 Plans by the government of St. Lucia for an improved justice system are taking shape with major developments at the Forensic Science Laboratory. Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security, Senator Hon. Hermann Gil-Francis says significant investments have been made in upgrading the facility and the results have been monumental. A number of high-profile cases have been solved as the forensic laboratory advances in DNA technology to know Norville has the details. The operationalization of the Forensic Lab is paramount to solving crime, so said Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security Hon. Hermann Gil-Francis, who appeared on GIS NTN's programme in focus. He indicated that the laboratory had been closed due to a mould issue, which occurred as a result of poor construction works. The building, having been rehabilitated, is now open and serving its purpose, having brought solutions to two matters. The Minister highlighted the importance of the Forensic Lab. Hermann Gil-Francis, Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security, Senator Hon. The lab has given us solutions to at least two cases. One is Maricel, the elderly lady, and one from Jifot, a young lady called Savi. So we have the forensic and that and it was found out that those individuals would want to commit a crime. And this is the way we have to go. Forensic evidence is going to be the way forward. We can't rely on eyewitnesses or persons to come forward because as a small society, we don't have the capacity for witness protection. We have just a small window of opportunity there. So we have to rely on the forensic. The Minister added that the next step would be to introduce the areas of DNA and serology testing in the lab. He explained that certified individuals are already employed there and the government has also committed to providing the necessary funding for the move. We are now going to go into the DNA and DNA is very important because we have a lot of cases in Sandusia where children don't know who their fathers are. Mothers give people children who don't, it does not belong to the father or some fathers do not accept the children. And so that DNA can be an avenue where mothers and fathers can go and find out, yes, the paternity of the child. We are going to go into serology where things like intimate samples, saliva and semen and these sort of things. We have promised the lab that we are going to give them $380,000 in the new budget so that they can put these two areas on stream. Sandusia is also making headway in the area of ballistics. According to the Minister, the government now utilizes facilities in Bermuda for ballistic testing. However, an individual has come and studied in the field. Honourable Herman Gill-Francis also noted that results from the ballistic testing have also pointed to perpetrators. We have a young officer, a corporal, a police and he took his own initiative in that he started studying ballistics on his own, started doing the courses and so on. So we have recognized that and we have started to push him by sending him to Bermuda on a regular basis to do these sort of things. He has gone to Bermuda with some of the firearms that we have recovered and incidentally we are getting hits indicating that we can link a particular firearm to a particular border. But again, we have done that and then when we link that border to the perpetrator, that perpetrator is dead. So we have not been able to actually arrest and charge anybody because most of the times that person who the firearm was found in his possession is no longer with us. Minister Honourable Francis appeared on GIS and Tien's in focus on Thursday 17th October 2019. For the Government Information Service, I am Janelle Norville.