TIRANA, Feb. 3 – The international community on Tuesday urged Albania to pay considerable attention to the development of the forensic science for police in an effort to help its fight against organized crime.
Robert Wilton of the OSCE Presence in Albania said that organized crime was “considered one of the greatest obstacles for democratic progress and rule of law in the region.”
He said that despite significant progress achieved last year, especially in the fight against drug traffic and production (he mentioned Lazarat operation), in order that the process be complete prosecutors, forensic scientists and the judiciary should hold accountable those responsible. And updating, developing more the forensic laboratory of the police would be of great help to them. Its analytical processes form part of the investigative process.
That is why Wilton urged a multi-agency partnership approach to achieve the results everybody seeks. All ministries and governmental agencies must work together, pool resources, make funding available, implement necessary changes and raise quality standards.
“Fighting serious and organized crimes requires a fully established and sustainable forensic science service, which incorporates not just expertise in a variety of disciplines, but also harnesses the ability to meet international standards in evidence recovery, analysis and reporting. Such a service must also be internationally accredited, to enable cross-border co-operation,” he said.
Police and law-enforcement authorities were urged to develop and enhance all evidence examination and analytical processes through standardized, sustainable training, methodologies, equipment and consumables; establish a national DNA database; and achieve national accreditation to international standards.
Albania must meet international standards in evidence recovery, examination, analysis and reporting so that it may share analytical results with other countries and use each other’s data in order to co-operate effectively.
The international accreditation of Albania’s forensic service providers is therefore key to fighting cross-border crime.
