Forensic Science Service

Written evidence submitted by Mr Roderick Hannam (FSS 15)

1 My interest in the proposed closure of the Forensic Science Service is that my daughter is employed by the FSS in London as a Senior Forensic Scientist specialising in firearms.

2 You will have received many detailed submissions opposing the closure of the FSS and I am sure that I shall agree with all of them. I do not intend to reiterate all the points but to tell you how I feel as a native of this country.

3 I see no reason why an organisation such as the FSS has to make a profit. Monitor its expenses, yes, but have to make a profit, no. The £2 million a month loss that has been talked about seems small change to me in the scale of things. You cannot run effective criminal investigations using all the complicated and expensive tests available to obtain either a conviction or an acquittal if you are constantly watching the bottom line. Which tests do you leave out? I want to live in a country where all criminals are convicted but where they all have a fair trial. The solving of crime should be regarded as a cost that we all have to pay.

4 However, the cost can be reduced. With better marketing the expertise of the FSS can be sold more effectively worldwide. The FSS contains world class players and is seen internationally as a place of excellence. I do not think that the potential for exporting their skills has been exploited sufficiently. Recently, my daughter went to give forensic evidence in a trial in the British Virgin Islands. Obviously the laboratory work had been done by the FSS, but all future work in the BVI will now be done in the USA. Why?

5 I strongly believe that the FSS should remain independent from the police. The Metropolitan Police Force do run their own laboratories but do not have the expertise of the FSS, particularly in firearms, and cannot cope with their own workload so have to farm some of it out to the FSS. What will happen when the FSS is no longer there? The private companies that are expected to buy the profitable parts of the FSS, but not the unprofitable parts, cannot be guaranteed to be independent. They cannot be guaranteed to invest in the expensive tests. If you are tendering to get a contract, you keep the quote as low as possible because of competition. This is not how to solve criminal cases. The danger of not having an independent service was highlighted recently in the case of the undercover police officer who found evidence that was favourable to the defence in a trial of green agitators. This evidence was suppressed by the police as it did not suit them. What is to stop them from suppressing inconvenient forensic evidence?

6 As the Government pays for the Metropolitan Police as well, why not close their labs instead? That saving would go a long ay to funding the FSS. After all, the Met labs are no help to the other police forces.

7 I believe that it is for the good of the Country that all the disciplines that make up forensic science be housed under one roof and not be spread between several private companies at different locations. If the different pieces of evidence cannot be discussed by people working together and together with the police officers involved then links may be missed.

8 It worries me what will happen if we have a terrorist attack in London or elsewhere. After the last London bombings the forensic work was done by the FSS. The biologists camped out in the hotel next to the labs and worked round the clock to do the work efficiently and quickly. I cannot imagine that a private firm who has given a tight tender will be able or willing to behave like that.

9 My son is a barrister. He has acted in several cases when the so called expert witness from a private firm is anything but expert. The case then falls apart because the jury do not believe the evidence He says that when an expert is from the FSS then you can totally rely on the evidence. More guilty people will escape punishment if the FSS is disbanded.

10 Who will be qualified to deal with police shootings if the FSS is not there. The police cannot examine themselves. Private companies will not have the authority of a long established well-respected company such as the FSS.

11 The company is currently going through a planned and Home Office approved transformation process. This has lead to streamlining of the company and the closure of four sites. This was agreed by the previous government who also gave grants to achieve this transformation. This work is on track and would, I believe, have put the company in the black by next month.. Why could the FSS not have been given the time to show that this had worked?

12 There is so much expertise and experience going to be lost. Some of the younger ones may get jobs in the private companies as they are cheaper to employ. But not the older ones and not those trained in firearms as that work is not profitable. Who are these younger ones going to get their training from and who is going to fund it?

13 Finally, myself, and all I have spoken to about this, find it incomprehensible that a government can smash an institution of such world renown as the FSS for a couple of million pounds a month. It is a tragedy for those involved but is an even bigger tragedy for the country. Justice in the courts is ill served by this decision and the country is less safe. You cannot send a boy or a girl to do a man or a woman’s job. This government, for all its talk and reputation for law and order, seems to be on a slippery slope downwards.

Roderick W Hannam

3 February 2011