Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000 - NSW Ombudsman - NSW ...

Glossary
Term
Definition / explanation
Accredited officer
A police officer who, having completed the training provided by FPIT, can carry
out certain forensic procedures such as buccal swabs, hair samples and nontechnical
photographs.
The Act The Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000.
Adventitious transfer
Appropriately qualified
Backlog
Biomechanics
Blood sample
Buccal swab
Child
CISB
CNI number
Cold link
Unlike deliberate contamination, ‘adventitious transfer’ (or secondary transfer)
describes the transmission of forensic material from a person who may not
be associated with a crime, to the victim or crime scene, through ordinary
behaviour like sneezing or shedding hair.
A person with suitable professional qualifications or experience, or who is
qualified under the regulations, to carry out a forensic procedure.
The caseload of DNA samples submitted to DAL which have not been analysed
yet. These are mostly crime scene samples rather than person samples.
The study of mechanical movements of biological organisms. The Act permits
the taking of physical measurements of parts of the body for biomechanical
analysis.
A type of forensic procedure which can be used for DNA sampling or for other
investigative purposes. A blood sample can only be taken with the person’s
consent or by court order. It can be taken by a medical practitioner, nurse or
other appropriately qualified person. Police officers are not generally trained to
take blood samples.
The most commonly used forensic procedure for obtaining a DNA sample.
Buccal swabs are self administered. The person rubs a sterile swab on the
inside of the cheek, and police press the swab onto specially treated paper. The
cells which adhere to the paper are used by the lab to generate a DNA profile.
In this report, a person under the age of 18. The Act defines a child as a person
aged between 10 and 18 and has separate provisions for forensic procedures
conducted on children.
The NSW Police Criminal Identification Specialist Branch. The CISB provides
a fingerprint examination, comparison and identification service using both
manual and computerised fingerprint systems.
Number on the NSW Police Central Names Index allocated to a person on his
or her first contact with police. Details of any subsequent contact with police
(including arrests, charges, convictions, forensic procedures, fingerprints and
other records) should be recorded against this number.
Where a suspect or crime scene is linked to another unsolved crime scene
through a match made on the DNA database, usually where there is no previous
intelligence suggesting the person and/or the crime scenes are linked. By
contrast, a warm link is where police take a DNA sample from a person because
they suspect it will link the person to DNA obtained from the crime scene or
victim, and it does.
NSW Ombudsman
DNA sampling and other forensic procedures conducted on suspects and volunteers under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000 293