Somalia: ICITAP-Mentored Forensic Science Lab Welcomes New Director and Receives Equipment

On June 14, the ICITAP-Somalia mission reported that it had recently welcomed the new Director of the Somali Police Force (SPF) Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL). The new director was greeted by assigned mentors and the ICITAP-Somalia Mission Advisor. The FSL Director immediately made an impact by holding daily unit rollcall for accountability and reviewed and approved Standard Operating Procedures. All these actions came at the advisement of the FSL mentors. During the same time frame, ICITAP mentors delivered equipment and expendables for use by the FSL. The most noteworthy being the Nicolet FTIR which will be used to analyze materials associated with explosive chemistry. The FBI, in partnership with ICITAP, donated the equipment and supplies with funding from the Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism (State/CT), for use by the ICITAP-mentored SPF. To help build the capacity of the SPF, the FBI has now donated multiple pieces of laboratory equipment for use by the FSL. The donated equipment and supplies are critical to CT operations and investigations. In Somalia, ICITAP works with the support of and in coordination with State/CT and the FBI.