Terms of service
1. What this service is
AJ Forensics provides confidential forensic science guidance in writing, in response to queries posted by registered users. It is meant for investigating officers, practising lawyers and prosecutors, media professionals, victims and their relatives, and forensic science students.
2. What this service is not
Guidance given here is advisory. It is not a laboratory examination, not a report admissible in its own right, and not a substitute for an expert opinion tendered before a court. No opinion given here creates any obligation to appear as a witness.
This site is not monitored continuously and must not be used for anything urgent. If evidence is at risk, follow your own department's standing procedure and contact your laboratory directly.
3. Registration and accuracy
You must register with your own name, a working email address and a working telephone number, and keep them current. You are responsible for everything done through your account, so keep your password to yourself and sign out of shared machines.
4. What you may post
Post only what is necessary to describe the forensic problem. Do not post material you are not entitled to share.
- Do not identify victims, the accused, or witnesses by name where the question can be asked without them. Describe roles rather than people.
- Do not post material whose disclosure would prejudice an ongoing investigation or breach an order of a court.
- Do not post photographs or documents from a case file.
- Do not use this service to seek help in defeating a lawful investigation.
5. Confidentiality
Your queries and the replies to them are visible to you and to the consulting team only. They are not published, not shown to other users, and not passed to third parties, except where disclosure is required by law.
6. Information we hold
The site stores your name, username, email address, telephone number, a one-way hash of your password, and the queries and messages you write, together with the times of those actions. Verification codes and links are stored hashed and expire. Nothing is used for advertising and nothing is sold. Ask through your registered email address to have your account and its threads deleted.
7. Fees
No charge is made through this website. Where a matter needs a meeting in person, a formal examination, or evidence in court, that is arranged separately and agreed in advance.
8. Meeting in person
Although this site is meant for answering queries online, it is often not possible to elicit the full details of a context without face to face interaction. In such situations a meeting in person is advised.
9. Availability and changes
The service is offered as it stands, without a guaranteed response time. These terms may be updated; the version on this page at the time you post a query is the one that applies to it.
10. Contact
Questions about these terms can be raised from your dashboard once you have registered, or through the email address you registered with.