• 
  
  
  Home
• 
  
  Backlog
  Reduction
• Laboratory
  Assessment &
  Enhancement
  Services
• 
  
  Customized
  Training
• 
  
  Biometric
  Identification
  • What is it?
  • Why Is It Important? »
    • Corporate Responsibility
  • What Is It Used For? »
    • Kidnap/Ransom
    • Disaster Situations/
                     Incident Investigation
  • Modes of Identification »
    • DNA
    • Friction Ridge Skin
    • Facial Recognition
    • Iris Capture
    • Dental X-Ray
    • Other Modes
  • Risk Assessment & Custom BI
  • FAQs
• 
  
  Other
  Services
  • Law Enforcement
  • Corporate/Insurance
• 
  
  
  Resources
• 
  
  
  About Us
  • Matt Schwarz
• 
  
  
  Contact

In The News

2016-02-20 | Texas becomes first state to recommend banning bite mark analysis
"We believe this is the reason why several folks who have previously been convicted on the basis of bite mark evidence have been exonerated," said Dr. Harvey Kessler, a Commissioner for the Texas Forensic Science Commission. "They were able to go back and test the DNA and show that their DNA didn't match the DNA that was in the bite mark." At least two dozen men nationwide convicted or charged with murder or rape based on bite marks have been exonerated since 2000.

2016-02-20 | Scientists Sue State Police Over 'Pro-Prosecution' DNA Lab
The three scientists said that had the system remained in place, it would have exonerated "a small percentage" of suspects who were convicted using evidence involving scenes with mixed genetic material. "There are people that are very pro-prosecution. They were putting pressure on scientists to reach conclusions that were not scientifically valid," their lawyer, John Bailey, said Friday. "That's what my clients were objecting to."

2016-02-19 | NYC Doctor Says She Lost Job after Questioning DNA Technique
Dr. Marina Stajic said she was told she could either retire or be fired from her job as a laboratory director in April 2015. She says she was perceived as an adversary because of her position on the use of the DNA profiling technique known as low copy number, which critics have argued is unreliable and should not be used in court.

2016-02-19 | After A Years-Long Fight, With DNA Evidence At The Center, Ronjon Cameron Is Free
DNA testing has earned a reputation as a powerful tool to solve crimes and to exonerate the innocent. In fact, it’s often referred to as the “gold standard” for cases. But because of its sway over jurors, the results of DNA testing can also be misused. The state’s highest court recently ruled that’s what happened to Ronjon Cameron, of Pittsfield. Cameron had spent the last 12 years in prison after being convicted on charges of rape. At the end of October 2015, the Supreme Judicial Court overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial.

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.