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In The News

2016-02-19 | Serial Burglars: Part 1 - Fingerprint backlog contributing to Austin's #1 crime
Last year Austin Police said there were 4,983 cases of burglaries, 3,285 of those cases were home burglaries. "Burglary is definitely an issue," Lt. Jason Staniszewski, Austin Police Burglary Unit, said. "They (serial burglars) basically keep going until they get caught." Lt. Staniszewski said serial burglars are responsible for a large portion of property crimes. "The important thing is that we do identify a serial burglar or a serial criminal and do what we can to get him off the streets so there are less victims," he said. At the department's forensics lab, six latent fingerprint examiners painstakingly work to match prints. Each examiner can review about 28 sets of prints each month but getting to fingerprints recently found at a crime scene can take six months even a year. That's because the department's backlog sits at 1,487.

2016-02-17 | Forensic Imaging Sheds Light on Footwear Analysis
Lead author Dr. James Sharp, of the University of Nottingham, used cameras positioned underneath a transparent sheet of material to image the shoes as they hit the ground. The team then created detailed images of the ridges on the soles of shoes and the exact interactions with the floor—possibly the most detailed of its kind. Traditional FTIR maps only made imprints of bare feet.

2016-02-16 | Couple sues state over mishandled evidence
Court documents stated that while the medical examiner’s controlled substances laboratory initially had deemed a powdery substance found in Mr. Dollard’s car during a June 13, 2012, traffic stop to be cocaine, a retest in November 2014 showed the bricks held in evidence were powdered sugar. In the October trial of Mr. Dollard, a medical examiner chemist testified evidence found in the vehicle tested to be cocaine; Mr. Dollard was convicted on Nov. 6, 2013, of aggravated possession of Tier 5 cocaine, drug dealing of Tier 4 cocaine, and second-degree conspiracy, all felonies, and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. On Jan. 14, 2014, Mr. Dollard was sentenced to separate consecutive 10-year prison sentences, according to the lawsuit. He appealed the conviction and 20-year sentence to the Delaware Supreme Court.

2016-02-12 | Sleepy Suspects More Likely to Give False Confessions, Study Says
Sleep deprivation leads to increased rates of false confessions, according to a new study by a team of psychologists. Subjects who were kept up 24 hours were 4.5 times more likely to sign a false confession than those who had a full night’s sleep, according to the paper, in the latest Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

2016-02-12 | Fingerprint Brushes Could Transfer Touch DNA, Study Says
Locard’s Principle of Exchange has been an absolute fundamental in criminal forensics for a century. The concept that the perpetrator will always take traces of the victim and the scene with them, leaving traces of themselves in exchange, is the basis of all modern investigation. However, the principle has gotten a little more complex with how sensitive DNA tests have become in recent years. Secondary transfer of human DNA has been demonstrated through handshakes. Now, a study has found that fingerprint brushes used at crime scenes to find latent prints could actually be picking up and then dropping genetic material in different locations.

2016-02-11 | ISO 18385
Forensic DNA laboratories rely on reagent and plastics manufacturers to supply high-quality products with minimal interference from contaminating DNA. With the increasing sensitivity of short tandem repeat (STR) amplification systems, levels of DNA that were previously undetected may now generate partial profiles. To address the concern of laboratories worldwide regarding the potential of low-level DNA contamination in consumables, ISO 18385 has been developed to provide requirements for minimizing the risk of human DNA contamination events during the manufacturing process.

2016-02-08 | Deposition Shows Mismanagement, Lax Oversight led to BSO Crime Lab Failure
Two years ago, discrepancies arose regarding the amounts of drugs that were seized as evidence in cases McDonald had worked on. She had been involved with more than 5,800 separate drug cases since 2006. In 2012, 0.4 grams of cocaine was unaccounted for in the lab, and she was deemed responsible. The Broward Public Defender’s Office then hired an independent analyst to reweigh drugs in a separate cocaine case and found that the weight of that cocaine had mysteriously shrunk by about 5 grams since McDonald initially weighed it. She was then asked to re-weigh a random sampling of drugs from 20 other cases — 19 matched, but one case had also shrunk, this one by about 12 grams.

2016-02-03 | 1992 Rape Conviction Overturned Due to Flawed FBI Hair Analysis
Judge Robert J. Kane ruled that the hair analysis by an FBI expert was so flawed – and the results so important in the conviction – that the 48-year-old Perrot must now have a new trial. Perrot will get a bail hearing next week as Hampden County prosecutors decide whether to appeal, try him again, or drop the case.

2016-02-03 | Secondary Transfer a New Phenomenon in Touch DNA
Cale told Forensic Magazine that now is a crucial time to begin understanding how touch DNA needs to be interpreted and analyzed – not just by forensic analysts, but also by prosecutors and defense attorneys. The new technology means we have to relearn how to think about DNA, she said in the phone interview. “With the increased sensitivity, we’re going to be detecting more DNA regardless,” Cale said. “It could be any DNA left on that object, and it’s going to cause interpretation to be more complicated. I don’t think it’s calling into question old cases – it’s now and into the future,” she added.

2016-02-03 | Forensic Science is in Danger of Becoming Irrelevant
Pooled government resources, and private contracting can both be part of a plan to increase quality, expand the availability of testing, and reduce turn around time. Competition can also drive higher quality, lower cost and increase availability. You don't have to look very far to find examples of how privatization and pooled resources have lead to lower costs and better quality.