ASCLD Accreditation Initiative

The ASCLD Accreditation Initiative (AAI) is a partnership between ASCLD and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCOE) at RTI International. The AAI was established to pair mentors with domestic, publicly funded forensic science service providers (FSSPs), also referred to as crime labs or forensic units. FSSPs in the AAI program have committed, through an agreement with ASCLD, to pursue accreditation. The AAI team is comprised of laboratory directors, quality assurance managers, and technical subject matter experts who are mentors and have been trained and certified as assessors for an accrediting body. Mentors are paired with an FSSP to serve in an advisory capacity as the FSSP takes steps toward international accreditation. ASCLD and FTCOE support accreditation and the implementation of best practices and are dedicated to sharing knowledge and advancing forensic science. In addition to the mentoring program, the AAI has developed a toolkit. The AAI Toolkit is a free collection of resources to support any FSSP as they pursue, and maintain, accreditation.

Roadmap of the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative Process

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WANT MORE INFO ABOUT ACCREDITATION ASSISTANCE?

CHECK OUT THE ACCREDITATION TOOLKIT

AAI Success

What do FSSPs that have worked with the AAI have to say about their experience?

How did the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative team assist you in achieving your accreditation goals?
"They provided me with a mentor that walked me through each of the steps and provided valuable input regarding my policies and procedures. He helped me interpret the standard requirements and how they applied to the work my laboratory was performing."

Why should labs consider the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative?
"You don't have to re-invent the wheel. There are many resources available to guide you and the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative is instrumental in connecting laboratories to those resources. "

Nampa Police Crime Lab

How did the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative team assist you in achieving your accreditation goals?
"The ASCLD Accreditation Initiative team helped prepare us for our assessment by holding meetings/phone calls, reviewing all our quality documents, addressing areas that needed improvement. Our mentor reviewed our Quality Manual word for word ensuring it addressed all the standards of 1S0 17025 AR3125."

Why should labs consider the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative?
"The ASCLD Accreditation Initiative will find areas that you may have overlooked."

Erie County Toxicology Laboratory

How did the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative team assist you in achieving your accreditation goals?
"The team was invaluable. They were able to explain and break down the process for me in a manageable way. I appreciated hearing their own lessons learned through assessing other labs, mentoring other labs, and experiencing accreditation in their own labs. I wasn't even sure where to start the process. I just knew it was something I wanted for my lab. Additionally, I was able to ask questions, get examples of lab policies and procedures, see forms created to meet different standards and have a timeline established for accomplishing different tasks."

Why should labs consider the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative?
"If you feel like the task is insurmountable, the ability to lean on a multitude of experts in the field is an opportunity like no other. The support, feedback and resources that became available to me and my laboratory are one of the top reasons we were successful. Having a mentor available to ask questions from and seek guidance or review documents I'd created was so necessary! I am truly thankful for this group of top-notch experts."

Boise Police Department

How did the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative team assist you in achieving your accreditation goals?
"We were provided with a mentor that we spoke with every week via conference call. Ranee Ho was very patient and made herself available to us throughout the entire process. We felt very supported by Ranee and by the ANAB team."

Why should labs consider the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative?
"I would absolutely recommend accreditation to all labs. It will give confidence as a supervisor, define roles and duties for the associates, and provide consistency and reliability for your laboratory."

Guarded Exchange

How did the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative team assist you in achieving your accreditation goals?
"Deborah Leben lead us through the process of applying for accreditation even to the point of educating us about our options and resources available to us. When we were accepted into the program our mentor (Anne Nord) reviewed our documents and walked us through the entire assessment process, even up to helping us address our findings from our A2LA assessment. The monthly phone calls helped us connect with other labs and learn from their experiences with the process."

Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Drug Lab

How did the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative team assist you in achieving your accreditation goals?
"Partnering with the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative gave us the support and guidance needed to sufficiently prepare for our initial accreditation assessment. Having our mentor review our documents and procedures prior to our application for accreditation, as well as provide constant feedback throughout the process, gave us the confidence and support for a successful assessment."

Salt Lake City Police Department Crime Lab

How did the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative team assist you in achieving your accreditation goals?
"The AAI provided invaluable resources and support to aid our laboratory in the process of its accreditation transition. Having mentors we could turn to with questions, for feedback on our documents, or for general guidance and advice made the process much more manageable. They stuck with us throughout the journey, and we benefitted greatly from their experience and insights. In addition to the concrete help, the encouragement from our mentors helped keep us on task and offered a much-needed morale boost along the way."

Why should labs consider the ASCLD Accreditation Initiative?
"ISO Accreditation is a time-consuming and often daunting process—difficult enough, even with all of the tools in place. The AAI connects laboratories to those tools, and to mentors to help guide them through the process. Why start from scratch when the resources are there from which to build?"

Monroe County Office of the Medical Examiner

AAI Mentors

Mentors, Laboratory Directors, Quality Assurance Managers, and Technical Subject Matter Experts

AAI mentors are laboratory directors, quality assurance managers and technical subject matter experts who are trained and certified as assessors and have experience in assessments and auditing. AAI mentors work in an advisory capacity with the lab to help the organization prepare for an accreditation assessment. The accrediting body, however, determines conformance with the accreditation requirements.

If you are interested in serving as a mentor in the AAI, please complete the interest form below.

Mentor Contact Information

Brooke Arnone

Arizona Department of Public Safety
barnone@azdps.gov

Matthew Gamette

Idaho State Police
matthew.gamette@isp.idaho.gov

Kerri Heward

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
kheward@sbcsd.org

Ranee Ho

Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences
ranee.ho.83@gmail.com

Britton Morin

Union County Prosecutor’s Office Forensic Laboratory britton.morin@ucpo.org

Donna Nelson

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
Donna.Nelson@tbi.tn.gov

Anne Nord

Idaho State Police
anne.nord@isp.idaho.gov

Stewart Raley

Arizona Department of Public Safety
sraley@azdps.gov

Meredith Rosenberg

OCME NYC
Mrosenberg@ocme.nyc.org

Natasha Wheatley

Ada County Sheriff’s Office nwheatley@adacounty.id.gov

The Accreditation Initiative has been funded through the following: The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCOE), led by RTI International, is supported through a Cooperative Agreement from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice (awards 15PNIJ-21-GK-02192-MUMU, 2016-MU-BX-K110, & 2011-DN-BX-K564). The FTCOE supports the implementation of new forensic technology and best practices by end users and is dedicated to elevating the status of forensic science through advancing technology, sharing knowledge, and addressing challenges. The FTCOE bridges the gap between the scientific and the justice communities.

The American Society ofCrime Laboratory Directors