Colombia: ICITAP Expands Cadre of Forensic Accreditation Assessors

On April 26, ICITAP completed a one-week Forensic Technical Assessor Training Course on ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and ISO/IEC 17020:2012 forensic accreditation standards. Delivered at the Fundación Universitaria de las Ciencias de la Salud in Bogotá, ANAB instructors taught the course to 20 forensic scientists from the National Institute of Legal Medicine, representing the Institute’s Regional Forensic Laboratories in Cali, Bucaramanga, Medellin, and Bogotá. The course provided the competencies to qualify to become ANAB Forensic Technical Assessors. Their certification will depend, however, on achieving passing scores on the theoretical and practical qualifying exams provided by ANAB during the training. The results will be published in approximately two weeks following the conclusion of the course. This represents a significant step forward in ensuring the sustainability of the ANAB accreditation of the Institute of Legal Medicine Forensic laboratories throughout Colombia. Having certified ANAB Forensic Technical Assessors within the Institute not only contributes to the sustainability of accreditation in their system, but also means that these certified assessors can assist ANAB in the accreditation of forensic laboratory systems in the region. In Colombia, ICITAP partners with the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) on this project.