The forensicweek.com Show – Episode 014 – Textbook Author-Scientist-Expert Witness

The forensicweek.com Show is airing Episode 014 tonight  LIVE , March 7, 2013 at 7:00 PM (EST).  Meet Dr. Richard Saferstein, the foremost author and pioneer of  forensic science textbooks used in high schools and colleges today.  He has testified as an expert witness over 2000 times in nearly 150 court venues on a variety of forensic science issues including: breath and blood testing for alcohol content, the pharmacological effects of alcohol, detection and Identification of drugs in biological fluids, arson-related analyses, and the forensic examination of DNA, blood, semen, hair, paint, fiber and glass evidence.  So join host, Tom Mauriello, and the rest of the forensicweek.com webcast team, and get a behind the scenes view of how forensic textbooks are written and how Dr. Saferstein prepares to be an expert witness in court.  Watch the show LIVE or view it at your convenience after the show is aired.  Remember all previous episodes are there also.  Just GO TO www.forensicweek.com .   Thank you for watching!

Crime Tech Quickening Forensics Analysis

According to Peter Massey, former detective at the Hamden Police Department and current lecturer at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, the new advances in forensic science and technology will allow immediate lab testing results to speed up criminal investigations. New technology like the Raman spectroscopy can be used to detect molecular vibrations in suspicious powdery substances to determine if they are explosive without destroying potential evidence. Additional new technologies and advancements according to Massey include Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction methods, advancements in biometric technologies, and handheld electronic narcotic sniffers and flashlight sensors detecting alcohol levels in the air, some of which are already in wide use in police departments nationwide. Massey stated the future of forensic science is bringing the laboratory to the crime scene.

Read the full article here.

Source: Forensic Magazine and Yale Daily News

[Abstract by ForensIQ intern, Andrea Williams]

Citation: Ligato, L. (2013, February 28). Crime tech quickening forensics analysis. Yale Daily News. Retrieved from http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/02/28/crime-tech-quickening-forensics-analysis/

US Army Purchases Latent Fingerprint Development System from Linde Canada

Based on the technology developed by Linde Canada, Ltd., the first beta of the ADROIT^TM FC 300 automated latent fingerprint development system uses a gaseous application process for discovering and developing latent fingerprints. The new dry, non-contact technology eliminates hazardous carrier solvents used in traditional fingerprint processing methods, as well as the possibly damaging physical application of these materials by dipping, spraying, brushing, and drying. In 2012, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory (USACIL) tested a prototype for the Linde system and now they have purchased the first commercial unit for further study. According to Calvin Knaggs, Linde Canada technology marketing manager who developed the technology, “the interest and feedback provided by the USACIL was invaluable in bringing the capabilities of the technology to where it is today.

Note: An existing study of the technology, entitled “Latent Print Development Using Low Pressure Sublimation Vapor Deposition: Evaluation of a Prototype System,”  has already been published in the Journal of Forensic Identification. 

Click here to view a video of the Linde ADROIT^TM FC 300

Click here for article.

Source: forensicmag.com and Linde

Citation:

(2013, 27). Linde US Industrial Gases, Equipment & Chemicals.U.S. Army purchases first ADROIT™ FC 300 latent fingerprint development system from Linde Canada. Retrieved March 3, 2013, from http://www.lindeus.com/en/news_and_media/press_releases/2013-02-27rnanews.html

State-of-the-art van will help state police crime scene investigators

More and more law enforcement agencies are purchasing new and high tech tools to aid them in crime scene investigations. Similar to the Decatur, NJ police department’s “crime scene machine,” the Illinois State Police have recently been given a refurbished 19-foot van to serve as a mobile crime laboratory for major crime scenes. Equipped with the necessary tools for processing a crime scene and state-of-the-art technology to label evidence and directly upload it to the computer database, the van will be deployed to large-scale violent crime scenes that require extensive investigative and evidence collection resources. According to ISP CSSC Lieutenant Matt Davis, the vehicle will enhance the CSI unit’s overall mission to “provide factual, timely, and proven assistance to [the] criminal investigations” of suburban police agencies, task forces, and metropolitan drug and enforcement groups.

Full article here.

[Abstract by ForensIQ Intern – Mark Lombard]

Citation:

(2013, 1). Newsbug.info. Illinois State Police unveil high tech crime scene services command van. Retrieved March 5, 2013, from http://www.newsbug.info/iroquois_countys_times-republic/records/article_bbe64414-8244-11e2-883d-001a4bcf887a.html?goback=%2Egde_4447786_member_218891736

The forensicweek.com Show – Episode 013 – “Lizzie Borden-Nothing but the Truth”

The forensicweek.com Show is airing Episode 013 – Lizzie Borden-“Nothing but the Truth” –LIVE-Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 7:00 PM (EST).  This show will bring viewers back to the Victorian era in New England as guests analyze the most infamous murder case of the 19th century.  The case…, the arrest of Lizzie Borden for the double hatchet murders of her father and step-mother, Andrew and Abby Borden in Fall River, Massachusetts.  The time, … August 4th, 1892.  Special guests are Dr. Stefani Koorey, Editor and Publisher of the “The Hatchet: A Journal of Lizzie Borden & Victorian America; Michael Martins, Curator of the Fall River Massachusetts Historical Society and Dennis Binette, Assistant curator, both co-authors of the book, “Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River.” Want to know the facts about Lizzie, the murders, the evidence against her, why she was acquitted, and why the fascination with this case after 120 years?  Then join host, Tom Mauriello, and the rest of the forensicweek.com webcast team and learn the “real” truth about Lizzie Borden and the legend.  Watch the show LIVE or view it at your convenience after the show is aired.  Remember all previous episodes are there also.  Just GO TO www.forensicweek.com .

NYPD and Microsoft Create Crime-fighting Tech System

A new crime-fighting technology software is allowing the New York Police Department to instantaneously pool data from the department’s copious arrest records, emergency calls, over 3,000 citywide security cameras, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors, and assembles it into an easy-to-use and interactive map. The Domain Awareness System, otherwise known as “the dashboard,” began development back in 2009 when the NYPD approached Microsoft Corp. to build a software that would mine data for the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, a network of private and public cameras and other tools monitored by the department’s counter terrorism bureau. From there, officers worked directly with programmers to create a system that is truly “by cops for cops.” The system is currently only being utilized by the NYPD, but Microsoft vice president in charge of program management, Dave Mosher, said that they are looking to bring the technology to smaller municipalities, law enforcement agencies, and companies that handle major sporting events.

Full article here.

[Abstract by ForensIQ Intern – Mark Lombard]

Citation:

Long, C. (2013, 20). Forensic Magazine. NYPD, Microsoft Create Crime-fighting Tech System . Retrieved February 26, 2013, from http://www.forensicmag.com/news/nypd-microsoft-create-crime-fighting-tech-system?et_cid=3103514&et_rid=515363537&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.forensicmag.com%2fnews%2fnypd-microsoft-create-crime-fighting-tech-system

Washington Police Agencies Step Up Testing of ‘Crime Guns’

“Is the gun from your murder case hiding in the evidence vault of a neighboring police department?” firearms expert Pete Gagliardi asked the group of detectives and personnel from 31 police agencies at a Washington Criminal Justice Training Center seminar last week. Each time a gun is fired, it ejects a shell that has marks as unique as fingerprints. This important piece of evidence gives agencies that have collected firearms off the streets a great tool against murders with firearms and other gun crimes. However, many police agencies have several firearms that have not been tested and are simply sitting in their vaults. Brad Buckles, the ATF director  in 1999 when the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) was created, said that “there are thousands, probably tens of thousands of firearms around the country in police department vaults that are never test-fired and are never entered into that system. Recently however, the ATF is following the Washington State Patrol’s Seattle crime lab’s lead in gaining more advanced analyses of shell casings through the use of a new 3D terminal that connects to the NIBIN network.

See the full article and a video here.

Source: forensicmag.com

[Abstract by ForensIQ Intern – Mark Lombard]

Citation:

Ingalls, C. (2013, 20). King5.com. Washington police agencies step up testing of ‘crime guns’. Retrieved February 26, 2013, from http://www.king5.com/news/local/KING-5-Investigation-prompts-WA-police-agencies-to-take-closer-look-at-their-crime-guns-192113341.html

Estimation of Age at Death Using Cortical Bone Histomorphometry

The older a skeleton is, the harder it is to estimate the age at death. This difficulty is due to biological variability in age indicators and the different skeletal response to environmental factors that are unique to an individual. Thus, it is becoming increasingly important for anthropologists to improve age estimates through the use of multiple age indicators and various modalities of assessment (e.g., macroscopic and microscopic). Previously developed methods of age estimation using the femur have demonstrated significant methodological issues, affecting their reliability and accuracy. Christian Crowder’s research evaluates histological age estimation using the anterior femur and explores the biological limitations of bone turnover as an age indicator.

Read the pdf here.

View all recently added publications and multimedia.

Source: forensicmag.com

NY Police Department Standardizing Detective Work

Crime-solving tactics have mostly existed as an oral tradition, passed down informally in the confines of precinct station houses from one generation of investigators to the next. Precinct detective squads belonged to a culture independent from the rest of the department and boasted an autonomy that their uniformed colleagues did not have. Over the last three years however, the New York Police Department has been moving to standardize detective work and codify tactics for solving crimes. The level of instruction in the numerous memos varies from general guidelines and basic investigative methods, to spelling out the very words detectives must say in certain situations. Critics of Chief Pulaski’s mandates describe them as “encumbering the detectives’ mission…treating professional investigators like kids.” However, chief spokesman Paul J. Browne said the memos bolster accountability within the department and ensure that police procedures are “applied as consistently as possible” with the changing laws and focus on forensics.

Read the full article here.

Source: forensicmag.com

[Abstract by ForensIQ Intern – Mark Lombard]

Citation:

Goldstein, J. (2013, 18). The New York Times . Police Department Standardizing Detective Work . Retrieved February 20, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/nyregion/police-department-standardizing-detective-work.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

Bloodstains to Bullet Holes: Mapping the Virtual Crime Scene

Advances in forensic technology have led to the development of 3D scanners that create a virtual portrayal of a crime scene, analyzing such evidence as bloodstains to bullet holes. The device, FARO’s Laser Scanner Focus 3D, is placed in the center of a crime scene atop a photographer’s tripod and can capture 85 photographs and millions of points surrounding the scene within minutes. The scanner allows law enforcement officials and jurors to “walk through” the crime scene and allows law enforcement to analyze points and other details through their computers. The device saves tremendous amounts of time as it captures a 360-degree image in significantly less time than it would take to typically document the crime scene. Various aspects of the device allow law enforcement personnel to construct the crime scene and measure between critical crime scene points.

ForensIQ has partnered with Transcon Imaging Solutions, Annapolis, MD who provides this very service.  Click here to learn more about how ForensIQ and Transcon can provide this valuable tool when needed.

Date of Article: February 5, 2013

Read Full Article Here.

[Abstract by ForensIQ intern, Andrea Williams]

Citation: Barrie, A. (2013). Bloodstains to bullet holes: Mapping the virtual crime scene. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/02/05/bloodstains-to-bullet-holes-virtual-crime-scene/

Robot inquisition keeps witnesses on the right track

Memory is a strange and very impressionable thing. Police constantly run into problems with witnesses recalling potential crimes, and must carefully choose their words when interviewing so as not to influence the witnesses’ recounting of events. This issue, known as the misinformation effect, refers to the influence of using intense words during questioning of witnesses. One such example is using “smash” rather than “bump” or “hit” in cases of car accidents, which actually causes witnesses to report higher speeds and more serious damage. But what happens when a robot asks the questions? Mississippi State University tested this phenomenon by conducting an interview with two separate groups: one with a human and the other with a robot, controlled in a Wizard of Oz like set-up. When asked by a human interviewer, the questions caused the accuracy of witness recall to drop by 40 percent, whereas the questions posed by the robot interviewer had no effect.

Full article here!

Sourced from forensicweek.com

Citation:

Hodson, H. New Scientist . Robot inquisition keeps witnesses on the right track. Retrieved February 9, 2013, from http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729036.100-robot-inquisition-keeps-witnesses-on-the-right-track.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|crime-and-forensics

Estimation of Death Using Cortical Bone Histomorphometry

Estimating the age at death in the human skeleton can be a challenging task due to the significant physical, biological and general individualistic differences of the body. Determining the age of death of individuals over the age of fifty has proven to be even more difficult. Further developments and models are continually being developed to assist anthropologists in determining age estimates. Early models of age of death estimations based their focus on the femur but this basis has revealed unreliable and inaccurate results. A recent study conducted by Dr. Christian Crowder of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City has shown that focusing on the anterior cortex and the biological limitations of bone turnover has shown to be an accurate model for estimating the age of death for those individuals over the age of fifty. A significant advantage of this model over historical models includes accounting for ninety to ninety-five percent of the spatial variation in osteons within the anterior cortex.

Read the full study here.

Source: Forensic Magazine

[Abstract by ForensIQ intern, Andrea Williams]

Citation: Crowder, C. (2013). Estimation of Age at Death Using Cortical Bone Histomorphometry. Retrieved February 12, 2013, from http://www.forensicmag.com/news/estimation-age-death-using-cortical-bone-histomorphometry.

Walker proposes expanding DNA collection

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is seeking to expand DNA collection efforts to include anyone arrested on a felony charge and anyone convicted of a crime.  Wisconsin currently collects DNA only from convicted felons and sex offenders, but Walker says that the expansion would be “tremendously powerful” for solving cold cases. Some argue that this move is a civil rights infringement that will put more stress on the state’s justice system, but supporters say it offers a sure-fire genetic identifier upon arrest, which will identify more criminals and solve more cases. Among the proposal to expand DNA collections, Walker wants to provide grants for GPS monitoring of high-risk offenders, spending $1 million to hire five new full-time employees at the DoJ task force, and to replace surcharge money with $4 million from the state’s general fund to assist victims of sexual assaults.

Read the full article here.

Source: forensicmag.com

Citation:

Bauer, S. SFGate. Walker proposes expanding DNA collection . Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Walker-proposes-expanding-DNA-collection-4271689.php