Category Archives: Characters
An Experiment in Observation
The art of observation is critical to every CSI. We have to be able to see things that others can not. Contrary to popular opinion we don’t always “see” everything that we see. To steal an example from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; close your eyes and say out loud how many steps it takes to get from your bedroom door to your kitchen. Easy right? I mean, you probably walk that route several times a day don’t you? Why would you have trouble describing the number of steps it takes? It’s the difference between “seeing” and “observing”. We may see things but we may not observe them.
As authors, we have to describe scenes for our readers. We have to do it in such a way that they feel a part of the scene. This is easier when we feel a part of it ourselves. I’m sure you’d agree that your writing is much better when you’re describing a place you’ve actually visited. But even if you’re familiar with the setting…how well do you really know it? Here is a simple exercise to help you develop your skills of observation. The more you practice such exercises the more vivid and detailed your scene writing will likely become.
Where ever you are right now, get a sheet of paper and a pen. Pick a room on the other side of your home (or your office). Imagine yourself standing in the doorway facing into the space. Now I want you to describe the room. Start on your left and begin writing down everything I would see if I were standing where you are. Spare no detail. Give yourself ten minutes to complete the task. Then try to draw a “birds-eye” diagram of the furniture in that space. When you’re done, take the notes and diagram to the room and see how you did. Did you capture all the detail? The colors…the sounds…the smells?
If you live in a dorm room or one bedroom apartment you can try something a little different. Think of a picture in your place of employment or relatives house. Got it? Now describe it and draw it. What are the colors? How many elements (people, animals, buildings, etc.) are in it? What color is the mat board? How about the frame? Where is it on the wall?
I’m not suggesting that CSIs have photographic memories. We don’t observe everything either but, we develop our skills of observation to “see” more than the average person. I’m betting that, as authors, you see more than you think; more than most others. Exercises like this are what we use to train new CSIs to observe details others may miss. I hope that you’ll find it an interesting first step in enhancing your observation skills.
Understanding the CSI Mindset
Today I was invited to guest blog at Criminal Lines about keeping the CSI character “in character”. Stop by and check out her BLOG and other great articles!
Interview with Forensic Geologist Jim Reed
I have a special treat for you today F4F readers. Jim Reed is currently the Director of Research & Development for RockWare Incorporated, a geological software company based in Golden, Colorado with a European office in Lugano, Switzerland. Jim began studying geology at the University of Wyoming and ended up at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. His career as a geologist began in 1973 when he worked for NASA on the Mars Viking Lander project while moonlighting for Arch Minerals computing coal reserves in the Illinois Basin. He then went on to work as a project-level field geologist for Freeport Exploration (copper, gold, silver) in the Mojave Desert and southern New Mexico. From there, he became a regional-level field geologist for AMAX Exploration (molybdenum) in the Sierra Nevada of Northern California and the Trans-Pecos regions of southwestern Texas. He then became a senior geologist at Wold Minerals (uranium & talc) based in Austin, Texas. Since founding RockWare in 1983, Jim has worked in China, Africa, Cyprus, Russia and Papua New Guinea. His expertise includes environmental site contamination characterization, hydrogeology, mining, petroleum, and geotechnical volumetrics (computing the shape and mass of buried objects). I have known and worked with Jim for a number of years in NecroSearch and he’s the real deal.
F4F: Tell us a little about how you first became involved in forensic investigations?
REED: About 20 years ago, I got a call from Clark Davenport, a crazy geophysicist and soon-to-be mentor and lifelong friend, who was one of the co-founders of NecroSearch, a newly-formed, non-profit organization made up of volunteers from a variety of disciplines, many of which I had never even heard of. Entomology? What’s that? They were looking for a geo-nerd to apply geological software to their investigations. The timing was perfect because I was looking for something civic to become involved in. So I showed up at their next meeting and was absolutely captivated by the idea of working with real cops on real crimes. As a kid, I was always in trouble with the cops, so this was my chance to flip things around. Personal computing was fairly new at the time so I was considered a god. Nowadays, everybody in the group just thinks of me as an obnoxious computer geek.
F4F: Can you tell the readers the difference between forensic geology and geophysics?
REED: Geophysicists are just geologists who could pass calculus and physics. Geophysics always involves complicated-looking electronic gizmos with lots of blinking lights that measure things like soil conductivity (e.g. moisture) using outrageously simple concepts that are disguised by fancy jargon. I’m not exaggerating. Really. Consider a “resistivity” survey. Connect a wire from the positive end of a battery to a voltmeter. Then run a wire from the other pole of the voltmeter and stick it into the ground. Run a wire from the negative side of the battery into the ground, and voila, you’ve got a “resistivity meter” or a “soil conductivity meter”. By comparison, geologists are typically limited to rock hammers, colored pencils, and a compass, albeit a fancy compass. The term “forensics” has been muddied over the years to essentially apply to any endeavor that involves lawyers. If somebody’s house slips off its foundation, the homeowner’s attorney may hire a “forensic engineering geologist” to testify in the lawsuit with the contractor. The forensic engineering geologist, as opposed to a plain ol’ engineering geologist, knows to look at the jury and the judge when he/she answers a question rather than looking at the person who asked the question. That’s about it. In regards to crime-fighting, I consider a “forensic” prefix to mean that you know how to conduct yourself at a crime scene (drinking coffee, eating donuts, and swapping jokes), collect evidence, and provide expert testimony at the trial.
F4F: Most, if not all, forensic geologists are employed by private industry or universities. What do you see as the biggest challenge for a geologist working a forensic case for the first time?
REED: Wow, “for the first time”? That’s tough. I think the biggest challenge is to act like you know what you’re doing. Seriously. You may be at the top of your game geology-wise, but I can guarantee that you’ll fall apart on your first case. Here’s why; methodical, well-planned field methods fall apart when Channel X turns on the bright lights, sticks a microphone in your face, and the cutie asks a question that is so outrageously stupid that your brain locks up in an infinite loop, unable to come up with an answer that doesn’t come off as smartass, condescending, or extremely nerdy. In the end, you just come off as an idiot. Most geologists are used to working in remote locations by themselves where there’s nobody to see you screw up the first three times. It doesn’t help when you overhear law enforcement guys laughing amongst themselves, saying “Damn, I could have dug up this site with a backhoe in the time that it’s taking that geo-guy to figure out his GPS.” My advice to a geologist who’s working their first case is to find a mentor and mimic their every move. Another problem is that most science curricula beat young students over the head with the concept of the “observer effect” which essentially states that you can’t measure anything without effecting the outcome of the experiment. On a crime scene, the geologist becomes overwhelmed with this principle. How can I measure soil compaction if all of these crimes scene technicians are stomping all over the place?
F4F: What are some of the most effective technologies in remote sensing for law enforcement in your opinion?
REED: Oh boy, how much space do I have to answer this one? Well, let’s start with the least “invasive”, meaning techniques that don’t screw up the crime scene. First off, there’s conventional satellite imagery. Google Earth is the starting point, especially if you use their historical imagery capability to compare images before and after the date when the evidence was buried. Next comes higher-resolution imagery, typically from the local tax assessor or the utility companies. An infrared camera is a great tool because you can look for ground that has a weird thermal “signature”. I don’t mean ground that’s glowing with heat because a body is decomposing, but rather subtle differences related to how the disturbed soil is heating up or cooling off during a 24-hour period. From here, we start in with the geophysics, measuring things such as soil moisture because anybody who’s ever planted a garden knows that turning the soil increases its ability to hold moisture. Then comes ground penetrating radar (GPR) in which we’re looking for disturbances within the natural layering of the soil layers. If there’s reason to believe that ferrous metals (anything that can rust) are buried along with the victim, we might use a magnetometer which measures the magnetic field produced by elements such as iron. An invasive gizmo called a “cone penetrometer” can be used to measure the compaction of the soil. This is essentially a very expensive metal rod that you push into the ground. The penetrometer measures the pressure required to push the rod point to various depth levels. Once you start in with these types of “geo-technical” tools, you’re disturbing the site, so it’s import to start with the least invasive methods and then progress towards the destructive. Sort of like medicine. Start by asking about the symptoms, suggest some changes to diet, exercise, etc. before you pull out the scalpel.
F4F: I can’t think of anyone that has used technology more effectively to advance our abilities to locate clandestine graves. Can you talk about how you’ve adapted RockWare technology to forensic science?
REED: Thanks. I’m blushing. Mostly, I’ve added a bunch of programs to RockWorks for merging the data from the different disciplines and boiling it down to a single target. This means “normalizing” the data from the botanists, the remote sensing (e.g. thermal), geophysics, etc. so that we can compare apples with apples. The next step is to “standardize” these spatial (map) data sets such that they’re expressed in terms of “standard deviations from the mean”. That’s a fancy way of saying that we’re converting the data to units that represent weirdness relative to undisturbed terrain. Finally, these programs boil all of this disparate information into a “dig here” map. The technical terminology for this type of analysis is “N-dimensional, multi-variant, weighted spatial analysis” – a great term to throw out when you want to intimidate a cross-examining defense attorney. Another big improvement, thanks to the on-site forensic experience involves ease-of-use. It’s one thing to write a program that you can use if you’re sitting in a quiet office with the luxury of silence and a user manual. It’s another thing to create an interface that is useable on the hood of a squad car when everybody around you is making you nervous. We’ve also added one-click export to Google Earth thereby eliminating the coordinate conversion hassles that drive investigators away from computers.
F4F: You worked on high profile cases all over the world. What was your most memorable experience?
REED: There have certainly been some cases that impress my friends, like going to Russia to look for Anastasia Romanov, but the ones that I remember the best are the ones that I’d really like to forget. Don’t get me wrong; the rewards from this type of work are profound. Directly helping to put the boogie-man away, providing “closure” to family members, working with world-class scientists, befriending some of the greatest law enforcement people – these are the some of the many benefits. But … in the last few years I’ve been paired up to work side-by-side, in the field, with cooperative perpetrators including serial murderers. Being nonchalant and friendly with these guys has taken a toll. In one instance, I left the group for about a year until the nightmares went away. Eventually, I realized that there was a hole in my life that NecroSearch filled so I became active again and sure enough the nightmares started right back up. The difference is that I now accept them as “normal” costs well worth the benefits. Part of the job.
F4F: You’re on the forefront of new technology. What do you see emerging in the next five or ten years that may help law enforcement find clandestine graves?
REED: Ground-based LIDaR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) is going to absolutely and unequivocally revolutionize crime scene investigations. Most law enforcement folks haven’t even heard of it yet, but trust me, it will change everything. Here’s how it works; You arrive at the scene, set up a tripod, mount a clunky gizmo on top, turn it on, and walk away. The LIDaR laser/camera sweeps up and down while rotating, recording the location and color of everything at the site. Every blade of grass. Every twig. Everything. You pull out the memory card, plug it into a laptop and you’ve got a color “point cloud” that exactly reproduces the crime scene in three dimensions. Right now, LIDaR is incredibly expensive, but so was GPS twenty years ago and now every cop has one. For NecroSearch, I see LIDaR allowing us to create micro-topographic surfaces that will show the slightest disturbance (e.g. subsidence). Anybody who has ever visited an old graveyard knows what happens to the ground surface over time. You don’t even need to bury something to create a topographic “anomaly” – just dig a hole, backfill it, and return in a year. You may now be able to see it, but LIDaR will.
For more information about RockWare and their flagship product, RockWorks, visit: www.rockware.com
Interview with a Forensic Botanist: Dr. Jane Bock
Dr. Jane Bock is a forensic botanist and researcher from Colorado affiliated with a number of professional organizations. She has been conducting field research for over four decades and has received numerous awards including the Ralph W. Schreiber conservation award and Hazel Barnes Prize. I first met Dr. Bock while working in NecroSearch International. She has worked numerous murder cases across the nation and is very approachable for those seeking additional information. The field of forensic botany is fascinating. From looking at last meal evidence to disturbances from burial, plant material can provide great insight to an investigation. If you’ve never thought of including botanical evidence in one of your novels you might reconsider after reading this interview. Her new book Handbook of Forensic Botany will be released this year.
F4F: Historically, how long have plants been used in forensic investigations?
BOCK: Forensic botany reaches far back in Western history. Plato, in his writing (Phaedo 399 BCE), describes the suicide of his teacher, Socrates, in detail. Socrates chose to commit suicide by imbibing poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). Plato’s description of Socrates’ symptoms fits exactly the pattern of poison hemlock poisoning today in the US and Europe. Forensic botany became ‘scientific’ with the inventions of the printing press (1440 AD) and the light microscope lenses (1590 AD). Using a microscopic lens, Robert Hooke described the cellular nature of cork cells, later published in his book, Micrographia. The earliest books describing plant cell types followed shortly. Forensic botany came of age in the US in 1934 when botanical evidence was used to solve the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s baby boy.
Botanical evidence in courts today is accepted readily through both Frye and Dauburt examinations provided the witness shows competence in botanical knowledge. My cases have involved knowledge from three subdivisions of botany: plant anatomy, plant taxonomy, and plant ecology.
F4F: How are plants used in last meal evidence analysis?
BOCK: Dr. David O. Norris and I fostered the identification of food plant cells in criminal investigations and trials. Plant cells usually are enclosed in cellulose walls. These complex carbohydrate walls are virtually indestructible. They pass through the human digestive tract unchanged in their sizes and shapes. It does not matter if the plant was consumed raw, canned, frozen or cooked. Each food plant has cells that are distinctive in size and shape. We commonly examine plant cells from stomach contents. There is a rough time table for how long each stage of the human digestive process takes, and the time for stomach digestion usually is within a couple hours of consumption, then the material passes to the small intestine. This can be helpful in some homicides in estimating the time of death.
Identifying food plant cells from the digestive tract and feces of a homicide victim may link the victim to a certain place where a meal was taken and may link a suspect’s presence to that same place. Two recent cases involved the plant foods found in the stomach contents of people whose exact diets were known (hospital and prison). When the records of the day’s meals were compared with stomach contents, we learned which meal was the victim’s last even though a suspect claimed the person had been killed after a later meal.
F4F: What are the most common types of analysis you’re asked to conduct for law enforcement?
BOCK: Plant Taxonomy: assigning the correct scientific plant name to a plant or plant fragment. Such identification can link a victim to a suspect through plant fragments found in clothes or vehicles. Such evidence also can show a place where a victim and/or suspect visited. what residences These cases are relatively common. Plant Ecology: the relationship between plants and their environments. Here, you test ideas about where plant materials originated. In a case, a truck contained fragments from a mountain setting, but the trucker claimed the vehicle never had left the prairie. This along with other evidence led to a murder conviction.
F4F: Some of the readers may be unaware of the use of pollen, seeds, and diatoms in forensic investigations. Can you talk a little about how they may be used to link a suspect to a crime scene?
BOCK: Most plants are made up of stems, roots, and leaves, plus reproductive parts (flower parts and seeds). These all have cellulose cell walls. However, other organisms have cell walls comprised of other substances. These plant structures can fall into the forensic botanist’s purview, and include pollen, spores, and certain microorganisms. The presence of pollen in association with a cold case homicide can suggest a season when a crime took place because the shedding of pollen is highly seasonal. Diatoms have cell walls of silica and are virtually universal in all bodies of water from mud puddles to oceans. However, species distribution and relative abundances among species have given strong evidence of the source the water in a case. Here, the water in the victim’s lungs indicated that he had been in a body of water that was distinctive from the location described by the suspect.
F4F: You’ve been involved with a number of high profile murder cases over the years. Is there any one case involving plant evidence that really stands out to you and why?
BOCK: High profile cases can be difficult if the media have publicized widely their decision about guilt. For example, in the defense for the Casey Anthony case, making trips to the courthouse involved running a gauntlet of reporters and other supporters of a guilty verdict yelling my name. Also, e-mail threats for the expert if you are involved with the ‘unpopular’ side. The most renowned high profile murder case I’ve worked occurred over 10 years ago and has not been brought to trial. Therefore, it is an ongoing case and my evidence cannot be discussed here. This continues to weigh heavily on me because of what my partner and I know from our evidence. In a recent cold case in Pennsylvania where the victim was an 80-year old woman, we determined the contents her last meal. It had served as the medium for the poison that killed her. We supplied a deposition and this led to a confession of the persons who killed her. Had it gone to trial it would have been very high profile.
F4F: What’s on the horizon in forensic botany? Are there new technologies that are poised to open areas of inquiry that were previously unknown?
BOCK: A worrisome aspect of this field is that it is underutilized and under represented. The approaches described above are simple, inexpensive, and readily accepted in courts. Many more people with forensic interests must train themselves in botany. DNA can be useful in forensic botany, but our lab does not deal with it. It is not especially useful in plant identifications because there are at least 300,000 plant species., and most of their DNA patterns are not known. What DNA can do is link plant fragments from a single plant to a suspect to a victim, to a vehicle, to a place. This works well. DNA analysis is being streamlined and will become more so. Already some kits are showing up so that a major laboratory may not be required.
I am happy to discuss forensic botany with interested individuals, and also to point them to appropriate scientific literature.
Why do criminals choose one house over another?
This is a common question CSIs must address with each crime scene. Why this house? Why this victim? Why me? (just kidding!) We don’t always figure it out but understanding what may have attracted the criminal may provide insight into the type of criminal we’re looking for. Of course, each crime is different. The location may be incidental to the victim but, for the sake of this discussion, let’s just focus on location. To answer this question I generally begin by breaking down my options into two categories; Intelligence and Opportunity.
Intelligence doesn’t relate to IQ. By Intelligence I mean information. This may tie in to what is stolen. I remember a residential burglary once where the owners reportedly had several thousand dollars in cash taken. When I asked where the money had been kept the man took me to the master closet and showed me an older sport jacket (among dozens) that he used to stash the cash in. There were no windows and so it was immediately obvious that whoever had stolen the money knew it was there. Nothing else was disturbed and the odds of a burglar stumbling on the right jacket were astronomical! Turns out his teenager had disclosed (bragged about) the information to some “friends” at school. The point is that they knew what they were looking for and where. The same may be true for drugs, guns, counterfeit money, etc. If your victims are professional criminals (sometimes they do call the cops) they will be less than truthful about what was really stolen. They just want the CSIs to figure out who committed the crime. Criminal locations targeted may include rival drug houses, prostitution rings, money launderers, etc.
Is the home adjacent to a greenbelt or park and lacking blinds or curtains? Can the burglar easily “case” the house at night with the lights on? Does the victim have a predictable routine or habit that is easily observed? Is this the only house on the block without an alarm sign in the front yard? Are they the only ones without a large dog? What makes this house or business more appealing than the one next door? Of course, businesses are somewhat different than homes. They type of business may have everything to do with selection. A gas station or pawn shop is more tempting to a robber than a dental practice. Unless, of course, the dental office is a front!
Opportunity is another factor to consider. Most burglars don’t like to enter occupied structures. So they may be on the lookout for evidence of vacancy. Are there newspapers piled up outside? Solicitor advertisements on the door? Have the trash cans been left on the curb when all the other neighbors have brought them in? These are all passive indicators that no one is home. Sometimes criminals will enter a home. This is more tempting when access is easy such as when the garage door is left open. Some people will leave ground floor windows open as well which are very easy to bypass. Some criminals are even bold enough to ring the doorbell. If no one answers (and they don’t hear a dog) they just go around to a secluded spot and force entry.
So why is any of this important to you as an author? Because readers want to understand the “why” of the scene. Why this house? Why this window? Why this victim? It provides a reasonable explanation to the reader for the actions and motives of the characters. So, knowing how to describe and set up the revelation may bring your reader into a deeper appreciation of the scene. This information can be given in any viewpoint, dialog, or observation of the character. The “how” is not nearly as important as the “why”. So when you’re developing a scene try not to just toss out random elements. Ask yourself why your criminal decided on this particular location and then reveal that in some way to the reader. I guarantee you they are dying to know!
Interview with Cold Case Author and Historian Silvia Pettem
Today I wanted to share an interview with a local Colorado author and cold case researcher. Silvia Pettem is a Boulder-based author and historical researcher. Beginning in 2003 (after a decades-long career in research and writing), she combined old-fashioned detective work with the power of the Internet while partnering with her local sheriff and with forensic experts of the Vidocq Society to determine the identity of a murder victim from 1954. She chronicled their work in Someone’s Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe. Now, as a volunteer in the Detectives Section of the Boulder Police Department, as well as a NamUs instructor and an associate member of the Vidocq Society, Pettem has expanded her expertise in her latest book––Cold Case Research: Resources for Unidentified, Missing, and Cold Homicide Cases.
F4F: Behind the Badge was an excellent history of the Boulder (CO) Police Department for the last 125 years. Writers can find it difficult to gain the trust of law enforcement but you seemed to have great access. What was your fondest memory of that project?
SP: What I enjoyed the most was meeting the people and learning how the department worked, literally “behind the badge.”
F4F: In Someone’s Daughter you delved into an unsolved “cold” murder case in Boulder county. In the end, your work led to the identity of the victim previously known as Jane Doe. Tell the readers of F4F a little about the victim and how she died.
SP: Dorothy Gay Howard was only 18, but she had already been married, then divorced, and then remarried when she fled Phoenix AZ in the fall of 1953. She may have hitch-hiked or taken a bus to Denver. Her aunt lived there, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, where Harvey Glatman (later executed for murder) trolled for victims to sexually assault. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and I believe that Howard may have been the first victim he killed.
F4F: As a writer, what were some of the challenges you faced when researching this book and how did you overcome them?
SP: Lack of access to the case file and lack of communication with detectives. I finally gave them information (from my research) that they couldn’t ignore.
F4F: Your latest book Cold Case Research really gets at the marrow of cold homicides. What do you feel are the greatest challenges facing law enforcement in cold case investigations?
SP: LE’s greatest challenges are lack of time and lack of money. In Cold Case Research, I explain how to obtain free forensic services through NamUs, get pro bono help through review teams, make the most of search engines and databases, and use of volunteers. I’ve also found that the older investigators aren’t especially internet-savvy, and the younger ones know little about accessing historical newspapers and courthouse records––so I’ve tried to bring in resources from both generations to bridge that gap.
F4F: How do you see the future of cold case homicide investigations? Is there room for a bigger role from civilian resources?
SP: I’m optimistic, especially when agencies recognize the need for cold case units, even if they consist of only one dedicated investigator. As to civilian resources (and I’m one at the Boulder Police Department), I think more agencies need to put them to work in order to free up time for investigators to do their jobs. Of course the volunteers need to be vetted and sign confidentiality statements. Sometimes, all that’s needed is a fresh pair of eyes.
F4F: Can you tell us about any new projects you are working on?
SP: I’m currently busy with speaking engagements––on cold case research––at International Association for Identification conferences around the country.
Common Acronyms in Forensics
As authors, using acronyms gives a little realism to your character dialog and shows that you’ve done some basic research into the forensics profession. So I thought I would define a few of the more common acronyms used by CSIs. Don’t be shy about using these in your novel.
Photography:
- SLR = Single Lens Reflex. The SLR is a type of camera most CSIs use. These cameras have a detachable lens that can be separated from the body. This is different than the small point and shoot cameras popular with most people.
- ABFO = American Board of Forensic Odontology. A very common photographic scale (ruler) is called an ABFO scale. It is “L” shaped with 6″ arms.
- UV = Ultraviolet. Many body fluids like semen, saliva, and urine will fluoresce under UV light and photographed even if they are invisible to the naked eye.
- IR = Infra-red. Infra-red light is used to detect and photograph various forms of secret writing, different inks used on the same document (like a check where someone adds extra zeros to the cash out amount), and even drugs.
- ALS = Alternate Light Source is a device using both ultra-violet and infrared light to discover evidence.
- UAV = Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. UAVs (also called drones) are becoming more popular with law enforcement agencies as a platform for taking aerial photographs and video. Basically they are sophisticated remote controlled aircraft with camera equipment that can be controlled from a ground based pilot.
Fingerprints:
- ACE-V = Analysis, Comparison, Evaluation, and Verification. This is the methodology used by fingerprint examiners to compare latent crime scene fingerprints to inked fingerprints on an arrest card.
- AFIS = Automated Fingerprint Identification System. This is a ubiquitous term used to describe a variety of computer databases that store and search fingerprint images. Don’t confuse with AFIX Tracker which is a specific brand of AFIS type computer system.
- I-AFIS = Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. This is the national fingerprint database operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that can be accessed by state and local law enforcement agencies.
Crime Scenes:
- CSI = Crime Scene Investigator
- SOCO = Scenes of Crime Officer is the term for a CSI in England
Ballistics:
- FMJ = Full metal jacket
- HP = Hollow Point
Blood Evidence:
- DNA = Deoxyribonucleic Acid; our genetic building blocks
- STR = Short Tandem Repeat is a type of modern forensic DNA testing of specific loci on two or more samples.
- RFLP = Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism refers to differences between homologous DNA sequences and is an older testing procedure.
- CODIS = Combined DNA Index System is a computerized database of DNA profiles used in criminal investigations (similar to AFIS).
- BAC = Blood alcohol content.
- LMG = Leucomalachite green is a blood reagent with a strong odor that turns the latent bloodstain a green color. It is not commonly used today.
- LCV = Lueco-crystal Violet is a blood reagent that turns bloodstains a dark blue/purple color.
Drug Chemistry:
- GCMS = Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer is a device used to identify chemical compounds in unknown samples like illicit drugs. It is a great instrument to use with mixed samples or for general screening but it will totally consume the sample.
- LCMS = Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry is another method of drug testing that is useful in complex mixtures of samples.
- FTIR = Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy is a devices used to test a liquid, gas, or solid substance to identify it. It is the preferred method if you want to save the sample or if you need to identify an isomer.
- GHB = Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid is a common date rape drug that is both colorless and odorless. It is commonly slipped into victim’s drinks.
Other:
- SEM = Scanning Electron Microscope is a device using electrons rather than light to visualize very small evidence about 250 times greater than the typical light microscope.
Professional Forensic Organizations:
- IAI = International Association for Identification
- AAFS = American Academy of Forensic Sciences
- ACSR = Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction
- IABPA = International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts
- RMABPA = Rocky Mountain Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts
- SWG = Scientific working group (several groups based on field of study like SWGTREAD, SWGSTAIN, SWGGUN, and SWGFAST)
Don’t forget that a lot of agencies have acronyms like the FBI, DEA, BATFE, etc. Also, I have left out a number of acronyms that deal with accreditation and safety as I can’t imagine you wanting to use them in dialog (unless you want your readers to fall asleep in which case let me know!)
Crime Scene Response: The Call Out
This will be the first in a series of posts on how CSIs respond to and investigate crime scenes. I hope that these posts will give you a little insight to the process which may help you in developing scenes and dialog in your novel. I’ll be speaking exclusively about CSIs who are on-call as opposed to those working in shifts. Obviously, if your character works a shift (like graves) they are already in uniform or in their vehicle or office and can respond accordingly. But, what about the CSIs who get called out after hours? This is where it can get a little interesting. During my career I worked banker hours during the day and was on-call at night and on weekends. Depending on the size of the lab you may be on-call as much as every other week or once every six or eight weeks. Usually you’re on call one week at a time. In some labs you may also be on “back up” the week before you go on-call which means you’re the number two person called if something major happens or the primary criminalist is already on a call out.
Most agencies will give you an on-call vehicle and some even supply your phone. You are required to drive this vehicle everywhere you go while on-call, even on personal errands like grocery shopping or going out to eat. Of course, when the call comes you have to finish up what you’re doing and respond to the crime scene. This adds a little inconvenience to your life in that you usually have to driver separately from your family. So if you and your spouse go out for dinner you need to drive separately. Same thing with going to the kids soccer game, Thanksgiving dinner, or anything else you might do. You can’t take your spouse or kids to a crime scene because you don’t know how long you’ll be tied up (days in extreme cases). Obviously, you have to stay somewhat close to home when on call. You can’t go camping for the weekend or do anything that would prevent you from responding in a reasonable amount of time. Most agencies I know of require you to be en route to a scene within thirty minutes of a call and on scene in about an hour.
Different agencies have different policies on who actually can call out a CSI. Most of the time this is restricted to the Sergeant rank or above. Since CSIs are a finite resource agencies don’t want them called out on every little thing so a higher ranked individual will evaluate the request to see if a CSI is really needed. In some agencies only the investigations supervisors can call out the lab and patrol officers must make their request through them. Either way, the CSI usually gets the call from either the ranking officer, detective, or in most cases dispatch. Regardless, when the call comes in you have to take down pertinent information about the crime. Every CSI will have a notebook and their phone on the nightstand or in their vehicle. Here are some of the basic things we might have to note as the call comes in.
- Time and date of the call out
- Who notified you
- The crime scene location (address)
- Initial details about the crime including secondary scenes (this information may be incomplete or incorrect depending on the source)
- Time and place of your departure to the crime scene (this could be your residence, restaurant, or some other location)
- Finally, time of arrival on scene.
Your departures and arrivals are usually done via police radio so there is a record. Every criminalist will be assigned a call sign number. Sometimes this is an arbitrary employee number, vehicle number, or just your name. Here is a hypothetical radio exchange between a CSI and dispatch. When you talk to dispatch you typically only reference yourself; you don’t have to say “dispatch”. There are some websites that actually let you listen in to live police radio traffic in your area so you may want to do a web search for your local police or sheriff followed by “police radio” and see what comes up.
CSI: “651″
Dispatch: “651 go ahead”
CSI: “Show me en route to 1234 4th street from my residence”
Dispatch: “Copy 2147″ (2147 would be 9:47 pm in military time)
Then when you arrive on scene you might say…
CSI: “651 on scene”
Dispatch: “2231″ (meaning your arrival is acknowledged at 10:31pm)
There is no need to acknowledge what scene you are arriving at because you already made that clear in the initial call. If you needed to talk to an officer or detective while en route you would contact them on the radio using their call sign followed by yours. For example you might say “Charlie 23, 651″. This means “hey guy named Charlie 23 this is me (651) and I want to talk to you.
The FBI and Crime Scene Response
Anyone who knows me knows that I never pass up an opportunity to make fun of the FBI. Those same folks also know that I have a tremendous amount of respect for the agency. One of my best friends is a Special Agent and despite the fact that he is a genius, I relentlessly poke fun at him anyway. The FBI is prominently featured in many novels, movies, and television news segments. That’s not too surprising given the agency has a well known reputation and it’s hard to miss them on the evening news (thanks to their snazzy windbreakers emblazoned with their initials). But I have encountered a number of authors who don’t fully understand the role of the FBI in criminal investigations. Recently, an author friend had me read a scene they were working on in which the FBI was investigating an officer involved shooting. They were under the impression that the FBI investigated all officer involved shootings. So I thought it might be helpful to discuss when the FBI is actually involved in a case. Keep in mind that just because the FBI has jurisdiction in a crime doesn’t necessarily mean they will work the investigation. More on that in a bit.
To understand when the FBI is called in you need to understand a little about jurisdiction. Keep in mind that this issue can get very complicated so I’ll try to keep this as simple as possible. The FBI is a Federal agency within the United States of America. I find it easiest to think of jurisdiction in two broad categories; property (location) and statutes (laws). The FBI has jurisdiction on federal properties like buildings, federal public lands (BLM, forrest, National Parks), and Indian Reservations (more on Indian Reservations in a later post). Also included are “special” jurisdictions that don’t fit into a “normal” definition. These include places like airplanes crossing over various states (you don’t have to prove which state airspace the crime occurred in), cruise ships, and potentially even the Space Shuttle (before the program was eliminated that is). In theory, any felony and many misdemeanors on these properties could (would) be investigated by the FBI. There are two big exceptions however. If another Federal law enforcement agency has primary jurisdiction or mission mandates over the crime. For example, the post office has its own branch that investigates mail fraud. Customs investigates smuggling and the Secret Service investigates counterfeiting and major fraud. Then there are certain crimes that may involve multiple agencies like the Drug Enforcement Agency or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Other federal reservations that are unique are military bases. See my interviews with an ARMY CID agent or NCIS Agent to get a better idea of those jurisdictions.
The second category to consider is the statute. The United States is a Federalist system comprised of Federal, state, and local laws. The FBI is a federal agency and primarily concerns itself with crimes defined under federal statutes. They won’t be responding to the average stolen vehicle. So some of the more common crimes you may be familiar with are bank robbery (FDIC insured banks), kidnapping, public corruption, racketeering and organized crime, etc. Additionally, the FBI also deals with acts of terrorism, counter-terrorism, and a few other things I won’t mention.These activities have risen dramatically since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City. As more and more agents are preoccupied with those important tasks, local agencies are picking up the slack by handling a larger portion of things like bank robberies and kidnappings (these crimes are also against state and local law).
As if that wasn’t complicated enough the FBI can be called for assistance on any major crime. Usually these are mass murders or serial murders that may or may not cross state boundaries. It is important to recognize however that the FBI must be invited into the case by the local agency unless there is a clear violation of federal law (such as an act of terrorism). The FBI can’t just storm onto any old homicide and take over just because they want to. More importantly, the FBI doesn’t have a dispatch center like you might find in a police department. 911 calls don’t go to the FBI switchboard and FBI agents aren’t driving around “on patrol” waiting for a radio call. Every agent I know is backlogged with major cases and doesn’t have time to investigate local crimes even if they wanted to (and they don’t). Besides, that’s what the local police are for.
So if you plan to have the FBI investigating crimes in your novel you need to make sure that one of the following occurs. They are invited in on something major, the crime is covered under federal statutes, and that it occurs on some kind of federal property. Now, the FBI does provide a tremendous amount of mutual aid to state and local authorities via units like their crime lab, Behavioral Analysis, and Hostage Rescue to name a few but, they don’t “take over” the investigation in the process. If you are writing a typical crime novel then the FBI characters will probably be acting in these capacities (like profiling a serial killer) and not as the lead agency. Don’t be afraid to insert FBI characters, just know it may be a supporting role. Keep in mind that this is a very basic explanation of when the FBI may respond to investigations. In reality, circumstances may dictate exceptions to the rule. If you are working on a specific scene post a question and I’ll try to clarify based on your specifics.
