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HISTORY OF KPL In Turkish National Police, Criminalistics was first applied in latent print examinations. When Criminalistics was developing in Western Countries and spreading all over the world, Yusuf Cemil Bey(1910), a Hungarian refugee who came to Turkey, brought latent print examinations, which was the first technical application in Turkish National Police. Latent print examinations continued to improve during following years and it was included in the curriculum of Police Schools being the first technical subject. With the opening of Police Academy (which was then known as the Police Institute), a small-scale criminalistics laboratory was constructed in 1938 aiming to increase the technical knowledge and skills of the cadets, thus putting the foundations of today’s Criminal Police Laboratories(KPL). In the beginning, the students, who were not many in total, could practice in the laboratory. During these practices, teachers and assistants themselves worked and students could watch the applications. During following years, because the number of students increased and the newly adopted devices and tools were sensitive and because the requests for examinations grew, the laboratory was engaged in educating the talented students chosen from the graduates of the Institute. During World War II, a foreign expert, brought from Switzerland, had been very useful in the education of experts who were the founders of the Criminalistics Laboratory.
The laboratory had come out as an expertise laboratory and had several achievements in its own domain. Therefore, it was supplied with tools and devices with the intention of establishing a small model of FBI and then a second laboratory was established in Istanbul. Also, the knowledge and the skills of the Laboratory staff were increased by sending them to USA for specialization. As a result of getting necessary devices, tools and educated experts deemed necessary for the criminalistics laboratory, the expertise reports requested by the Police and the legal authorities regarding the Ballistic and Suspected Document cases, lead the courts to the exact solution of the cases. This resulted in day-by-day increase in the workload of the Laboratory which was, afterwards, followed by the lack of enough room and educated personnel. In 1967, therefore, Criminalistics Laboratory joined with the 5th section, which was located on one floor of the building of the Security Department, thus Criminal Police Laboratories was completely seperated from Police institute. In the same year, Istanbul laboratory was established. Then, Izmir Laboratory was established. In the following years, the need to urgently establish crime laboratories in other regions, which can’t make use of forensic services, came out because the terror cases in our country had increased and the cases had been solved by Criminal Police Laboratories, providing the physical evidence and the matches. Criminal Police Laboratories (KPL) sustained as a section until 1976, and in 1977, it was turned into “The Department of Criminal Police Laboratories”, while the affliated sections being established. In the year 1979, Criminal
Police Laboratory of Adana, |
In
those days, Von Papen, the German ambassador to Ankara was assassinated
and the removed serial number of a pistol was re-created during the
examinations. This publicized the activities carried out in this field
and since then, expertise examinations which were requested from police
agencies and legal institutes have been performed with an ever
increasing effort.