Antigua and Barbuda's Crime Scene and Evidence Recovery Unit (CERU) is moving toward a significant fingerprint technology upgrade, with its director planning to lobby the government for supporting legislation to accompany the initiative.
According to Antigua Observer, LaToya Lake-Marshall, Director of CERU at the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda, confirmed that the fingerprint technology upgrade is already in the pipeline. She indicated her intention to advocate at the governmental level to ensure the necessary legal framework is put in place alongside the new system.
The development signals a push by the CERU to modernise its forensic capabilities, with a fingerprint database representing a potentially transformative tool for criminal investigations across the twin-island nation. Such a system would allow law enforcement to cross-reference fingerprint evidence collected at crime scenes against a centralised database of known individuals.
Lake-Marshall's call for supporting legislation suggests the upgrade would require new or amended laws to govern how fingerprint data is collected, stored, and used — a step that would bring Antigua and Barbuda's forensic infrastructure more in line with international standards.
As reported by Antigua Observer, the CERU director is positioned as a key advocate for the advancement, underscoring the unit's broader efforts to strengthen the country's crime scene investigation and evidence recovery capacity.
