First national Forensic Services conference opens

Officially opened by Lieutenant General Seswantsho Godfrey Lebeya, Deputy National Commissioner - SAPS, yesterday's conference included a keynote address on 'The Power of DNA Legislation: Solving Crime and Helping Victims', by Dr Arthur Eisenberg, professor and chairman of the Department of Forensic and Investigative Genetics and director of University of North Texas Health Science Center for Human Identification in the US.

By hosting the first National Forensic Conference, SAPS is making a historic contribution to the law enforcement and scientific community, as part of the Justice Crime Prevention & Security [JCPS] Cluster, whose objective is to bring about of an integrated, modernised, properly resourced & well-managed criminal justice system.

The theme of the conference is 'Uncovering the myths around forensics, is forensics the solution in the fight against crime'.

It aims to empower police personnel within forensic services, detectives, visible policing and other departments within the JCPS Cluster, including those external stakeholders involved in the forensic work such as NGOs and tertiary institutions, on the work done by forensics in South Africa and globally. It further creates networking opportunities amongst peers from the same or different specialty and various experts within the forensic discipline.

Topics within the conference include:

1. Improving efficiency & effectiveness of the CJS by enhancing detective and forensic environments
   
2. Modernizing CJS through application of technology solutions
   
3. Enhancing skills & increasing number of investigators & forensic experts
   
4. Mobilizing the population in fight against crime
   
5. Accelerating efforts to reduce serious & violent crimes
   
6. Intensifying efforts to combat crimes against women & children & promoting the empowerment of victims of crime
   
7. Establishing a border management agency to manage migration, customs & land borderline control
   
8. Combating corruption in the public and private sector
   

The Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa, said, "One of the fundamental components of the criminal justice system is ensuring that the evidence that is presented before a court of law is accurate and can enable the police to obtain convictions. Central to the collection and analysis of such evidence is ensuring that SAPS Forensic Laboratories are effectively capacitated and effective."

Delegates are expected to share the SAPS forensic services' successes and challenges in the fight against crime; identify challenges experienced in executing Forensic work in SA and globally; and provide platform for external stakeholders to share their forensic successes, failures and challenges.

The conference ends with a formal medal parade at the CSIR on Friday, 5 July.