All evidence points to success

More than one year on from the establishment of the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Scientific Services Unit, many aspects of the joint approach taken by the new unit are attracting interest from other police forces across the country.

Most recently, a joint “Tenprints” capability has been set up at Bedfordshire HQ at Kempston, delivering a more efficient and effective approach for the two forces.

The unit processes every fingerprint form submitted from
custody suites across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and
searches against the National Fingerprint Database to establish
or confirm the identity of the person arrested.

The unit is delivering annual efficiencies of £41,000 shared
across the two forces and using software developed through
close consultation with the National Policing Improvement
Agency (NPIA).

Head of the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Scientific Services
Unit, Dick Johnson, commented:“The joint Tenprints function, the first of its kind in the country, has enabled us to standardise processes and also provides a single point of contact to quality-assure the fingerprints and the forms
submitted by arresting officers.

“Clearly, this is an area of interest for other forces and we are
receiving expressions of interest from those who are keen to find out about the processes we have followed to establish this joint capability.”

More broadly, since the joint Scientific Services Unit (SSU)
was set up, it has provided greater resilience to both counties and is delivering annual efficiencies in the region of £525,000 for the two forces. The unit also carries out all Tenprints and other crime-scene work for the British Armed Forces, generating an additional source of income for the two forces.

The unit is now better-placed to deliver and meet all its day-to-day demands, such as covering volume-crime forensic work, whilst providing the requisite level of support to serious and majorcrime inquiries.

The SSU is now certified to the International Standards Organisation quality management standard across all its key disciplines, which demonstrates that the unit is committed to quality and a willingness to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Bedfordshire’s Assistant Chief Constable John Fletcher, the national lead on forensics quality standards, said: “This certification ensures the unit is well-placed in terms of national
developments around a single quality standard.

“It is also the first time that certification has been granted
to two independent police forces working as a single entity with regards to scientific services.”

Dick Johnson concluded:“I’ve been delighted with the
progress we’ve made in evolving a joint scientific-service capability that is serving the needs of the people of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and I am confident that we will continue to be at the vanguard of developing good practice that can be shared with counterparts across the country.”

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