Updated: October 13, 2022
The ANSI National Accreditation Board granted the Maui Police Department Crime Laboratory ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation in the Forensic Testing field. The MPD Crime Lab accreditation was granted in the fall of 2021, and is the final organization of the four counties in the state to achieve this exclusive status.
The MPD Crime Laboratory is responsible for testing all of the seized drugs in the County of Maui.
Two criminalists and the Captain of the Criminal Investigation Division operate the laboratory, ensuring that all the requirements of an accredited Quality Management System are met. In 2021, more than 1,200 items of evidence were analyzed, covering the full range of drug types including stimulants, hallucinogens, opiates, and others.
“Accreditation signifies that the laboratory demonstrates technical competence in its forensic discipline and that results can be relied upon,” Maui police said in a press release announcement. “The demanding accreditation assessment encompassed four major areas of operation: structural requirements, resource requirements, process requirements, and management system requirements. The ISO/IEC 17025 and ANAB forensic accreditation standards cover over 400 individual requirements that the MPDCL must conform to.”
While the accreditation was granted in 2021, the department reports that the MPD Crime Lab criminalists have been incorporating these accreditation principles into their analyses since 2017. “Any results obtained before 2021 are of the same quality as current, and now the Maui Police Department has the ANAB recognition to attest it,” police said the release.
“We appreciate the efforts and support of all the MPD employees who enabled this goal to succeed,” police said.
Original source: https://mauinow.com/2022/01/24/maui-police-department-crime-laboratory-iso-iec-accreditation/