Panama: ICITAP-Mentored Crime Scene Unit First in Region to Secure Accreditation

On June 26, the American National Standards Institute’s National Accreditation Board (ANAB) notified Panama's Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science (IMELCF) that its Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) unit had reached the standard for accreditation, making it the first ANAB-accredited CSI unit in Central and South America.  In the United States, which has over 18,000 law enforcement and prosecution agencies, there are only 163 accredited CSI units.  Mexico has 17 accredited units. With this accreditation, IMELCF CSI joins an elite group of forensic professionals.  INL Panama has prepared a donation of technical laboratory equipment, which will be presented to the CSI unit along with the accreditation certificate.  This accreditation is a product of ICITAP's sustained, long-term capacity-building efforts on forensics in Central America, conducted in partnership with the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.