing. It also provides possible frameworks to express various uses of the information conveyed by traces for solving problems. Reframed forensic science contributions are more validly expressed and the current debate can ultimately be transcended

The role of forensic science in the generation of intelligence to address environmental water contamination problems

Water contamination is a growing concern in society. New environmental laws are being enacted to define intolerable human activities, and their enforcement is increasingly supported by forensic science. However, water contamination is a broader security issue that is not only caused by illegal human behavior.Risk-based approaches are needed to prevent (re)occurrence of incidents and minimize their negative consequences. This can be achieved through the formalization of a monitoring process producing intelligence (i.e., actionable knowledge), crucial to detect recurring incidents, and guiding decision-makers in their choice of preventive and responsive actions. In this perspective,forensic science has a key role to play in integrating vestiges from water-contaminating activities (i.e., traces) in such a problem-solving process. Information conveyed by traces allows detecting similarities among contamination events (i.e., patterns), inferring common causes, and better understanding of mechanisms and consequences of water contamination. The different stages of the process will be described and illustrated through a real case example.Current barriers to the implementation of such a process are then discussed,showing how systemic issues and complexity may prevent the establishment of links across contamination events, thus negatively impacting the generation of intelligence. To overcome these obstacles, we underline the importance to initiate local and size-limited approaches by implementing relatively simple and flexible systems. New knowledge can be used to improve local situations and help stakeholders to understand the benefits of such a process; then, by a bottom-up iterative learning process, the approach can be given a greater ambition at a larger scale

The Sydney declaration – Revisiting the essence of forensic science through its fundamental principles

Unlike other more established disciplines, a shared understanding and broad acceptance of the essence of forensic science, its purpose, and fundamental principles are still missing or mis-represented. This foundation has been overlooked, although recognised by many forensic science forefathers and seen as critical to this discipline's advancement. The Sydney Declaration attempts to revisit the essence of forensic science through its foundational basis, beyond organisations, technicalities or protocols. It comprises a definition of forensic science and seven fundamental principles that emphasise the pivotal role of the trace as a vestige, or remnant, of an investigated activity. The Sydney Declaration also discusses critical features framing the forensic scientist's work, such as context, time asymmetry, the continuum of uncertainties, broad scientific knowledge, ethics, critical thinking, and logical reasoning. It is argued that the proposed principles should underpin the practice of forensic science and guide education and research directions. Ultimately, they will benefit forensic science as a whole to be more relevant, effective and reliable