Criminalistic providing and technical support of crime detection and criminal investigation: the experience of the European Union

Abstract

The article examines the European experience in the scope of technical support and criminalistic providing (TSCP) as essential components in the course of criminal investigation conducted by law enforcement agencies of the European Union states. Analysis of EU countries’ experience confirms that now it is very difficult to provide an effective and sufficient level of identification, fixation, seizure and examination of evidence without application of modern technical and forensic tools and methods. By the example of such countries as the Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and others, organizational structure of forensic-expert units, as well as their level of technical assistance and scientific-methodological support are presented. The article establishes a fact that all of the forensic-expert institutions and criminalistic units of European countries place high emphasis on compliance control of quality during the expert studies. It is indicated that databases of criminalistic information are used extensively in European countries, and the unique equipment and advanced technology, including biometrics, are applied to maintain these data banks. Based on the research findings the author came to the conclusion that in the modern world enhancing the efficiency of the crime control can be achieved by means of: - the development and active application of the innovative methods and techniques to solve specific problems of prevention, detection and investigation of crime; - equipping forensic units with the advanced models of criminal investigation technique; - the creation of a quality management system in accordance with ISO / IEC 17025 international standard; - providing conditions for special training subjects of TSCP; - formation and use of databases and forensic collection to obtain, organize and implement forensically relevant information; - expansion of international cooperation (participation in the joint scientific and technical projects, exchange of scientific and methodological information with foreign partners, organization of joint scientific and practical activities).