This website provides access to a podcast - one in a series on forensic science sponsored by the National Institute of Justice's Forensic Technology Center of Excellence - that features an interview with Barry Fisher on how leadership in the crime laboratory can improve the confidence of the public in casework, analysis, and the results produced by the crime laboratory.
Barry A. J. Fisher served for just over 20 years as the Crime Laboratory Director for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and is a distinguished Fellow and past president of the American Academy of Forensic Science. The interview focuses on how the crime lab leadership role has evolved over the course of Fisher's career. One of the lab manager's roles mentioned by Fisher is the interpretation of the crime lab's work to police and the courts, so that objectivity and the science-based features of the lab's work are understood and respected, along with current limitations and capabilities of the various aspects of forensic science at a given point in time. Fisher also emphasizes the importance of lab leadership in establishing a research culture in the lab, so that the scientific advancements in various aspects of forensic science are part of the continuing education of lab personnel. It is also important for lab leadership to install and maintain a system of quality control that exposes error and implements corrective measures for protocols.