Accreditation / Certification

Michele · Post by **Michele** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:29 am

I know the IAI certifies examiners, ASCLD/Lab and FQSI accredits labs, FSAB seems to accredit organizations that certify practitioners (like the IAI), and FEPAC accredits or certifies college education programs.

Who accredits the accreditation programs of ASCLD/Lab and FQSI?

Do classed that are approved by the IAI need to be accredited or certified? I guess I’m also asking about other classes not IAI approved (such as the classes offered by the FBI or Marshall University)? If so, by who?

Pat A. Wertheim · Post by **Pat A. Wertheim** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:56 am

Hi Michele

I think I've taught classes in about 25 different states. I always left it to the host agency to seek accreditation for my classes through their state P.O.S.T. body or equivalent authority, if one existed. In some states, that was requisite. In others, irrelevant.

Some countries have an official government accrediting or certifying authority. In the US, unfortunately, we do not. Some states have given de facto official authority to some bodies. For example, as I understand the law in Texas, a fingerprint expert is required to be either certified by the IAI (CLPE) or must work in an ASCLD accredited laboratory in order to testify. But that requirement address training only indirectly.

For true uniformity, there would have to be a government mandated program at the Federal level that was binding on all law enforcement agencies. Because of the separation of Federal and state powers, I doubt we will ever see any attempt to establish such control.

Michele · Post by **Michele** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:35 am

Thanks Pat.

I'm knew there wasn't a mandate for it but I thought that there must be a place to get a class accredited if someone wanted to.

I wonder how the IAI judges what classes they'll support? Do they have someone take the class and judge it by some standard? I'm just wondering because classes are pretty expensive these days. There should be some way to determine if the class is good or not.

Charles Parker · Post by **Charles Parker** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:05 pm

Who accredits the accreditation programs of ASCLD/Lab and FQSI?

Good question, I suppose since they follow ISO/IEC standards they would have to comply with those standards. Now ASCLD/LAB and FQSI have both added standards to the ISO/IEC 17025 so there are additional requirements besides just 17025.

Do classes that are approved by the IAI need to be accredited or certified?

I would not think so since I believe they are mostly technical presentations or case presentations and not necessarily meant to be gospel. I also believe that if they had sufficient negative feedback on a presentation that it would not be coming back. (I hope that is what they would do).

I guess I’m also asking about other classes not IAI approved (such as the classes offered by the FBI or Marshall University)? If so, by who?

For the FBI that is beyond my scope of knowledge, but I believe colleges have to present some type of documentation for inspection but if you have ever tried to transfer credit (hours) from one college to another then you know they do not all follow the same standards.

In Texas we have T.C.L.O.S.E (P.O.S.T) that provides hours of training to commissioned officers so they can meet the requirements of Intermediate, Advanced, or Master certification. When I have developed new training outlines they sometimes are sent to TCLOSE for some type of review and in some cases I have had the regional academies ask me for the TCLOSE Approved Training Number. Each year our state conference will get credit approval from one of the regional or law enforcement academies so the commissioned officers will get credit and satisfy the yearly educational requirement and get hours towards their certification.

As of yet Texas does not require the LPE to be certified or accrediated. That is Oklahoma. If a LPE works for lab then yes that section must meet ASCLD Accrediatation. If a LPE works for a PD or SO Identification Section (Unit) they are not required for either certification or accrediatation by the state. Fingerprints was one of the disciplines that was excepted when the law on the introduction of evidence came into effect back in September of 2005.

To answer your question briefly---not anyone.

My question is---Should Technical Presentations or Case Presentations require a certification or accrediatation process. I believe making that a requirement would stifle innovative thought. I must also admit that it probably would cut out some of the Junk as well.

Charles Parker · Post by **Charles Parker** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:35 pm

I finished my last post and opened up my ASCLD-LAB newsletter and this was in there. Ask and ye shall receive.

As previously announced at the Delegate Assembly meeting, ASCLD/LAB is currently undergoing evaluation by the InterAmerican Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC). The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) has recognized the IAAC as the regional accreditation cooperation for all of North, Central and South America.

Much like laboratory accreditation, recognition is the result of evaluating an accrediting body for conformance to ISO/IEC 17011:2004 and other regional and international requirements. The evaluation process includes a thorough document review of ASCLD/LAB’s documented management system, multiple on-site observations of assessment teams around the country, and one or more on-site visits to the ASCLD/LAB corporate office in North Carolina. The international recognition process can take several years to complete – mainly due to the complexity of coordinating multiple visits with a team of international evaluators. In our case, the team evaluating ASCLD/LAB consists of evaluators from Mexico, Canada and Israel.