Forensic science in Germany

Forensic work at federal level in Germany is done by the Kriminaltechnische Institut (KT), which is part of the Bundeskriminalamt. The institute states that its guiding principle is the competent handling of forensic questions at the state of forensic science and making optimal use of its resources.

It publishes the standards it is accredited to: DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 as a testing laboratory and DIN EN ISO/IEC 17020 as an inspection body. That is the first accreditation statement carried by any forensic page on this site, and it is worth noting precisely because the other published pages say in terms that accreditation was not established for their systems.

The institute names its working areas as crime-scene work, an identification commission (IDKO), firearms and toolmarks, explosives and arson offences, biometrics, materials analysis, information and communications technology, and documents and identity systems.

AnalysisGermany is the counter-case to every other forensic page published here. The Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Singapore and New Zealand all place forensic science outside the police — in a justice-ministry agency, an associated office, a State Laboratory, a health authority and a Crown research institute respectively. The German federal institute is inside the federal police force itself.