Presentation

The National Forensic Laboratory (NFL) is an independent organisational unit of the General Police Directorate. It was established to carry out examinations of material traces caused by criminal and minor offences and interpret examination results for the police and judicial authorities. As an exception, the NFL performs examinations of material traces originating from civil-law cases. In its examinations, the NFL uses over 100 different methods in the field of biological, chemical, physical and dactyloscopic examinations and examinations of documents, handwriting, money, photographs and videos. The NFL performs forensic examinations in about 10,000 cases every year. At the moment it is the only laboratory in Slovenia that performs forensic examinations in accordance with accredited procedures.

The National Forensic Laboratory has 70 classified posts, of which there are 51 experts and 14 technicians. All experts, of whom 22 are court qualified, have at least professional degree, most of them university degrees, four have PhDs and two are MSc.

The NFL also prepares specialist instructions on the taking, securing, storing and transporting of samples (materials) for examination and trains crime scene technicians from all police directorates in proper handling of samples (materials). In most demanding cases the NFL takes part in crime scene investigations and house searches. It conducts procedures for establishing identity of persons and victims of mass accidents and disasters. The NFL also acts as administrator of the record of fingerprinted persons and of DNA examination record. 

Principles and values of the NFL are professionalism, objectivity, reliability, responsibility and cooperation.

Quality of forensic examinations

A high level of expertise of NFL employees is based on years of experience, cooperation and training at forensic laboratories abroad. The NFL is a successor of the Criminal Examination Laboratory, which was established in Ljubljana as early as 1950 at the Ministry of the Interior of the then People's Republic of Slovenia. Professional competence of the NFL is recognized internationally since it is one of the founding members of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) and the Slovenian representative in it. The role of ENFSI is to ensure the quality and broaden the expertise and good practices of forensic examinations in Europe. NFL experts regularly participate in thirteen of a total of 16 working groups of ENFSI. 

The NFL guarantees reliability of its examinations by means of:

• the quality assurance system according to ISO/IEC 17025 standard for testing and calibration laboratories,
• standardised procedures,
• qualified staff,
• the use of modern and adequately maintained analytical equipment,
• internal controls of the quality of work, independent external assessment, and
• regular participation in inter-laboratory comparisons (qualification tests).

Public acknowledgement that the NFL as a testing laboratory meets the SIST EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard requirements for forensic examinations is the granting of the accreditation by the Slovenian Accreditation.

Organisation

The NFL consists of six sections, which are led by heads of sections, who are independent in their work.

• Physical Examination Section
• Chemical Examination Section
• Biological Examination Section
• Dactyloscopy Section
• Documents Examination Section
• NFL Quality and Development Section

History

• Forensic Science in Slovenia - 70 Years of Memories
• 70 Years of Forensics in Slovenia (2020)

Projects

• Forensic Drugs Analyses - RESPONSE