This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Record of reform in fingerprint service
17/02/2006
The range of work undertaken in recent years to improve the practices and procedures of Scotland's fingerprints service were set out today, for the Parliamentary record.
This updates the position conveyed to Parliament in June 2000 by the then Justice Minister Jim Wallace and is in answer to a Parliamentary Question.
Comments and reports by some in the media in recent days have failed to take account of this record of change and reform in the fingerprint service within the Scottish Criminal Records Office (SCRO).
The full text of the Parliamentary answer is as follows:
Alex Neil (Central Scotland) - SNP : To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement made by the then Minister for Justice on June 22, 2000 on the Scottish Criminal Records Office (Official Report, c. 681) what the conclusions and outcome were of the report commissioned. (PQ number: S2W-23158)
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson's written response:
The then Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice's statement concerned an inspection of the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) Fingerprint Bureau by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC). The inspection began on March 20, 2000.
On June 22, 2000 HMIC published an interim report in which he explained that expert advice given to him by independent fingerprint experts was to the effect that the latent mark in the case was not that of Shirley McKie and that in his view the SCRO Fingerprint Bureau was "not fully effective and efficient".
In his statement the Deputy First Minister made clear that the Scottish Executive would support the ACPOS Presidential Review which took responsibility for implementing HMIC's recommendations. He also indicated that the ACPOS Presidential Review would consider the position of the four fingerprint officers concerned.
In a statement on the same day the Lord Advocate indicated that an independent external check would be carried out in all current and future cases where fingerprint evidence was submitted by SCRO. In July 2001 the Lord Advocate decided that independent verification of SCRO fingerprint evidence was no longer required. In the previous 13 months over 1,700 cases were reviewed and in each case the accuracy of the identification was confirmed.
In August 2000, the President of ACPOS and the Chairman of SCRO's Executive Committee concluded that the four members of staff should be suspended on a precautionary basis. An ad hoc investigation and disciplinary procedure was carried out and in March 2002 the SCRO Scrutiny Committee announced that no disciplinary action would be taken. The four officers returned to work in on 9 April 2002 on a phased return basis, moving to full-time working from March 2003.
The full HMIC report "Scottish Criminal Record Office: The Fingerprint Bureau Primary Inspection 2000" (available on the Scottish Executive website) contained 25 recommendations and 20 suggestions and was published on 14 September 2000. The recommendations covered a range of issues including the need for improvements in training, testing and quality assurance measures, consideration of a national fingerprint service, move towards the introduction of a different evidential standard for fingerprints in Scotland, strengthening the administrative support for the fingerprint service and setting up a task force to take forward the changes recommended. All of the recommendations and suggestions have been successfully implemented.
Following the recommendations in this report and the ACPOS Presidential Review, the SCRO Executive Committee, senior management at SCRO and the Scottish Executive have put in place an extensive programme of change management.
This has included:
- Appointing a Head of Scottish Fingerprint Service in April 2001 to lead the work to establish the Scottish Fingerprint Service (SFS) based on four bureaux in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. The model was approved in principle by the SCRO Executive Committee in June 2001 and rationalisation of the existing structure commenced. This work was completed in early 2002
- Relocating SCRO and the Glasgow fingerprint bureau from Strathclyde Police Headquarters to Pacific Quay. This was intended to help create a distinct and independent corporate identity for SCRO and the SFS
- The SFS uses the internationally accepted process of identification which conforms to the scientific principles of Analyse, Compare, Evaluate, Verify (ACE V) with verification by two fingerprint experts following the initial expert identification. Enhanced independent verification was introduced. Only after the independent verification procedure is complete will an identification be intimated to the police investigating officer and the Procurator Fiscal Service for their consideration in any court proceedings
- Quality assurance and training officers have been in post at Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh bureaux since 2002. Within the Glasgow bureau the roles of quality assurance and training are separated with distinct staff employed in each area
- All four bureaux have been accredited to ISO9001:2000, an internationally recognised Quality Management system, since 2004. The system entails independent external audits conducted on a six-monthly basis and an internal audit regime managed by the Bureau Quality Assurance Manager
- All fingerprint experts in the SFS Glasgow Fingerprint Bureau have been subject to external annual competency testing since 2001. This was introduced in the three other bureaux in 2002. The external testing is provided by Collaborative Testing Services, a USA-based forensic testing service
- All experts have been subject to a Continuous Professional Development Programme since 2003. By 2004 86 per cent of experts were accredited by the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners
- To achieve expert status in Scotland all experts must be externally assessed as competent in their ability to explain their identifications. As part of the SFS common training policy this assessment is carried out by Centrex National Training Centre for Scientific Support (NTC), based at Durham. The NTC provide this external assessment for bureaux across the UK. Training in the non-numeric standard and court room practice has been in place since 2003
- Court skills training sessions facilitated by Bond Solon, the UK's recognised leading provider of training in this area, are attended by experts from across the four bureaux
- National Guidance on Fingerprint Standards and Procedures was published in 2003
- Robust arrangements for monitoring sick leave and providing management support for staff have been introduced. This includes access to an occupational health service and an external employee assistance programme provided by Independent Counselling and Advisory Service Ltd
- New governance arrangements for SCRO were put in place in April 2004 with the establishment of the Common Police Services Programme Board to oversee the existing common police services and to manage the transition to the establishment of the planned Scottish Police Services Authority
In the "Scottish Criminal Record Office Primary Inspection 2004," published on 17 March 2005 (available on the Scottish Executive website), HMCIC welcomed the extent of progress since the Primary Inspection of the Glasgow Fingerprint Bureau in 2000 and he discharged all the outstanding recommendations and suggestions from that Inspection although he noted that further work was needed to achieve total integration of The Scottish Fingerprint Service. He further concluded that SCRO was overall efficient and effective.
The Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, currently before Parliament, includes provisions to establish a new Scottish Police Services Authority to deliver a range of central services to the police service in Scotland. The SCRO and the SFS will be an integral part of that organisation which is due to become operational in April 2007.
The Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC has today written to the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament to set out the basis upon which all prosecution decisions are made, and the specific approach that was taken in the McKie case.