Bureau of Forensic Services

The Bureau of Forensic Services (BFS) is the scientific arm of the Attorney General’s Office whose mission is to serve the people of California on behalf of the Attorney General's Office. Forensic scientists collect, analyze, and compare physical evidence from suspected crimes. They provide analysis of evidence in toxicology, including alcohol, controlled substances and clandestine drug labs, biology and DNA, firearms, impression evidence such as shoeprints, tire marks or fingerprints, trace evidence including hair, fibers, and paint, and crime-scene analysis of blood spatter patterns and evidence collection, and they testify in state and federal court cases about their analyses in criminal trials. Descriptions of the forensic services BFS provides as well as the BFS regional service areas can be found on the BFS Laboratory Services page. BFS also offers specialized forensic science training to personnel who are practitioners in the field of forensic science through the California Criminalistics Institute (CCI).

BFS is accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors / Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB-International) to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 standards.

The Attorney General’s Office champions the use of DNA technology in order to significantly aid in the investigation of criminal acts. This is accomplished through the California DNA Data Bank Program (CAL-DNA), which participates with both BFS regional laboratories as well as seventeen local crime laboratories as a part of one of the largest data bank programs in the country. Please see the Proposition 69 page for more information.

Check out the new BFS Brochure!