Crime Lab | Forensic Magazine

Toxicology

Amazing Trace
New chemical forensics test could help track down terrorists responsible for nerve gas attacks.
High-Throughput Blood Alcohol Analysis Determination Using Headspace Gas Chromatography
Combining a GC instrument with a headspace autosampler has been proven to offer a reliable tool for the analysis of alcohol in blood.
Cracking Bath Salt Composition
This article will provide examples of the use of Direct Deposition GC-FTIR technology in the forensics environment, including demonstration of the Direct Deposition GC-FTIR instrument’s ability to deal with large volumes of samples, while highlighting the specificity of the technology by differentiating typical street drug isomers.

Automation

The Power of Information
Banishing backlogs and budget cuts with “Foresight”
Fighting Back Against the Worst of Nature and Human Nature
DNA-Prokids provides an example that we possess the technology, the resources, and most importantly, the will to fight back hard against the some of the worst nature and human nature has to offer.
Observation of a Validation
The Full-Scale Implementation of Automation in a Small Casework Laboratory

Health & Safety

VPP, OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program: Part 1
A robust health and safety management program can benefit any workplace no matter how large or small. Recognizing this, OSHA developed an assistance program called VPP for Voluntary Protection Program.
Cutting Class
In one published report, the Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics indicated that nearly 40% of all medically treated injuries due to manual tools in the United States involved knives or retractable blades.
Take This Jar and Store It
Good rules of thumb for chemical handling and storage in the lab

Equipment & Technology

Not Sexy Enough For Hollywood, Document Management Systems Are Still At the Core of Quality Management in Labs
Advice from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences on implementing a system.
Comprehensive Analysis of the Chemical Enhancement of Footwear Marks on Fabrics
The UK Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST), in collaboration with the Centre for Forensic Science (CFS) at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, worked together on a strategic research project to evaluate existing chemical enhancement techniques for their applicability to footwear enhancement for marks made in blood, urine, and soil on various fabric surfaces.
Utilization of Infrared and Raman Micro-Spectroscopy for the Chemical Analysis of Art
While infrared and Raman microscopy have been employed for many years in the field, new capabilities, such as the employment of FPA detectors and ATR immersion optics in the infrared and confocal depth profiling, fluorescence reduction, and SERS for Raman, have dramatically improved the ability of infrared and Raman microscopes to be used in the increasingly challenging area of art analysis.

Facility Design

Forensic Laboratory 2030: Workplace Activities
This final article of the Forensic Laboratory 2030 series will explore important workplace trends, work/life drivers, a vision for FL2030, and challenges for the future.
Forensic Laboratory 2030: Physical Environment
The Forensic Laboratory 2030 research findings indicate the need to accommodate change in the laboratory environment is on a parallel track with unprecedented advancements in technology. The challenge will be to maintain critical adaptability measures to meet the space needs of the future.
International Forensic Facilities: A Question and Answer Session
I would like to better inform the forensic community just how important international forensic science facility projects are and how they can help grow the international forensic community.