forensics (crime lab + remix on services + fbi video)

test #1

levels of crime labs

federal, state, county, city (NONE on national)

how many labs under jurisdiction of dept. of justice?

three

federal bureau of investigation lab

biggest crime lab in the US, very high tech, built in 2003, state-of-the-art, located in quantic, VA

drug enforcement administration crime lab

investigates drug evidence which violates the manufacture, distribution, and sale of drugs

bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives crime lab

investigate evidence in violation of the gun control act of 1968 + organized crime law of 1970

US postal inspection crime lab

not under the dept. of justice, but still a federal lab

how many crime labs in the US?

approximately 350 crime labs

why was there an increase in crime labs since the 1960s?

1. increased protection for the accused as per SCOTUS

2. the right for the accused to be advised of their civil rights by the police

3. the right to counsel the accused (ex. an attorney)

dna evidence and drug material

any suspicious compound to be studied and analyzed

how many dna profiles of known suspects?

200-300 profiles, linked to 540,000 pieces of evidence

basic units of crime lab

1. physical sciences unit

2. biology unit

3. firearms unit

4. photography unit

5. document examination unit

physical sciences unit

services related to chemistry and physics; responsible for analysis of items such as glass

biology unit

provides examination of vegetation, bodily fluids, wood/plant materials

firearms unit

responsible for examination of all evidence relating to firearms and ammunition

photography unit

uses multiple technologies for the examination of photographic evidence; technology includes x-ray, UV, and infrared to name a few

document examination unit

all materials related to handwriting, print, and ink technologies such as copiers, typewriters, and paper

optional units of a crime lab

1. toxicology unit

2. voice print analysis unit

3. latent fingerprint unit

4. csi unit

5. polygraph unit

toxicology unit

responsible for examination of poisoning evidence

voice print analysis unit

all evidence related to recorded threats or transmitted SMS that is of a violent or unlawful nature

latent fingerprint unit

to identify, develop and characterize fingerprints that may be difficult to lift off objects due to their faint appearance or lack of development/partial print; fbi video shows how laser can identify a difficult print

csi unit

they secure, record, preserve and transport evidence to a crime lab

polygraph unit

uses a polygraph machine to establish the degree of sincerity or intent to be deceitful in their responses to investigators

nj state police lab

have all basic units + all optional units; large labs tend to have all units

how many units in the fbi crime lab?

25 units

MAKE SURE NOT TO MIX UP

osborne book (questioned documents: a study of questioned documents) could be confused with the discipline (questioned documents) and the crime lab unit (question document analysis)

forensic anthropology

concerned with study of ossified remains; determines age, gender, previous medical history, and ethnicity of collection of bones; case example would be the crawlspace of john wayne gacy’s home

forensic engineering

responsible for the determination of structural failure; asks if accidental or intentional? who was responsible?; case example would be the collapse of a construction crane in nyc

forensic odontology

services of a dentist to work with bite-mark impressions or dental records to link a suspect to a crime; identifies victims based on dental evidence as well; case example would be the comparison of bite marks on female victim in 1978 and comparing it to the denitia of ted bundy

forensic entomology

use of insects and their feeding/egg laying habits on mortal remains to determine time of death/how long they’ve been dead; case example would be the blowfly (maggot stage) is the first step in the blowfly cycle to allow investigators to know how long an individual has been dead; 24 hours after death the maggots hatch and infest the body

forensic pathology

use of medicine for the determination of the cause of death, particularly when an autopsy is required; any death that is not witnessed usually will require autopsy for the office of the medical examiner

forensic psychiatry

medical specialists who deal with the criminally insane to determine a true psychopathy that warrants the verdict of criminal insanity; case example would be the determination that john hinckley as criminally insane to attempt a presidential assassination; also includes the failed determination that jeffery dahmer was NOT insane for his crimes

forensic toxicology

used ONLY in cases that are violations of criminal law (such as driving under the influence); blood test MUST be ready by a forensic toxicologist; case example would be the investigation of the intentional poisoning of carmela coppolino

basic notes from fbi notes

composed of 25 different units; over 80 technologies used for fingerprinting; ranges from PhD level scientists to technicians and lab assistants; lab is one division of 13 that make up fbi; receive over 600 pieces of evidence everyday

original case

sacco and vanzetti; forensic evidence was used for the first time in court in the form of bullets fired from suspects' guns

first director of fbi crime lab

charles appel; special agent who attended classes at the nation’s first crime lab run by Goddard in northwestern university; southern railroad building was the crime lab for him (had UV light machine to inspect handwriting, machine to examine gun barrels, one microscope, only staff was him)

serology unit

chemical tests could determine human blood types

firearms/toolmark unit

look at firearms and ammunition components that could be linked to them (cartridge cases, bullets from bodies, etc; perform tests and decide if they come from what gun); narrows down from how they’re manufactured based on the grooves in the barrel, which makes the bullet rotate

explosives unit

basic components of a bomb is energetic material, others to initiate the bomb; most common are improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or homemade bombs (the most dangerous kinds because they’re foreign)

case example for explosives unit

crash of pan am flight 103 over lockerbie, scotland; largest crime scene in history at 800 square miles; investigators found thumb-sized piece of timer and matched it to an undetonated bomb, connecting it to libyan terrorists who had previously made a bomb with an identical timer

latent fingerprint unit

first fingerprint files in 1924; latent prints lifted off crime scene to support criminal matters in 1933; latent/hidden fingerprints are often left at crime scene; techniques to develop latent fingerprints (previously three processes, chemical and liquBombids, today there are 80)

case example(s) for latent fingerprint unit

1. william west (when arrested and sent away, his bertillon measurements were the same as another “william west” (his twin brother, james west) who had the same measurements except for their fingerprints)

2. public enemy #1: john dilliginger (killed outside movie theater?; changed his appearance w/ rudimentary plastic surgery + dipped his fingerprints in acid; uniqueness of fingerprint can be identified to second and third joints of the finger though he burned the tips of his finger)

3. valerian trifa (bishop who denied that he was involved in iron guard; german museum didn’t want damage to postcard sent to Himmler 41 years earlier, so 30 watt fiber optic laser was used has a refracting lense that disperses laser light across display table, taking the evidence and going through items at a higher frequency than the object)

dna unit

no two people with the same dna; dna first used in manchester, england and was used for application to rapes + homicides to other violent crimes; unit uses national dna index system (nationwide network of >170 crime labs that are hooked together that share dna information; more than 1.5 million convicted offender profiles in the national system; more than 6,000 cases using this technology)

nuclear dna vs. mitochondrial dna

1. nuclear dna (found in nucleus of cell, like the yolk of an egg; encodes physical characteristics like eye color, hair color, etc; two copies of this dna in cells)

2. mitochondrial dna (found in outer layers of the cell, like the egg white of an egg; found in much higher copy numbers)

trace evidence unit

look for hairs, fibers, glass, or soil and are looking at whatever item that they are examining and is foreign to those items; take debris that is removed from clothing and look at it under a microscope and if they are consistent they would be looked under a fluorescent microscope to see if they flourse the same way

FTIR

fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer; cutting edge of trace evidence analysis, identifies actual chemical structure of the substance being examined + identifies unknown compounds; determines what subtype of fiber it is (ex. nylon, tells you if it’s a nylon 6, or nylon 66); usually not enough to seal a conviction

case example for trace evidence unit

atlanta child murders (bodies found and interrelated through fibers, so connected to the same person; wayne williams was a 23 year old local music promoter, said he threw garbage over the bridge when it was really a body; hair and fiber evidence against him mounted (fibers from his vehicle, form the carpet in his house, etc); convicted of murder with life sentence based on fiber evidence

chemistry unit

called the “five million dollar room”; has highest tech instruments + most expensive unit

tools/disciplines used in chemistry unit

1. spectrophotometry (measures absorption of light)

2. chromatography (uses chromatic instruments; separates components)

3. mass spectrometry (used w/ a machine known as “time of flight” (mass spectrometer); allows scientists to look at chemicals and weight with high resolution; can identify compounds and elements not even dreamed of with microscopic accuracy/precision by the item’s atomic weight; identifies them with a “chemical fingerprint” of a chemical down to the hundredths or thousandths place from its atomic weight)

case example for chemistry unit

crash of united flight 629 (sodium carbonate was found on pieces of the wreckage which was residue from a TNT detonation; first case of sabotage in modern history)

impact of 9/11

lab moved from domestic crime to world-wide terrorism; worked to prevent crime and acts of terrorism

labs created in result to 9/11

1. HMRU (hazardous materials response unit)

2. bomb data center

3. CFSRU (counterterrorism and forensic science research unit)

HMRU

hazardous materials response unit; one of busiest units after 9/11; tasked with collecting evidence and recording events (ex. anthrax letters); equipment heavy unit (protective masks, gloves, suits, boots, detection equipment for toxic chemicals); suits have dermal and respiratory protection from levels A (highest level of protection) to D (lowest level of protection); gloves and “footies” used to fully encapsulate the user

bomb data center

provides a database for public safety bomb technicians; bomb defusing robots are used, but can’t replace a bomb technician; allows them to operate on bombs from a distance without putting technician at risk; robot can use water cannons (also known as disruptors) to put water into the incendiary device to denote the bomb in a controlled environment; water is incompressible, so it's safe to use it around certain devices

CFSRU

counterterrorism and forensic science research unit; dual mission of fighting crime and terrorism; looks at weaponry and devices

CODIS

national dna index system; has a offender index and forensic database; has around 1.5 million offenders on file; attempts to match unidentified forensic evidence from crime scenes with known offenders; technically apart of the dna unit