DOFS Deputy Director's Statement

I personally affirm this commitment and support the established comprehensive quality assurance system, which will allow our agency to meet all of the requirements of the ISO 17025 quality assurance standard and the requirements of ASCLD/LAB Legacy. We are committed to a strategy of continuous improvement, constantly seeking to learn the expectations of our customers and striving to meet those needs and expectations. We intend for these efforts to help us achieve the following goals:

• Pass an annual audit review which examines the adequacy of the laboratory's quality controls with no major nonconformities identified.
• Maintain a customer satisfactory rating of 90% or above for services as measured by a customer survey.
• Release 100% technically accurate reports within each discipline, with no more than 10 corrective actions related to inaccurate reports.
• Complete 90% of services within 45 days of date requested.
• Reduce services over 90 days old to 25% or less of average monthly incoming requests for each service type.
• Reduce workplace injuries or accidents by 50% as compared to the previous fiscal year.
• Continue developing new methods and procedures through an R&D program.
• Improve employee job satisfaction as measured by an internal survey.

The entire staff of DOFS will adhere to the spirit and intent of the quality assurance program, as well as to the directives of this Quality Manual and its supporting documentation including the Analytical Procedures Manual, the Operations Manual, the Safety Manual and the Training Manual. All members of the staff will continue to aggressively pursue customer satisfaction for each and every one of the services this laboratory provides.

George Herrin, Jr., Ph.D.

Deputy Director, Division of Forensic Sciences