Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Laboratory crisis that concerns blood ethanol content by HS-GC-FID teaches us yet again the critical role that bias education plays in a crime laboratory. Everyone has bias. Bias is unavoidable. In fact, in certain contexts it is a good thing. Bias against strangers is what keeps kids from […]
How impossible courtroom testimony comes to be: the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Laboratory case study
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Laboratory crisis that concerns blood ethanol content by HS-GC-FID teaches us yet again the critical role that education plays in the training of analysts. People in the laboratory are just taught to press buttons and preform tasks. They are not experts. Anyone who has been in a courtroom […]
Quality Assurance failures at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Laboratory
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Laboratory crisis that concerns blood ethanol content by HS-GC-FID teaches us yet again the critical role that quality assurance (QA) is supposed to play in forensic laboratories. It is part of any quality management system. In all laboratories, the QA officer should be someone who is wholly independent […]
Training in Forensic Science: The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
If you have ever seen me lecture before, you know that one of my themes is the need fro greater education and training in the laboratory for analysts. For years, I have been talking about the “oral tradition” method of training that goes on at forensic laboratories wherein the last person to push the button […]
A “Redo” Book! Are you serious?!?!?! More on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Laboratory
Forensic scientists make mistakes. At the end of the day, they are human. But in criminal law and forensic science or just plain old science in general, you have to report out and document your errors. Apparently, this major legal lesson and scientific precept was lost on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment […]
Breaking News: Crisis at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
On June 7, 2013, the Attorney General of Colorado in an unprecedented move released the findings of a report into the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and blood ethanol testing. It paints a very grim picture of undereducated, undertrained and unsupervised work. You can read the full report here. Later this week, we […]
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