During its 46th Annual Symposium, the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD), the Chandler PD Forensic Laboratory was one of 14 labs that was presented with the Foresight Maximus Award, a distinction recognizing the top performing forensic laboratories in the world based on Foresight business metrics. Started in 2007 by a cooperative agreement between the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics and the National Institute of Justice, the Foresight program is a business-guided, self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories, which began with local, regional, state, and national agencies in North America. Over the years, the program has expanded to include several laboratories in Europe.
Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty from WVU provide assistance, guidance, and analysis in collecting and calculating business measures about caseloads, staffing and budgets.
The process involves standardizing definitions for functional areas of the laboratory and metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not.