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GCN Home > 07/31/06 issue

Special Report | Who is accredited to analyze forensic evidence?

By Patience Wait, GCN Staff

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Accrediting computer forensic laboratories is a new concept, according to John Neuner, international program manager for the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, Laboratory Accreditation Board of Garner, N.C. The 32-year-old organization conducts accreditation in several areas, such as ballistics and DNA. It added computer forensics just recently.

“The greatest value in accreditation is that it confirms for the laboratory that they’re operating in accordance with peer-accepted requirements,” Neuner said.

Three states—New York, Oklahoma and Texas—have passed legislation requiring forensic evidence presented in court to have been processed by an accredited facility, Neuner said. The Texas law includes a temporary exemption for computer forensics, he said, because there just aren’t enough accredited facilities to handle all the work.

There are 12 accredited computer forensics labs in the world, all of them in the U.S.: