Our Focus

Forensic Services Department

The Victoria Police Forensic Services Department employs about 300 staff and is one of the largest providers of forensic science services in the world.  It delivers an integrated forensic science service committed to quality, integrity and accountability to all sections of Victoria Police, the justice system and the community.

The Department is staffed by scientists, sworn police members and other specialists, as well as a range of support staff.  It examines more than 27,500 items of evidence a year, including glass, paint and fibre trace evidence, blood and urine samples, firearms, gunshot residues, drugs, explosives, fingerprints, biological material such as blood, semen and hair, suspect documents and audio recordings.
 
Experts evaluate and analyse evidence that they, crime scene officers, or other police have recovered from crime scenes. They interpret results and provide impartial expert testimony in court.  The Department also maintains a number of intelligence databases (for example the DNA and fingerprints databases) that are used to identify links between crimes and offenders.
Examination of evidence

To obtain the information from the exhibits, there are four main types of examinations that are performed at the Department:

• Analysis that identifies a substance such as drugs.
• Quantification which establishes the quantity of the substance present, such as the amount of alcohol in the blood of a driver.
• Comparisons of objects, particles, substances or impressions. Most forensic examinations are of this type.  Some examples are comparisons of writing, footprints, paints, bullets, biological matter, fingerprints, and soil.  These results can then be given as evidence in a case such as a hit-run where paint on the victim's clothing was compared to paint on a suspect's car, or when a bullet from a victim is compared to a bullet the firearms expert fired from a suspect gun.
• Enhancement of impressions, signals or images, such as fingerprints on certain surfaces or shoe impressions in blood.

The results of the examination can then be used either to give information to the investigators or it may be used in court.  Sometimes the forensic science evidence is a large part of a case or it may just form part of the evidence along with interviews and witnesses and is not conclusive on its own. 

It can also be the situation that no single piece of evidence is conclusive as to what has occurred, but there are many pieces of evidence that, when taken as a whole, can be conclusive.

Many people believe that forensic science is only to help police but in fact, the scientific results can give a more complete picture as to what may or may not have occurred. This often can exclude a suspect.

Contact us:

Forensic Services Department
Forensic Drive
Macleod, VIC, 3085

Phone:  (03) 9450 3444
Fax:        (03) 9459 0477
Email: forensic.services@police.vic.gov.au