February/March 2012 Issue Money Matters: Making the Most of Your CSI Budget
With today’s challenging economy, we all need to figure out the most cost effective ways to do our jobs. By doing your research and planning accordingly, you’ll stretch your department’s dollars without sacrificing quality.
Windows 7 Registry Forensics: Part 3
A typical Windows 7 Registry consists of at least five Hives, each of which performs a different function.
What’s Your Problem? A Continuing Dialogue with the Forensic Community
By Susan Halla
We’d like to challenge each one of you to define what your greatest forensic facility challenge is today. Here are some issues that we often hear about.
Wasting Away: Handling Laboratory Hazardous Wastes
This month the Safety Guys provide an introduction and overview of hazardous waste handling in a typical forensic laboratory. Our focus will be on hazardous chemical wastes.
Computerized Skull Reconstructions
By Ernie Allen
CT scans and computer modeling allow for faster facial reconstructions to expedite missing persons cases.
Soil Characteristics that Impact Clandestine Graves
Analyzing soil characteristics at a potential grave site can provide forensic investigators with information about the evidence within before the digging commences.
High-Throughput Blood Alcohol Analysis Determination Using Headspace Gas Chromatography
By Silvia Gemme, Massimo Santoro
Combining a GC instrument with a headspace autosampler has been proven to offer a reliable tool for the analysis of alcohol in blood.
Stressing Demeanor Credibility: Continued Impacts of Melendez-Diaz for Forensic Scientists
By Ronald K. Bullis, Ph.D., J.D.
Judges and juries listen and look very closely to demeanor evidence to assess the credibility of forensic testimony. Research has repeatedly shown that demeanor evidence significantly determines court decisions.
Illegal Immigration
By Chris Asplen
Seven years ago, the decision was made to include in a DNA database those individuals identified as being in the United States illegally. A brilliant idea for several reasons.
Delivering Blended Learning to Trace Evidence Examiners
By Charles A. Zona, Richard E. Bisbing
We have found that using a “blended learning” approach, one that augments classroom training with distance learning from the student’s lab, works well for our students.
