SAPS on Natural Scientific Bill

The impact on the Forensic Science Laboratory of the South African Police Service are as follows:

• biology
• chemistry
• physics
• astronomy
• geography
• geology
• mathematics
• applied mathematics
• mathematical statistics
• analysis of statistics
• computer science
• any discipline of engineering
• anatomy
• human behavioural sciences
• biochemistry
• metallurgy
• microscopy
• any branch of pathology
• toxicology
• ballistics
• identification of finger prints or palm-prints
• examination of disputed documents

1. perform any kind of work identified for any category of registered persons in terms of this section;

4. The educational qualifications for registration under this Bill are unclear. It has been stated during the consultation with Professor Marais that a person will require a four year tertiary qualification to be registered as a professional natural scientist. If a person possesses a three year tertiary qualification then they could register either as a candidate natural scientist (if undergoing relevant further studies) or as certificated natural scientist (clause 18 and 20).
5. A requirement of clause 22 is that a certificated natural scientist or candidate natural scientist may only perform work in the natural scientific professions under the supervision and control of a professional natural scientist.
6. The FSL employs a large number of scientists. This includes persons with three year, four year and further qualifications. It also has a large number of persons who do not have any tertiary qualification and yet perform scientific examinations and also present expert evidence in court in this regard. Areas specifically affected by this are the ballistics, questioned document and finger prints. In these disciplines there are no tertiary qualifications available at any tertiary institution in South Africa. These disciplines fall squarely within the defined field of practice : Forensic Science (Schedule 1) (See also par 2).
7. The impact of clause 22 is that the examiners in these areas would have to work under the "supervision and control" of a professional registered scientist who is not qualified within these fields. The examiner himself would have to issue the report in terms of section 212 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No 51 of 1977), but clause 18(2) of the Bill states that a person may not practise in any of the fields of practice listed in Schedule I, unless he or she is registered in a category mentioned in clause 18(1). Equally, clause 27(4) states that although clause (27)(3)(a) must not be construed as prohibiting any person from performing work identified in terms of the clause. If, however, such work is performed in the service of or by order of and under the direction, control, supervision of or in association with a registered person entitled to perform the identified work and who must assume responsibility for any work so performed. The assumption of such responsibility will definitely be at odds for the issuing of a section 212 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No 51 of 1977) statement.
8. The Forensic Science Laboratory consists of a main Laboratory in Pretoria and three regional Laboratories in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Amanzimtoti. The FSL is also responsible for administration of the Explosives act and Bomb Disposal via the Explosives Unit.

The main units of the FSL are the Ballistics, Questioned Documents, Biology, Scientific Analysis and Chemistry Units. The Laboratory receives more than 130000 casework entries per annum and these cover exhibit types such as firearms, counterfeit notes, drugs, body fluids (for DNA analysis), fibres and precious metals. There are other functions such as photography, facial reconstruction, polygraph examinations and voice comparisons.

The scientists attached to the FSL are exposed to various training programs. The nature of duration of these programs are determined by the field in which they specialise. The programs can range from 6 months to 3 years. Upon completion of training they all need to successfully complete a relevant competency test before they can be authorised to commence casework.

9. The final implication of this would be the inability of any person to practice in these fields. The impact of this in the Justice system will be catastrophic.
10. A similar situation exists for scientists with a three year qualifications such as a chemist see par 6.
11. The implementation of this Bill would result in the near closure of the FSL with the accompanying ramifications.
12. There would also be the resultant financial expense for the state since all scientists would have to be registered and the costs covered by the state.
13. The only suitable recommendation, in view of the minutes of the Portfolio Committee which was addressed by Prof Crewe on 25 February 2003, is to register professionals who wish to practise in the private sector and to exclude persons in the public sector from this Bill and make it not applicable to FSL & CRC/LCRC of the SAPS.
14. The following amendment to the Bill is suggested:

PROFILE : QUESTIONED DOCUMENT EXAMINER

1. Most of the qualified experts were recruited from the S A Police Service with no formal qualification in science. These members were subjected to an intensive in-service training program for a period of three years in which all aspects of the examination of questioned documents were taught.
2. In recent years the recruiting process for the Unit concentrated on obtaining members with science degrees. Twelve members under training have degrees in science, but due to the specialised nature of work performed in the examination of questioned documents which are not covered in any science curriculum, these members still have to undergo the full training course as set out in the curriculum below.
3. Outside institutions such as the S A Printing College, the S A Banknote Company, SAPPI, Perkin-Elmer, etc. are also utilised for advanced training which all members attend.
4. Due to the advanced instrumentation used all members are intensively trained in the scientific principles underlying the methodology and the practical application thereof in the examination process.
5. An Advanced Program in Forensic Criminalistics was developed in conjunction with the University of South Africa which was specifically directed towards the examination of questioned documents and all experts attained this qualification prior to it being discontinued in 1999. This qualification was submitted for recognition and attained a RVQ 13 status.

TRAINING CURRICULUM : QUESTIONED DOCUMENT UNIT