Two forensic experts from Cellmark Forensic Services in the United Kingdom are in the country to assist the Seychelles Police in setting up a state-of-the-art DNA forensic laboratory.

The two engineers – Christopher Ford, operations development manager and Darran Bowden, project engineer of Cellmarks Forensic Services – on Friday met the Minister for Home Affairs, Mitcy Larue; Commissioner of Police, Reginald Elizabeth and Superintendent Jemmy Bouzin of the forensic department of the Seychelles Police Force, to present to them what their company has to offer in terms of services and equipment.

The meeting with the minister at her Independence House office  in Victoria was to showcase the government’s total commitment to the project.

The experts’ work started back in June 2015 when they were sponsored by Interpol to come over and see how a DNA forensic lab could be set up in Seychelles. And during that period between then and now the Seychelles Police was trying to secure funding for the project. This has materialised through a grant from India.

The experts have been here on a nine-day visit and during that time they have been looking at the fine details of exactly how the laboratory needs to be like. They have also met contractors, sharing some knowledge with them on how to build it because there are certain standards that should be met with regard to DNA forensic laboratories.

A lot has been said about noise pollution during the recent months. In January 2017, the Police environmental department mounted a task force to deal with the various complaints from the community. Two months after its existence, the department received 30 complaints from households’ noise pollution, four complaints for car pollution and three cases against picnickers. All have been dealt with and the offenders have been warned.

The Chief of Environmental Police, Andre Freminot, aong with police spokesperson Jean Toussaint, met the press this week to take stock of the situation and talk about the way forward.

“The majority of the population obeys and respects the laws. Unfortunately there are still some complaints about noise pollution. After a new set of laws was enacted last year, the Environment Protection Act, it helped in acting like a deterrent and prevents more offences to be committed. We want to inform the public that there is a task force and we are very serious about our interventions. We want to ask them to redeem themselves before we get into action,” explained Mr Toussaint.

“It has been two months since we are patrolling the hot spots and visiting districts on Mahé only. We have been responding to complaints. When an offence is committed, the police collect all the relevant information and the culprit is warned. Then the information is handed over to the environmental police. It is only the director of Environment that has the mandate to issue a notice for action,” noted Mr Freminot.

The Environment Police do act on Praslin and La Digue also whenever there are complaints.