From September 6 to 8, the Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA) held a workshop in Bishkek for the personnel of Forensic institutions and Crime Scene Investigation units of border guards and law enforcement agencies in Kyrgyzstan.

This event proposed to strengthen the capacities of forensic experts of the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation of cross-border crimes.

Experts from the Police Forensic Science Center of Lithuania familiarised participants with modern evidence collection means and methods, including the first responder’s responsibilities and actions to avoid contamination of the crime scene. In addition, they have discussed cooperation issues between investigators and forensic experts, as well as procedures for ensuring the transparency and credibility of evidence and principles of information exchange. In addition, they have compared the national legal systems regarding evidence collection procedures and the submitting of evidence in European Union member states (EU MS) and in Kyrgyzstan.

Based on the results of a comparative analysis of legal systems in the field of forensic activities in the EU MS and Kyrgyzstan, recommendations will be developed for the improvement of the regulatory framework, as well as the development of needs analysis for forensic expert tools and equipment for working at the crime scene. All the final results of this activity will be formally handed over to the national counterparts for their review and actions. 

This workshop is organised in the framework of BOMCA Component 2 “Improvement of Detection Capacities”. It is the third workshop that has been conducted in Central Asia - similar activities were implemented in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan from July-August of 2022.