Algeria: ICITAP-Mentored Forensic Lab Reaches Historic Achievement

On April 11, the Institute Nationale de Criminalistique et Criminologie (INCC) of the Algerian Gendarmerie Forensic Laboratory successfully received ANAB (ANSI National Accreditation Board) accreditation in an external audit which added five new forensic disciplines to their Quality System, bringing the total accredited discipline count to twelve:

• Under ISO/IEC 17025:2005 - Trace Evidence, Seized Drugs, Toxicology, Biology/DNA: official certificate and scope
• Under ISO/IEC 17020:2012 - Firearms/Toolmarks, Questioned Document Examination, Friction Ridge Examination: official certificate and scope
• And the new disciplines added - Anthropology, Entomology, Explosives, Environmental Quality, and Digital Evidence: official certificate pending

The INCC is now the first lab to achieve accreditation in Entomology via ICITAP mentorship and is also the first lab to achieve accreditation in Entomology under ANAB; there are no labs accredited in the U.S. in this discipline.  The INCC is the first lab to be accredited in Anthropology under ICITAP mentorship and the fourth under ANAB; there are only two labs accredited in this discipline in the U.S. Through ICITAP’s continued forensic support since 2010, the Algerian INCC has attained its goal of full ISO/IEC accreditation in all of its forensic disciplines, lending global credibility to its quality of work and technical expertise. This is an important accomplishment benefitting all of Algeria and the region. In Algeria, ICITAP partners with the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism (CT).