Paul J. Speaker

FORESIGHT: A Business Approach to Improving Forensic Science Services

Abstract Managers of scientific laboratories see themselves as scientists first and managers second; consequently, they tend to devalue the managerial aspects of their jobs. Forensic laboratory managers are no different, but the stakes may be much higher given the importance of quality science to the criminal justice system. The need for training and support in forensic laboratory management has been recognized for many years, but little has been done to transition the tools of business to the forensic laboratory environment. FORESIGHT is a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across North America. The participating laboratories represent local, regional, state, and national agencies. Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty provide assistance, guidance, and analysis. The process involves standardizing definitions for metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks, and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not. A project of this magnitude for forensic laboratories has not been carried out anywhere.

Key Performance Indicators and Managerial Analysis for Forensic Laboratories

Abstract Forensic laboratories generate a great deal of data from casework activities across investigative areas, personnel and budget allocations, and corresponding expenditures. This paper investigates ways in which laboratories can make data-driven managerial decisions through the regular extraction of key performance indicators from commonly available data sources. A laboratorys performance indicators can then be compared to peer laboratory performance to search for best practices, determine in-house trends, manage scarce resources, and provide quantitative support for the justification of additional resources.

A simple, flexible distributed lag technique: The polynomial inverse lag

Abstract This paper presents a new distributed lag technique, the polynomial inverse lag, which has two useful characteristics. It has a flexible shape, allowing both humped and monotonically declining lag weight distributions; and it can be easily implemented with a small number of nested OLS regressions. The lag is similar in spirit to the Almon lag, but it is an infinite lag and thus does not require specification of a fixed lag length. Experiments with simulated data show a good ability to replicate the true lag structure even in the face of lag structure misspecifition. The technique is also demonstrated using the well-known St. Louis equation.

The balanced scorecard: Sustainable performance assessment for forensic laboratories

The purpose of this article is to introduce the concept of the balanced scorecard into the laboratory management environment. The balanced scorecard is a performance measurement matrix designed to capture financial and non-financial metrics that provide insight into the critical success factors for an organization, effectively aligning organization strategy to key performance objectives. The scorecard helps organizational leaders by providing balance from two perspectives. First, it ensures an appropriate mix of performance metrics from across the organization to achieve operational excellence; thereby the balanced scorecard ensures that no single or limited group of metrics dominates the assessment process, possibly leading to long-term inferior performance. Second, the balanced scorecard helps leaders offset short term performance pressures by giving recognition and weight to long-term laboratory needs that, if not properly addressed, might jeopardize future laboratory performance.

The Decomposition of Return on Investment for Forensic Laboratories

Abstract For forensic laboratories, a detailed understanding of return on investment (ROI) is necessary for routine assessment, consideration of new legislative alternatives, and cost-benefit analysis for decision making. Converting performance data to ratio measures provides useful comparisons between an individual laboratory and the standards for excellence for the industry; these measures also permit an evaluation across time. Unfortunately, these same ROI measures are subject to abuse when overemphasis on a single measure leads to unintended consequences. In this paper, the ROI measure is broken down into various parts that can be tracked on a regular basis to reveal how a laboratory achieves its results. The tradeoffs between return and risk, efficiency, analytical process, and market conditions are outlined. The end product is a series of easily monitored metrics that a laboratory director may examine on a regular basis for continuous improvement.

Efficiency and the Cost-Effective Delivery of Forensic Science Services: Insourcing, Outsourcing, and Privatization

Abstract Budgets for forensic science laboratories have always been meager relative to the caseload demands on their services, but the pressure to do more with less has been growing at a more rapid pace recently for laboratories around the world. Much of this pressure is related to the stress on government budgets from global recession. During any fiscal crisis, governments look to areas in which public budgets can cut costs to move toward greater fiscal responsibility; in the most recent global recession those cuts, some draconian, have affected forensic science laboratories with some notable reductions in force. Rather than passively await the decisions of officials from outside the laboratory environment, laboratories may have a greater hand in their destiny through preemptive action before unwanted changes are thrust upon them. To do so it is essential that laboratory directors have a firm grasp on foundational economic realities. With that knowledge, directors can begin to use those realities to increase cost-effectiveness while maintaining efficiency. In many situations the optimal response may be to make cross-jurisdictional agreements to insource or outsource casework. In other situations the response may lead to reorganizing existing or opening new facilities to spread a heavy caseload among multiple laboratories for a more effective division of services. In some circumstances a private sector solution may be optimal as excess caseloads are outsourced to private laboratories or entire investigative areas diverted to the for-profit market.

Managing Performance in the Forensic Sciences: Expectations in Light of Limited Budgets

Abstract For forensic service providers worldwide, the demand for high-quality services greatly outpaces available resources to meet those requests. The gap between the demand for services and the resource-restricted supply of those services has implications for managing performance: the effectiveness and efficiency of forensic science. The effectiveness of forensic science is directly related to the quality of the scientific analysis and the timeliness with which that analysis is provided, while efficiency is associated with attempts to minimize costs without negatively impacting quality. An inevitable result of the demand and supply gap is a backlog that results in downstream effects on timeliness, service, and quality. One important strategy to respond to the demand-supply imbalance is continual process improvement. Collaborative benchmarking as a basis for process improvement is another approach. This paper discusses the disjunction between perceived and actual value for forensic services and the rationale for providers to evaluate, improve, and re-tool their processes toward continual improvement given limited resources.

Strategic Management of Forensic Laboratory Resources: From Project FORESIGHT Metrics to the Development of Action Plans

Abstract The project FORESIGHT stated objectives begin with the development of metrics applicable to the activity of forensic science laboratories. These metrics enable a laboratory to assess how they fit within the forensic science industry and offer a glance at the levels of performance that they might be able to achieve. FORESIGHTs mission goes on to state the intent for laboratories to use those measurements to “preserve what works, and change what does not” (Houck et al. 2009, p. 85). This paper addresses the strategic implications of those additional aspects of the FORESIGHT mandate with a view of the strategic planning process for a forensic science laboratory. The keys to the development of an ongoing strategic planning and execution process are outlined, and then the actions of one laboratory, Ontarios Centre of Forensic Sciences, are examined to demonstrate the move from metrics to action. While there cannot yet be made a claim of “best practices,” this Canadian example offers some guidance to “better practices” in the quest for continual improvement in the provision of forensic science services.

Forensic science service provider models: data-driven support for better delivery options

There are a variety of models for the delivery of forensic science analysis in service to the justice system. In answer to the question as to whether there is a ‘best’ option for the delivery of forensic science services, New Zealand’s Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) has been offered as a model which demonstrates a comparative advantage over the delivery of forensic services in more traditional models. The support for that assertion rests in the ability of the ESR to react at the speed of business and avoid bureaucratic drag found too often in the public sector. This efficiency argument addresses one dimension of the search for ‘best’ delivery. The second dimension involves the discovery of the optimal scale of operation to take efficiency and turn it into cost effectiveness.

Financial Management of Forensic Science Laboratories: Lessons from Project FORESIGHT 2011-2012

ABSTRACT Critical to the decision-making within an individual forensic science laboratory is an understanding of their efficiency and effectiveness. The NIJ-funded project, FORESIGHT, applies financial management techniques to avowed public sector goals and offers a common starting point for the comparison of individual forensic laboratories to the established standards in the industry through a review of financial ratios. Such ratios adjust for size differences and allow insight into several aspects of the operation including evaluation of efficiency, quality, risk, market nuances, and return on investment. This study offers insight into the financial performance, productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of forensic science laboratories. Using data from the National Institute of Justices Project FORESIGHT for 2011-2012, a variety of benchmark performance data is presented with analytical insight into the nature of that performance. The tabular and graphic presentations offer some insight into the current status of the forensic science industry in general and provide a basis by which individual laboratories may begin to assess their own performance with respect to both analytical efficiency and cost effectiveness.