In the 11/27/13 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled "Girls Gone Wild" technician Brody used two one dollar bills set at a ninety degree angle to photograph a shoe wear impression. Obviously she didn't have her crime scene kit with her and used something at hand to give a relative size. It is extremely important to include some type of scale when photographing either shoe wear or tire track impressions and it is standard operating procedure to abut them at a ninety degree angle at a corner of the impression. But I think even she would have preferred something that would lay flat and not have all the crinkles and wrinkles that could/would create distortion.
It was interesting that she included something in the shoe wear photograph to use as a measuring tool but the tire tread pattern that was sent to the lab digitally did not show any sort of measurement at all.
Well, here is something that will measure up:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
We all have many things to be thankful for so enjoy your day and be good to each other.
The 11/19/13 NCIS episode titled " Gut Check" focused heavily on security.
Gated parking lots, locked doors, metal detectors, and bullet proof or resistant glassed in areas haven't stopped persons who are intent on entering and creating havoc.
From watching recent news events, it would seem that most of the damage done lately is internal and not from outside sources.
Perhaps some of the $$ spent on security should be channeled toward sensitivity training and good mental health evaluations and programs.
I'm just saying....
The 11/22/13 Bones episode titled "The Mystery in the Meat" was based on a person having been killed, placed in a meat grinder and added to stew which was then packaged in cans and sold to several locations, one being a school. My question is: how did such a long piece of clavicle bone survive the machine that 'ground things into uniform pieces'? And if this were so, how could the only mark on the bone produced by a sharp instrument be from the murder weapon and not the blades of the grinder?
I find it interesting as well that a whole eyeball would survive the process. It would seem that such a fragile part of the human body could not maintain its shape and inner fluid through such a process.
But the one thing that flustered me was the insinuation that arterial blood spray in the hair would withstand a dozen washes and still remain. Just ask someone who cleans crime scenes as a profession. There must be some cleaner that will wash it all away!
I was thrilled that in the 11/14/13 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled "Helpless" that a CSI actually admitted that a surface was 'not conducive to prints'.
There is a symptom of these shows called the "CSI effect" which manifests in court trials. The juries are so used to the fast and miraculous results seen in this television shows that they have come to expect the results in real life.
A lot of time and attention is now the duty of attorneys to explain why things are not there or why they don't have a case based on some of the same results that the jury saw in an episode last week.
The fact that the television show is slowly beginning to put some reality back into the excitement of criminal investigation is going to be a blessing to CSIs and attorneys alike in future court cases.
The 11/6/13 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode titled "Under a Cloud" included the statement that a defense review is the worst part of the job.
Certainly there is some anxiety included with such reviews as everyone can think of something that they would like to go back and do again or just do the first time. Every scene investigation can be improved but no one person is ever perfect. If you follow standard operating procedures and take thorough notes with proper documentation, there should be no problems.
I have had several defense reviews. That is the nature of our business and certainly the defendant's right. I have not had a problem. I credit my training and documentation for that.
The worst part of the job for me is always the realization of what people are actually capable of doing to each other. That I have a difficult time with.
Technically, I would love to talk to someone with a portable laboratory like was portrayed in the episode. I have several questions. Do you have to recalibrate the equipment every time you cross a speed bump, railroad tracks, or a pot hole? Some of these instruments can be sensitive. Do you have any interference when you gas up the vehicle? Don't the gasoline fumes cause concern? How did it do a complete DNA analysis in a matter of seconds??
Perhaps this expensive alternative is merely an initial and preliminary test which will later be confirmed at the laboratory. Or maybe I'm out of touch with the most modern of technology!
In the 11/4/13 Bones episode titled "The Nazi on the Honeymoon" both Forensic experts said that visiting the springs was not a good idea because they contain wild boar fecal matter.
This takes me back about two decades when one of my job duties was to test the public swimming pools and the water parks for bacteria. Boy, the things that grew in some of those waters!!
Now I know that thousands of people have played in the waters and very few have gotten deathly ill. So the adage that ignorance is bliss really applies here.
Studies have been done that indicate with all the antibacterial soaps and lotions that we are becoming our own worst enemy when it come to battling germs and bacteria. We can't build up a tolerance to such germs and bacteria without exposure to them.
Still, to this day, I have a hard time getting all those overrun petri dishes out of my mind when it comes to the inviting clear waters.
The 10/30/13 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled "Passed Pawns" established a dangerous idea. They insinuated that promotions are based solely on 'solves'.
My issue with this idea is twofold. First, an investigation has to be a team effort. No one person or entity will 'solve' the case. There are many facets to an investigation and albeit the forensics is one of the most important (I am a bit biased here) it also takes good old fashioned 'shoe leather' to complete an investigation. What about the folks who answer the tip line phone calls? What about the officers who conduct the neighborhood canvas? Even in the evidence area of the investigation there are those that document who are sometimes separate from those who collect and preserve the evidence. And in this day and age, it is a rare circumstance indeed for the crime scene technician to be the same person who actually conducts the analysis on said evidence. Also, in this day and age, there are specialists rather than generalists so multiple forensic scientists are involved in the 'solve'.
My second point is that the idea of counting 'solves' could potentially lend itself to an elevated pressure to 'fudge' some of the results. This is not only unethical but dangerous to the whole idea of justice. Let's hope that good old fashioned integrity and good work would be the reasons for a promotion which is earned on merit and experience.
