NFI investigated because of suspicion of abuse

The state laboratory looking for traces for law enforcement and judicial authorities is now under investigation. An external committee examines whether there are abuses at the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI).

The alleged abuses concern the Department of Microanalysis of Invasive Injuries (IMD). This is the team that examines the bodies for the presence of traces of a crime weapon. Various experts, from pathologists to anthropologists, work together in this team. The department is the flagship of the institute; a forensic anthropologist called it " at the top of the poster " in 2015.

The reason for the investigation is an alert launcher that he complained to the leadership of the IFN early 2017. The report was forwarded to the Ministry of Justice and Security which, last April, created an investigation commission consisting of three professors specializing in integrity, medicine and criminal law. This was reported at the time in a letter to Parliament, but received no attention until Telegraaf reported on Friday.

Protocols violated

According to the report of the "protocols" alert launcher in the department were violated – no one knows more about the contents of the report. A spokesman for the IFN says that the working method of the MIT team is more "critical". "We are therefore well aware that the prosecution and other partners in the IFN chain will be wondering if the findings of the investigation commission will lead to a review of a case. not predict that for now, "says the spokesperson

The IFN investigation can have major consequences. For the reputation of the forensic institute, on the basis of which the judges must be able to trust. And for disputes already made, in which the IFN reports also serve as evidence. If the reported misconduct has had an impact on the content of the reports, there is a good chance that many court cases will be reintroduced.

This was also the case when, at the end of the year 2006, it appeared that police dog handlers were not complying with the rules regarding odor testing. A number of trials in which odor tests were used as evidence had to be revised.

Breakthrough

The MIT Department is the result of a breakthrough in the Illona Nemeth case, a broadcaster killed in 2004. The police initially thought that she had been bullet-wounded, until NFI experts from various disciplines, after examining her skull, came to the conclusion that the woman had been killed with a chain lock. This led to the author of the offense.

The cooperation between the various experts within MIT is at the same time a source of disagreement, according to a former employee of the team. He has since been heard by the committee investigating abuses. "At NFI, you all have small islands.The pathologist does the pathology, the expert microspores make the microspores.Only, nobody knows where one discipline ends and turns into another.This is a recipe for thunder at MIT.Experts will do research that other experts think they should not do. "

Former IFN employee points out that the importance "Protocols" should not be overestimated. "It's a new area, depending on the latest technological developments. This ensures that the protocols are still in development, they can change like that. You can not escape improvising outside protocols at times. "

High workload

Reported abuses occur in the context of major unrest at the NFI (over 500 employees), and at the same time as the report, research on the culture of work the institute were held last year.This showed that employees feel endangered and suffer from high workload.As a result of the report, the director resigned and all the Directors were replaced.

The report also criticized the role of the Ministry of Justice and Security, which imposed a significant reduction of the IFN, without specifying the tasks that the institute should and should Should there be less money, there is more demand for forensic research and this research is becoming more and more complex and costly.This leads among other things at an enormous waiting time.

In April, the Department of Grapperhaus Re (Justice and Security, CDA) called on the police and justice to choose more clearly what they want to investigate on the IFN – and most importantly not. The prosecution immediately expressed the hope that the investigations would be more difficult because of the lack of technical evidence.