August/September 2011 Issue Back to Basics
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
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
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
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
By Sanford Angelos, Mike Garry
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
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
By Douglas Page
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
By Dr. Robert Shaler, Thomas J. Bode, Sr.
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
By Chris Asplen
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
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.
