Activities to increase Turkish forensic efficiency continue

This twinning project between Spain and Turkey carried out nine activities of great interest in the forensic field in June. 

Funded by the European Union and implemented by FIIAPP, the project began in 2019 and is scheduled to end in July 2022, following a recent extension on account of COVID-19. 

Its end goal is to increase forensic science and Turkish court proceeding efficiency by way of training targeting the forensic department of the Gendarmerie (JKDB), the police criminal laboratory (KPL) and the Forensic Medicine Board (ATK). By implementing new methods and techniques in line with European Union practices, the project seeks to improve the capacity of these institutions by enhancing their forensic analysis capabilities. 

As has become customary for this project, which regularly has a very wide range of activities, from the end of May to the beginning of July it undertook a total of nine different training activities. Most of the activities were carried out virtually. Both the subject matter and the teaching format have varied greatly, ranging from theoretical-practical seminars to technical assistance to accredit forensic methods that are currently implemented in the European Union. 

In the field of forensic examination, activities such as the study of human and animal hair as forensic evidence and forensic entomology and palaeontology; handwriting analysis in altered documents and the examination of the forged serial numbers on weapons were particularly noteworthy. Other training actions deserving mention were cannabinoid profiling, which can support the investigation of production and traffic networks; or the analysis of the European Union ballistics database. 

The experts selected to give the training are attached to three Spanish institutions: the National Police, the Civil Guard Criminology Service, and the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences.