The hisTory of eNFSI 1995–2015 20 years of forensic 2 cooperation in Europe Written by Terje Kjeldsen & Wim Neuteboom 20 years of forensic cooperation in Europe The history of eNFSI 1995-2015 Written by Terje Kjeldsen & Wim Neuteboom European Network of Forensic Science Institutes, 2015 Contents eNfsi secretariat for eWOR D E-mail: [email protected] Foreword by ENFSI chairman Jan De Kinder 3 Website: www.enfsi.eu 2015 is a very special year for ENFSI. We cele- Council has copied this stringent requirement into the framework Preface 4 brate our 20th anniversary and what better way of the Prüm treaty in relation to DNA and fingerprint laboratory references 5 to pay tribute to the organization and people analysis. Common markers for DNA analysis, as proposed by the List of abbreviations 6 who created it than by writing its history. the ENFSI DNA EWG, have been turned into European legislation, paving European Network of Forensic Institutes started the way for a universal standard. Chapter 1: Chronological history 8 as a visionary idea from a couple of forensic labo- Chapter 2: Growth to current structure 27 ratory directors who organized regular meetings It is no surprise that the European Commission has recognized ENFSI Chapter 3: Meetings and events 49 of colleagues from the neighbouring countries. as the monopoly organization in the field of forensic science. the Chapter 4: By-laws 54 From the early days, the mutual exchange of Commission finances a number of projects within ENFSI to contribute Chapter 5: Finances 64 Colofon information turned out to be of great importance as evidenced by the to the development of harmonized techniques, to help laboratories Chapter 6: External Contacts 68 themes of these meetings. this, as well as the quality of the forensic raise their game to reach the state of the art and to contribute to the Publication Chapter 7: Projects 79 ENFSI © 2015 science delivery, turned out to be important aims of the network. exchange of evidence and expert opinion between countries. In this Future of ENFSI 1 79 way the work of ENFSI contributes to the realization of a European Future of ENFSI 2 84 Research & text the organization has grown quickly since these first meetings. Forensic Science Area 2020. Multilingua 88 terje Kjeldsen (Norway) & Wim Neuteboom Not only have more and more members joined but also 17 Expert (the Netherlands) Competence Assurance Project (CAP) 90 Working Groups, each dealing with a different forensic topic, came have we achieved this goal? No, not yet ... ENFSI will in the coming European Mentoring Forensic Accreditation (EMFA) 92 Graphic design into being. Umbrella Standing Committees on quality and compe- months evolve into an association according to German law, having Complex Identification Procedure (CIP) 96 richard Sluijs / richLab (the Netherlands) tence management, as well as research and development, provide an its own legal entity. this new structure will bring along a number of Quadrupol 98 overarching view. on an annual basis ENFSI brings more than one new opportunities. I look with much confidence to the coming years English proofreading Chapter 8: Awards 102 thousand scientists together to exchange information, set up good because we are ready for the challenge! richard Adams (United Kingdom) practice and work on common projects to improve the science and its Appendices Print & binding delivery. the Expert Working Groups and Standing Committees are I would like to thank both authors, Wim Neuteboom and Terje Kjeldsen Appendix 1: Founding Members 108 Exclusive Art Books LtD (Bulgaria) all driven by very enthusiastic people who devote much time to it. for writing extensively on the achievements of the organization over Appendix 2: All-time member representatives 109 to this very day, they constitute the real power house of the current the past 20 years. they have been witnesses from the beginning and First edition (2015) Appendix 3: Participants at membership meetings 119 2.000 ENFSI. the dynamics and structure of ENFSI are a model for forensic have used their firsthand knowledge to produce this book and safe- Appendix 4: All-time Boards 132 networks in other parts of the world. guard for the future the story of the first 20 years. the beginning? Appendix 5: Annual Meetings 137 All rights are reserved. Certainly, but there are still many challenges ahead! Appendix 6: ENFSI anthem 139 No part of this publication may be reproduced, Improving quality in forensic science delivery in Europe has always I wish you all a very good read. stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any been a major theme. All existing members were obliged to reach form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without accreditation according to the ISo1720 or ISo17025 standards. New Jan De Kinder prior permission of ENFSI. members have a period of three years to achieve this. the European ENFSI Chairman 2 • thE History oF ENFSI thE History oF ENFSI • Pr efACe r efer eNCES Writing the history of ENFSI is an honourable but demanding task. Anyway, the book is here. the job gave us a lot of pleasure, and we the undernoted publications do not refer to particular sections in iN T er na l PuBlicat ioNs the main challenge is the many difficult choices that have to be would like to thank all the good colleagues who have contributed. the book but are rather ‘suggestions for reading’. Incidentally, some (available at the ENFSI Secretariat) made. Should it be a detailed overview from the early days until now? Especially, we are grateful to Peter de Bruyn, Richard Gill, Ingvar Kopp, parts of these publications are – in a slightly amended way – used in What to select from the overwhelming amount of available informa- Pierre Margot, Dominique Saint-Dizier and Sheila Willis for their con- the book because they were very well formulated. re-editing would Future of ENFSI, report on the seminar held in Noordwijkerhout tion? Should all factual information like the venues and dates of structive comments and additions to the various draft versions. be unfair to the original version. (the Netherlands) on 24-26 January 2003, Date of issue: February 2003. meetings, annual budgets and expenditures, names of the all-time Furthermore, the ENFSI Board is thanked for their support in member representatives, compositions of the consecutive boards, bringing about the publication of the book. ex Ter na l PuBlicatioNs Series of ENFSI Annual reports (started in 2009). etcetera be included? What pictures from the abundance should be history of the European Academy of Forensic Science selected for publication? too many illustrations could make the book Writing in your non-native language is a challenge and it leads in- Pierre Margot 10 years of ENFSI Secretariat in the Netherlands (Special part of the a kind of family album, but too few might be a missed chance bearing evitably to many grammatical errors and poor choices in selecting the Z. Zagadnieñ Nauk S’dowych, z. XLV, 2001, 7-15 ENFSI Annual report 2012). in mind the saying that ‘a picture can say more than 1000 words’. correct words and expressions. richard Adams, the ENFSI chairman We came to the conclusion that ‘balance’ is the keyword to answer in 2002 -2003, has prevented the book from becoming unreadable history of European Network of Forensic Science Institutes eNFSI W eBsiT e these questions. and has translated our version of English into a more “natural style”. Ingvar Kopp & Wim Sprangers the website www.enfsi.eu is an extensive and up to date source of Many thanks also for that. Z. Zagadnieñ Nauk S’dowych, z. L, 2002, 203-217 current information. there are, however, complicating factors. Both of us can be qualified as ENFSI veterans who have personally been involved in a major part of Finally, we hope that the readers of this history of ENFSI will enjoy ENFSI - the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes the ENFSI history. that raises the issue of objectivity. We have during it. Moreover, we wish that one day members of the next ENFSI Wim Neuteboom the years won and lost disputes, we have developed our preferences generation will write an extended version of the (hopefully) ongoing CEPOL European Police Science and Research Bulletin Issue 7 - Summer 2012 and appreciations for different issues, and we have had our disagree- ENFSI history. ments concerning the running of the organisation and so on. So it ENFSI - the European Network of Forensic Sciences could have been tempting to rewrite the history to favour these things. Terje Kjeldsen & Wim Neuteboom 20 years of Cooperation But, as far as we can judge ourselves, we were able to restrain that terje Kjeldsen & Wim Neuteboom (human) impulse. After all, to us as forensic scientists the truth ILAC News - Issue 47, April 2015 should always be sacrosanct. Consequently, we believe that to the best of our knowledge this text reflects an unbiased history of ENFSI. to be able to go into details and incidents that took place almost two decades ago, we had to re-read reports, minutes, agendas as well as looking at old pictures. this journey through the past was a feast of recognition, but sometimes it also made us melancholy when realising that this is all behind us and will never come back again. • thE History oF ENFSI thE History oF ENFSI • LIST OF ABBr eV i ATIONs AES: acronym of ASCLD, ENFSI and SMANZFL PCWG: Police Cooperation Working Group (identical to PCWP) AFSN: Asian Forensic Sciences Network PCWP: Police Cooperation Working Party (identical to PCWG) AICEF: Academia