The Malta Police Forensic Science Laboratory was founded in the early 1930s with the set up of the Fingerprints, Ballistics and the Photography units. No information on the official setting of these units is recorded however a Police Circular dated 1931 gives such indication. This circular indicated that two detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department were appointed to carry out fingerprints analysis during crime scene investigations.
It was in the early 1980s, that the Explosives Section was set, but unfortunately was dissolved four years later after two fellow officers have lost their lives during an explosive disposal mission on a patrol boat together with other seven members of the Armed Forces.
In 1984, the Scene of Crime Unit was officially set-up, and throughout the years this Unit has become the cornerstone of the Forensic Science Laboratory. All technical sections were amalgamated and operated as one team making the forensic section to be the market leader. There is no other local laboratory that provides complete service of expertise as this laboratory provides. All the services qualify either as Magisterial Inquiries, specific Court orders arising during the compilation of evidence, or other scientific work requested throughout Police investigations.
In 1995 and the following year new officers were recruited to join the Scene of Crime Unit. Intensive training was provided by the Durham National Training Centre where the officers were exposed to professional scene of crime management and evidence recovery.
The investment of new equipment for the preservation and recovery of evidence is on an on-going process. The evidence integrity is absolutely important in crime scene management, thus the entire team follows certain protocols and procedures that fulfil this criteria.
A selected group of officers were also trained abroad to cater fingerprints analysis and to administer the Automated Fingerprints Identification System (AFIS). This system holds the database of fingerprints of suspects, convicted people and latents recovered from the scene. Earlier this year, the Force invested in a new system, that does not only compares and stores tenprints and fingerprints latents but is capable to store and compare palmprints, hypo-linear prints (writer’s palms) and sectional/whole palm latents. This technology is connected to a Europol dedicated network which is connected to the majority of the European Member States for the exchange of dactyloscopic data.
To assist the crime scene officers in their work, the Chemical Enhancement Unit was set up. This unit is responsible for the development of fingerprints on items using chemical enhancement methods. High level equipment is also used which is also connected with the AFIS system. This section is also responsible for the restoration of obliterated serial numbers.
The National Document and Examination Unit was set up back in 2002 due to the alarming rise of people migrating from Northern Africa and the Far East to detect falsified travel documents. This unit, which is manned by document experts provides examinations on questioned identity and travel documents. Examinations on anonymous letters and other written material are also being carried out by this unit.
Last year, the Malta Police invested on the DNA data exchange system which in line with the Prüm Treaty, enables it to exchange profiles of stains and references with other European Member States. Profiles of stains recovered from the crime scene, profiles of unidentified bodies and profiles of convicted people are entered into the system and searched with different foreign databases.