About DFS

About Us

The Administration Section of the Department of Forensic Science (DFS) consists of the Director and Deputy Director, four Laboratory Directors, the Director of Technical Services, the Director of Administration and Finance, the Department Counsel and other administrative support and clerical staff. The Administration defines the Department's policies, manages its fiscal and human resources, and establishes legislative and budgetary initiatives. The Technical Services Director coordinates the Department's programs statewide to assure uniformity in the operation of all four laboratories and compliance with applicable policies and procedures.

The Department, with over 300 employees, is headed by the Director and Deputy Director at the Central Laboratory in Richmond. The Central Laboratory Director and three Regional Laboratory Directors oversee the daily activities of their respective labs and report to the Deputy Director.

The major analytical disciplines (Controlled Substances, Firearms & Toolmarks, Forensic Biology, Forensic Toxicology, Latent Prints, Questioned Documents and Trace Evidence) each have a section chief at the Central Laboratory. Section chiefs have statewide responsibility for the technical aspects of their area, including resource and training needs, quality assurance, analytical procedures and protocols, interpretation and reporting of analytical results. Each section at each of the four labs also has a supervisor to ensure that the section's technical procedures are upheld by its forensic examiners and technical assistants.

In addition to the lab director, support staff and technical staff, each laboratory employs a forensic photographer and forensic evidence specialists who provide evidence intake services and control evidence custody. The Central Laboratory maintains a Photo Processing Section which develops and prints crime scene and autopsy photographs for all agencies served by the Department. The Central Lab also houses a Training Section which instructs law enforcement personnel in crime scene processing and evidence handling, and a Breath Alcohol Section which certifies breath alcohol instruments and trains operators in their use.

History

In 1970, a survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police demonstrated a need for a statewide forensic laboratory system in Virginia. Two years later, an act of the General Assembly created the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services (DCLS), which included a Bureau of Forensic Science. The new Bureau absorbed the Commonwealth's existing drug and toxicology laboratories in addition to providing other forensic services.

In 1990, the rapidly expanding Bureau was elevated to Division status. In 1996, the Division transferred from the Department of General Services (DGS) to the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). In 2005, the Division was elevated to Department status under the Governor's Secretary of Public Safety. DFS continues to provide comprehensive forensic laboratory services to over 400 law enforcement agencies in the Commonwealth, while remaining independent of any of them.

Milestones

1974 - The Virginia Forensic Science Academy conducts its first session.
1984 - A Forensic Science graduate program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is established.
1988 - Virginia establishes one of the first Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) programs.
1989 -
- DFS is the first state laboratory to offer DNA analyses to law enforcement agencies, and the first to create a DNA databank of previously convicted sex offenders.
- Construction completed on a new Northern Virginia Regional Laboratory.
- DFS earns accreditation from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB).
1992 - Virginia is a pilot state for a National DNA Databank (CODIS) and for the FBI's automated firearms comparison database (DRUGFIRE).
1994 - A "cold hit" from the DNA databank results in a conviction, and Virginia becomes the first state to discontinue traditional serology in favor of DNA testing.
1995 - Construction completed on a new Western Virginia Regional Laboratory.
1998 -
- Virginia's DNA databank identifies a perpetrator in Florida for the first interstate "cold hit."
- Construction completed on a new Central Virginia Regional Laboratory.
1999 - Creation of the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine (VIFSM)
2000 -
- First graduating class of VIFSM.
- Construction completed on a new Eastern Virginia Regional Laboratory.
2002 - One November 13th, the DNA Databank records its 1,000th "hit"
2003 - Effective January 1st, persons arrested for violent felonies/property crimes must submit a DNA sample upon arrest
2005 - July 1st, Department of Forensic Science created