A magistrate dealing recently with a case of rape was shocked to discover that Malta’s forensic laboratory does not have the equipment to analyse blood samples and establish DNA profiles – an essential modern aid to deciding guilt or innocence in cases of rape.
The director of the State laboratory, which for some curious reason is the responsibility of the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, said that it had been without such equipment for many years and was in dire need of both hardware and personnel.
Malta’s forensic laboratory has had a chequered 30-year history. It has been in an advanced state of dereliction since 2001 when the scientific functions falling under the Police Force were transferred to the Malta National Laboratory. Before that, the scientific testing of the forensic laboratory, set up in 1981, was carried out in a section of the University of Malta which had been taken over by the Police Forensic Laboratory.
Matters reached their nadir in 2001 when the scientific section, including its personnel, was transferred to the national laboratory, where it languished and many of its scientists resigned. When the Malta National Laboratory was transferred to the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority – presumably, in a desperate attempt to find a bureaucratic home for it – and was renamed the Laboratory Services Directorate – it was meant to apply for international standards (ISO) certification, but this never happened.
This sorry tale bears all the hallmarks of bureaucratic inertia, lack of ownership and proper accountability resulting in an important element of modern criminology being shifted from pillar to post, poorly managed and starved of funds. Consequently, it is not fit for purpose. The new administration has now set in hand an operational review of the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority and its laboratories. The key question to be addressed is whether the forensic laboratory should be State-run or contracted out to the private sector. There are undoubtedly valid reasons for having a national forensic laboratory with fully accredited experts, staffed and paid for by the State.
The nation would certainly benefit from having its own operational DNA laboratory. But the costs of setting one up and running it to the right standards would undoubtedly be high. It seems very likely that it is these high costs that have been the reason for the sorry story of the last three decades and for the forensic lab being treated like the poorest Cinderella of the public service.
On the other hand, there already exists a fully functioning and, more importantly, fully accredited DNA lab in the private sector. The director of the firm MLS Bio DNA has stated that her laboratory has had international accreditation since 2006 and participates every year in proficiency testing, equipment calibration tests and quality control tests, at not inconsiderable cost to the company. It is run by two highly qualified genetics experts, who have handled about 500 forensic cases, ranging from rape to murder, since it was set up.
While it is true, therefore, that the State laboratory has fallen on hard times and indeed is non-operational for DNA testing, it would be misleading to suppose that forensic DNA testing in Malta does not exist. It does, and appears to do so, to the highest standards. What the current Government’s operational review should therefore focus on is a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis between investing substantially in enhancing the State’s facilities, or permanently sub-contracting this area of expertise to the private sector.