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New Zealand

Forensic science in New Zealand

Forensic science is bought in from a Crown research institute rather than performed inside the police, and the provider serves customs and health agencies as well.

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Forensic science in New Zealand is provided by a Crown research institute rather than by the police themselves. The provider states that it supplies “key forensic science services to New Zealand Police” and works closely with other agencies including the New Zealand Customs Service and the Ministry of Health.

The named service areas include DNA profiling and forensic scene investigation, alongside testing and analysis and research and development. That a single provider serves the police, the customs service and a health ministry is a feature of the arrangement rather than an incidental fact: the institute is not a police laboratory that also takes outside work.

A naming caution. The organisation presents itself as PHF Science while its address remains esr.cri.nz, the Institute of Environmental Science and Research. Both names appear on the material read and this page does not assert that either has superseded the other.

Sources

Sources

  1. Forensic science — PHF Science (Institute of Environmental Science and Research)

    PHF Science / Institute of Environmental Science and Research (New Zealand) · Institutional (self-description) · link verified 2026-09-18

    SCOPE: the forensic science provider in New Zealand only. The provider's own page, read directly. Supports that it provides “key forensic science services to New Zealand Police” and works with other agencies including the New Zealand Customs Service and the Ministry of Health, and that its named service areas include DNA profiling and forensic scene investigation. NOTE ON THE NAME: the page presents the organisation as PHF Science while the address remains esr.cri.nz, the Institute of Environmental Science and Research; both names appear and neither is asserted here as superseding the other.