Survey on forensic DNA biology training in forensic science service laboratories in the United States

Training is an essential component of onboarding new hires in forensic science service provider (FSSP) laboratories. There are several DNA training standards published by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) Academy Standards Board (ASB) American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited framework. In this study, we conducted a survey of forensic DNA laboratory training programs to better understand training activities and materials. The survey was approved by the IRB and emailed to forensic laboratory directors, assistant directors, and/or DNA technical leaders and responses were submitted by them or their designees. Over thirty leaders and stakeholders responded. In this article, we report on the results of the survey. Respondents indicated that training activities included readings, writing assignments and quizzes, shadowing analysts, and mock casework and that training is documented and is a collaborative effort of the technical leader, unit supervisor, advanced forensic scientists, and other analysts and technicians. Laboratories assess competency using multiple methods including performance on mock casework, report writing, laboratory practical and competency tests, and a mock trial and testimony. The top three training activities reported are hands-on practice, shadowing, and readings. The top three focuses of the training are laboratory techniques (extraction, quantitation, amplification, and capillary electrophoresis), STR typing, and mixture analysis. Ethics violations and failure to pass the competency tests and mock trial, even after remediation, are the top reasons new hires fail training. Finally, the top items respondents would like to spend more time offering training on are troubleshooting, validation, and root cause analysis.