28 January, 2014
Having got acquainted with information report prepared by the Ministry of Justice on development of joint forensic expertise centre, which was prepared upon order of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Board of Justice considered it necessary to establish joint forensic expertise centre in the country, which would be subordinated to the Ministry of Justice.
At present, forensic expertises have been performed by five forensic expertise institutions – the State Police Forensic Service Department, Expertise Service of the Central Board of the State Border Guard, the State Forensic Expertise Bureau, the State Forensic Medicine Expertise Centre and public limited liability company “Riga Centre of Psychiatry and Addiction Disorders”. Functions of forensic expertise institutions are distributed according to types of expertises, but division is not strict and it does not eliminate duplication of functions and does not provide necessary quality, moreover, operation of institutions has been regulated in legal provisions only partly.
To promote foundation of joint forensic expertise institution and to ensure quality of forensic expertises, at the same time assessing institutional subordination of joint forensic expertise institution, the Ministry of Justice has developed information report on project of measures to be taken to establish joint forensic expertise institution, which offers three possible models of activity.
The first model envisages establishment of joint forensic expertise bureau, gradually annexing the State Police Forensic Service Department and the State Forensic Medicine Expertise Centre to the State Forensic Expertise Bureau, inter alia taking over hospitals’ functions of performance of forensic expertise, preserving subordination of the institution to the Minister of Justice. The second model envisage to transform the State Police Forensic Service Department into institution and to consolidate it with the State Forensic Expertise Bureau and the State Forensic Medicine Expertise Centre, establishing its subordination to the Minister of Interior. Draft of the report also contains alternative solution, which does not demand additional financing and which has been supported by expertise performers, namely, to preserve existing organisational system of forensic expertise, but to review functions of forensic expertise institutions to eliminate duplication of those.
The Board of Justice supported the first model of development, considering that joint forensic expertise bureau with unite subordination to the Minister of Justice would be more optimal to ensure effective administration of justice.
The issue was reviewed in the sitting of the Board of Justice on January, 27
Information prepared by
Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court
E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: 67020396, 28652211