Page 36 - 2018 WCSO ANNUAL REPORT HTML5 ONLY
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FORENSICS:






                                                        ANATOMY OF A CRIME



















                                                                                                                                                                            WCSO Forensic Analysts Mateski, Wagar and Anderson
                                                                                                                                                                            responded to 35 crime scenes, examined 1,347 items of evidence
                                                                                                                                                                            and performed 10,197 latent print comparisons in 2018



                                                                                                                                 FORENSIC SCIENCE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT                     Accreditation supports an increase in accountability,

                                                                                                                                 WCSO’s  Forensic  Science  Unit  (FSU)  works  alongside   transparency and accuracy. By advancing accreditation
                                                                                                                                 deputies and detectives to gather evidence crucial to    efforts, FSU is working toward ensuring quality
                                                                                                                                 solve even the most complex crimes. Through the use      and reliability of services as well as providing
                                                                                                                                 of lasers, computers and chemicals, evidence is being    valuable oversight and conflict resolution to ensure
                                                                                                                                 discovered that was never before realized to exist.      accuracy of evidence presented in criminal justice
                                                                                                                                                                                          trials. International accreditation standards contain
                                                                                                                                 Forensic  Technicians are trained to identify and        requirements to continually demonstrate competency
                                                                                                                                 collect evidence at crime scenes.   This evidence is     in the specialties performed by the forensic unit, as well
                                                                                                                                 then transported back to the FSU lab where it can be     as guarantee impartiality and consistency in results.
                                                                                                                                 examined by Forensic Analysts for additional leads.      By fulfilling accreditation standards, FSU will also
                                                                                                                                 FSU can deploy to support any of the 11 Washington       continually review their quality assurance system so
                                                                                                                                 County police agencies to assist in their investigations.  the community can be confident of the validity of the
                                                                                                                                                                                          examination results and conclusions.
                                                                                                                                 ACCREDITATION AND WHAT IT MEANS                          WCSO is currently home to Oregon’s only crime lab
                                                                                                                                 Accreditation is one of the most important tools for     which is also dual-certified in crime scenes and latent
                                                                                                                                 ensuring  forensic science is  practiced in  a reliable   prints and is working towards full accreditation during
                                                                                                                                 way. Accreditation demonstrates the quality of the       2019.
                                                                                                                                 laboratory’s systems and work product, while also
             Forensic science is one of the fastest growing areas of law enforcement.  Advances in                               providing a framework for improving the caliber,
               scientific technology have helped law enforcement go high-tech in solving crimes.                                 standardization and timeliness of forensic services.
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