DNA testing at forensic lab more than a few years off - Ramjattan
DNA testing capacity at the Guyana Forensic Laboratory is more than a few years off, according to Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan.
Following the lab’s commissioning in July, 2014, concerns had been raised over the $1B facility’s inability to conduct DNA tests.
The lab was constructed at a time when there were serious concerns about the large sums of money that were being spent by the former PPP/C government to send DNA samples overseas for testing. The fact that the tests were not completed within a reasonable time was also of concern. The police in the past have utilised labs in Brazil, Trinidad and Barbados.
Asked when the lab would be capable of conducting DNA tests, Ramjattan said last Friday, “Not very soon. We gotta pass the tests…The FBI will come and do some scrutiny and give us the accreditation as to whether we passed the tests.”
Asked what timeline is being looked at, he said that it would be more than a few years. “I don’t know when we are going to pass the tests but we are doing everything, training more officers, getting more equipment but I understand the physical air-conditioning unit [at the lab] has a huge problem,” he said.
On the issue of staff shortage, he said, “I would like to have more qualified people there related especially to that DNA section.”
Presently, he noted, the staff at the lab is doing documentation tests, including for forgery, and other forensic testing.
“But they do not and have not gone into DNA…and I don’t want to cause the accreditation to be granted early and then when they go to the courts…the results of their testing are so much questioned that they become not credible in a court of law that will affect the thing forever,” he told Stabroek News.
Soon after taking office, Ramjattan had said that the lab “has its problems” and the aim now was ensuring that it becomes a working facility. He singled out DNA testing, saying that to get that aspect “up and running” there were some problems in relation to the space for the equipment. He said too that government was informed by experts that before any evidence from such equipment can be utilised in a court of law, “we have to graduate into a certain standard through institutional strengthening and personnel strengthening for purposes of the specimens and the exhibits being preserved and having the integrity, so that when it goes to court there will be no falsifications and that they lead to no wrongful acquittals or wrongful convictions.”
In January this year, when again pressed on the issue, the minister had said that it first had to be ensured that the lab meets the required standards before DNA testing was considered.
He said that while he wants DNA testing to be done at the lab as soon as possible, his main concern is ensuring that the office space, electrical installation and equipment meet the required standards.
Ramjattan said the training of persons to do DNA testing is not that big an issue as this can be done “by the bright people that we have and we can contract their services.” Putting this aside, he stressed that the integrity of those employed there as well as the work done has to be focused on. “I am very much concerned about the integrity and I want us to graduate there,” he said, while noting that Guyana has to prove to international and regional partners that it has reached this stage. “We have not in my opinion as yet and it will take some time,” he had said.
At the time of the interview he had disclosed that toxicology tests are being conducted and forged documents are being examined. It is unclear how much of that was being done at the time and how much is being done now.
Former Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee has said that the Office of the President (now Ministry of Presidency) had asked that steps be taken to facilitate DNA testing and a decision was taken to look at that after the commissioning of the lab. It was subsequently revealed that the InterAmerican Development Bank was approached for help in funding such a venture.
The Americans were approached for funding too. However, former Chargé d’Affaires at the US embassy here, Bryan Hunt, had told Stabroek News in an interview last year in relation to the lab that there is a need to get the base right and bring the $1 billion lab up to international standards. Asked about assistance the US can offer in terms of DNA analysis, Hunt had said that a number of experts have taken a look at the forensics lab and while “at some point in the future it would be a wonderful thing for Guyana to have a DNA capability, we first have to get the base right, we first have to get those initial components of a forensics laboratory operating with qualified personnel.”
“Right now your forensic laboratory is not considering adding an immediate DNA capacity,” he had said. “DNA would be a significant step up from where the current capacity is. We have to get the current capacity that was built functioning correctly with the qualified personnel to administer that before we take the next step upwards,” he added.