The project has been entirely funded using taxpayers’ moneyKEVIN GITAU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 8 – Investigations in the country are set to be enhanced and become expeditious, once the National Police Service Forensic Laboratory is ready early next year.
The multi-million shilling project is based at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Headquarters, where chemical, biological and ballistic investigations will be carried out.
Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet says cases such as rape, DNA investigations, document examinations, cyber crimes among others, will also be investigated there.
“It is a game changer… We will be able to do everything from here, “the IG said on Friday after visiting the project site.
With the laboratory, Boinnet says court cases will be backed by well documented evidence, enhancing chances of successful prosecutions.
“We will be able to do proper investigations; we will back up what we have done with scientific proof, “he said. “Everything will be located here. It will be integrated to bring in other facilities located elsewhere.”
The project has been entirely funded using taxpayers’ money.
Boinnet on Friday also launched two vehicles “that will help in management of bomb scenes.”
– Importance of a forensic laboratory –
The most important aspects of criminal justice is forensic science, or the practice of scientifically examining physical evidence collected from the scene of a crime or a person of interest in a crime.
A case in point is when human remains are found dumped say in a river and have decayed to the point where they cannot be recognised. Forensic scientists use DNA from the body, do dental checks and even study the skeletal structure to determine who the person was.
It can also help in identifying the gender as well as the cause of death and whether foul play may have been involved.
Two of the most common crimes that are determined in the forensic science laboratories are drug-related and sex crimes.
It is in the crime lab that the chemical makeup of an unidentified substance recovered from a suspect is determined to be cocaine, marijuana or controlled substances.
This can be used as evidence in court to prove that a person was in possession of illegal drugs.
Such a laboratory will also be used in an identification process of a cyber crime culprit.
Databases are searched, IP addresses are traced and documents are recovered by computer forensic specialists to determine who was responsible for a certain crime.
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