'We must recognise the legacy that BPA can have'

‘I'm so passionate about forensic science and BPA, I can't even tell you.' Jo Millington (MSc Forensic Science, PGCert Teaching & Learning and a BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences and MIABPA) has been a staunch advocate for the application of BPA in the UK and abroad. The NRGD invited Jo to join the advice committee of standardization that set up standards for Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (BPA) and interviewd her about, as he puts it, her journey in BPA.

Read the interview with Jo Millington

Linda Geven is assistant professor of legal psychology at Leiden University. Together with fellow legal psychologists Jenny Schell-Leugers and Teresa Schneider, she founded EUREX, the European registry of exonerations. Exceeding initial expectations, the registry now includes 123 cases from 17 countries. However, the founders are interested in more than just numerical data. The NRGD interviewed Linda about mistakes, reviews of convictions and the differences and similarities between Europe and the United States.

Read the interview with Linda Geven

Two new areas of expertise - Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (BPA) and Financial Forensic -, the start of standards for Forensic Radiology, 170 expected applications for (re)registrations of experts in criminal cases and the influx of several dozen newly trained PJ reporters. In the 2024 Annual Plan, the NRGD publishes the vision and expectations for the new year. In addition to the new developments, the NRGD is responsible for guaranteeing forensic quality as a whole. There is also a process for recognition of the NFI training, for which an agreement was signed last year. You can read what else the NRGD plans to do in 2024 in the full 2024 Annual Plan.

Henk van den Heuvel will be the new chair of the NRGD from 1 January 2024. The Board unanimously decided on his nomination. Henk van den Heuvel therefore succeeds Eric Bakker, who is stepping down.

Henk van den Heuvel has been active at the interface of the law and forensic science for many years. For example, he has been the national chair of the courts expert group for forensic expertise since 2018. He is also chair of the moot court for experts in training at the NFI and a lecturer on forensics at the Training and Study Centre for the Judiciary. In addition, he has extensive experience in administrative dynamics. From 2005 to 2012, he was, amongst other things, vice-president of the administrative and criminal law sector at the District Court of Rotterdam, and he has worked as senior justice in the criminal law sector at the Court of Appeal of The Hague since 2013. He is currently on secondment to the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal.

For the last seven-and-a-half years, Eric Bakker has overseen the growth of the NRGD as a register and its development as an organisation for forensic quality. On 1 January 2024, he will step down as chair of the Board. This is an occasion to take stock, in the presence of former Chief Public Prosecutor Bob Steensma, who himself stepped down earlier this year as a Board member on behalf of the Public Prosecution Service. 'NRGD is so much more than just a box of index cards with the names of experts.’

Read the farewell interview with Eric Bakker

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