Seven Days in Morocco
10/18/2011

We were asked to evaluate a proposed forensic laboratory site in Morocco, develop a program for the agency, test-fit the program into the building’s floor plans, and make a recommendation as to the potential use of the proposed building as a crime lab.

Protecting Workers Pays Off: Part 1
10/18/2011

With the new OSHA administration and potential new legislation, taking the risk of non-compliance could prove very costly and a bad business decision.

GSR: How Do You Know You're Right?
10/18/2011

Using integrated SEM-EDX technology to provide automatic, rapid, and validated results.

Clandestine Graves: Geophysical Methods Used In Their Discovery and Subsequent Exposure
10/18/2011

Geophysics involves the use of a variety of electromagnetic techniques that can be used to outline, discover, and plan an exhumation.

Observation of a Validation
10/18/2011

The Full-Scale Implementation of Automation in a Small Casework Laboratory

Ushering in a New Generation of DNA Analysts
10/18/2011

Establishing the Life Technologies Center for Forensic Excellence

Ted Bundy vs. Arrestee DNA Databasing
10/18/2011

It’s more than a little ironic that the week before the DNA of Ted Bundy, one of America’s most notorious serial killers, is entered into a DNA database, the First Appellate Court in California has ruled its arrestee database to be unconstitutional.

Book Review: The Software IP Detective’s Handbook
10/18/2011

The primary focus of this book is software Intellectual Property, its authorship and ownership, and the not so commonly known field of Software Forensics.

From The Editor: The Budget Dilemma
10/18/2011

With the federal and state governments aggressively cutting budgets across the board, it is no surprise that the biggest concern most of us face is how to do more with less.

Inside the Black Box: Testing and Validation of a Rapid DNA Instrument
09/28/2011

Technological advances will soon make rapid DNA testing (R-DNA) feasible and practical. But these new “lab on a chip” portable forensic DNA sampling systems also pose new challenges for the forensic DNA typing community.

Family Feud: The Familial DNA Search Controversy Continues
09/23/2011

Despite some vocal criticisms and concerns regarding the practice of familial DNA searching, it is being increasingly considered. What that means for the forensic community remains to be seen, but for states that have moved forward with familial searching programs, protocols continue to be refined.

Back to Basics
08/05/2011

Being aware of the latest technology and the newest advances can certainly be important to performing your job well, but you don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking that you can’t do your job properly unless your department purchases every piece of high-end equipment.

SIM Forensics: Part 3
08/05/2011

Analyzing a SIM card can provide the geographical location(s) where the SIM card, the phone, and the owner of the phone (suspect) may have been.

Working Internationally Case Study: Lagos, Nigeria Forensic Complex
08/05/2011

We were asked to prepare a facility needs assessment for Lagos, Nigeria as part of the country’s focused effort to improve the use of forensic science to support law enforcement, criminal investigation, and the judicial system of Lagos State.

Avoid IEQ Pitfalls
08/05/2011

The following recommendations have been culled from years of dealing with IEQ complaints. Often the fix is very simple and costs almost nothing.

Seized Drug Analysis Using FT-IR and Mixture Searching For More Effective Identification
08/05/2011

Modern FT-IR systems provide rapid analysis of samples with very little effort, putting the technique on par with the dilute and shoot simplicity of the GC/MS.

How To Extrapolate Alcohol With Certainty
08/05/2011

The courts have recently decided that single numerical values for blood and breath test results without a measure of uncertainty are inadmissible as they preclude objective interpretation.

The Truth About Deception
08/05/2011

Forensic scientists, police detectives, and other authorities concerned with finding the truth have access to many behavioral identification techniques. The trouble is, these techniques aren’t used nearly enough.

DNA Identification of the Missing After the WTC Attacks: A Cooperative Public/Private Effort
08/05/2011

Although DNA had played a significant role in the identification of victims of other mass fatality events, the WTC DNA identification effort created unprecedented challenges. These challenges were met by public/private partnerships that enhanced and created new technology to meet the needs of this human tragedy.

Rape Kit Backlog
08/05/2011

As long as rape kit backlogs are part of our current events stories rather than our historical retrospectives, I think it important to occasionally point out how far we have to go.

The New Eyewitness
08/05/2011

Forensic DNA Phenotyping—predicting a person’s appearance by analyzing crime scene samples with suitable DNA markers—is a nascent science. But the potential exists. The scientific work just needs to be done.

Easy Species DNA Identification for the Forensic Laboratory Using 12S Mitochondrial DNA
07/29/2011

When a highly probative crime scene sample gives “no results” for the standard human mitochondrial DNA or STR assays one question remains unanswered: is this a highly degraded human sample with unrecoverable DNA, or a non-human sample?

Precise Confirmation and Quantitation of Cocaine and its Major Metabolites in Human Urine Using New GC-MS Methodology
07/08/2011

This article will discuss regulatory guidelines that have been developed for the analysis of cocaine and will present a new GC-MS method for the confirmation and quantitation of cocaine and its major metabolites in a human urine matrix.

Impression Evidence: The Right Materials for the Job
06/15/2011

Impression evidence from tire tracks, footprints, tool marks, extruder marks on different casings, etc. can be just as important in making your case as DNA or fingerprints.

Sim Forensics: Part 2
06/15/2011

Although a thorough discussion of all the potential evidence that could be on a SIM card is beyond the scope of this column, some of that information will be discussed in this and a future column.