Of late, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) inaugurated the Federal Police Forensic Investigation and Research Center of Excellence. Not only does the facility enhance Ethiopia’s forensic capability but it also serves neighboring countries.
During the event to inaugurate the center the Premier underscored that the milestone has portrayed Ethiopia’s transition from reliance on external resources for critical forensic services to establishing a self-sufficient institution. Such a positive move would be of paramount importance in declaring independence regarding decisive steps of the advancement of forensic technology. It would add value to the efforts geared towards pushing Ethiopia to the next era.
For instance, so far when DNA testing was needed, Ethiopia had sought external resources to verify those things that can only be corroborated. However, today, following the capacity of the nation and the advent of technology, Ethiopia has had an institution that helps address DNA-related challenges domestically and even supporting neighboring countries.
This positive initiation and bold move needs to be prettily lauded as the center can be a clear testament to the extensive reforms implemented in the security and safety sector. As stated on the spot, the government is highly committed to well boost institutional capacity and ensuring regional cooperation. Yes, the center would be significantly useful in supporting the countries of the African continent apart from quenching the forensic-related matters locally.
The center would also be of overriding importance in highly contributing to nation’s border security reform agendum. Undeniably, such a remarkable facility denotes a noteworthy step forward in Ethiopia’s efforts to modernize its forensic capability thereby reducing dependency on external support.
It is widely recognized across the globe that forensic science is a vital part of the criminal justice system because it provides people with objective findings that can meaningfully help come up with reliable truth finding.
True, the center is quite significant in fostering the process of collecting, preserving, and analyzing evidence, scrutinizing DNA, fingerprints, bloodstain patterns, firearms, microscopy, uncovering digital traces, decoding firearm evidence, reconstructing crimes as well as testifying as expert witnesses. Entertaining such a contemporary weapon to detect all needed for Ethiopia is a real blessing to be part of the modern realm. Simply, having a technology doing all these can by any means overlooked and the nation itself has to attach due emphasis to it, and countries of the African continent should also draw important lessons from the former as the technology and the center of excellence it has appreciated is an exemplary one.
Lucidly speaking, the development of the center would help Ethiopia curtail the problems in relation to overlooking the significance of forensic science by administrative section, lack of awareness among forensic officers, absence of independent national forensic institute and shortage of expertise. It is thus exceedingly recommended that the Ethiopian had better strengthen the center, design a national policy of forensic science and independent national forensic laboratory thereby helping the nation confidently declare forensic independence whenever need arises. In so doing it would be quite possible to make the national investigation and training in the arena of forensic science prettily dependable. Hence, a policy strategy is expected to frame a clear trajectory for the development of forensic science across the nation through governing service provision, quality assurance, and accreditation, among others.
In sum, securing forensic center that is operating with appropriate standards and reaching out to the continent through networks will have a far reaching effect, indeed! This could be achieved by solving existing gaps in the skills and expertise of forensic specialists through providing continuous and updated training. Apart from the government, various sectors, companies, organizations and associations should be involved to overcome the pitfalls of the forensic science service and uplift the role of the center. It would be an African center, even. Thus international cooperation in the field of conducting forensic examinations, accreditation of professionals, associations and maintaining standards that reproduce competency, accountability, and spirit of competition for the advancement of the sector has to be taken as compulsory.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2024
