A tremendous amount of criminal intelligence can be derived from evidence submitted to, and processed by, forensic laboratories. For this intelligence to be useful, both intelligence units and forensic labs must proactively collaborate to establish protocols and processes for sharing intelligence.

To assist law enforcement agencies in developing or enhancing this collaboration, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, through the support of the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative and in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, developed the resource Promising Practices in Forensic Lab Intelligence. This resource provides law enforcement intelligence functions and fusion centers with promising practices and recommendations on how to develop or enhance the relationships between forensic labs and intelligence units to further build out agency intelligence efforts. These include examples of ways to leverage lab submissions and analysis to augment intelligence operations, as well as examples of how labs and intelligence units can work together to exchange information. The recommendations contained within this guide are a result of research on existing resources, deliberation with a committee of law enforcement and forensic lab subject-matter experts, and site visits with lab services that lend themselves to producing intelligence and assisting with investigations and other law enforcement and homeland security operations.