• 
  
  
  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

2018-09-18 | DNA Advances in the Limelight
The advances in collecting invisible traces of genetic material from crime scenes, pulling them from decayed remains, and finding a way to interpret and identify degraded samples have been a revolution in criminalistics. But limitations remain, and ongoing research projects and case studies continue to push boundaries—making the impossible DNA cases of the present solvable in the very near future.

2018-09-18 | Consultant uncovers host of problems at Wisconsin crime labs
The center’s 24-page report ticked off a host of problems, most notably that employee turnover has become such an issue that the labs are in a constant state of training, which pulls trainers off casework. That forces other analysts to take on the trainers’ work, pulling them off casework, too. A number of factors are playing into turnover, the center found. Entry-level analysts are making more than senior and advanced analysts because the market rate for their positions is outpacing DOJ salary increases for the more experienced workers, leading to low morale. Administrative staff pay is so low that they’re constantly seeking employment elsewhere, the center said.

2018-09-12 | Conviction Reversed Because Houston Crime Lab Analyst, Supervisor Did Not Disclose Evidence Problems
DEEPER INSIGHTS How do modern quantification kits STACK UP? Gooden was suspended in April 2014 after alerting her supervisor, William Arnold, that she had mislabeled a blood sample that apparently arrived at the lab with errors on the label. She was suspended from casework reports while the agency investigated. Gooden continued to testify in three trials, including Diamond’s, about other samples without informing prosecutors or the defense about her suspension, the court found.

2018-09-11 | Houston's crime lab plans downtown move
The forensic science center is again trying to catch up. The lab currently has a backlog of 1,349 latent fingerprint tests; 925 DNA cases, including 316 rape kits; and 697 gun database entries. In January, the lab announced it would spend $2 million outsourcing DNA testing in an effort to clear a new rape kit backlog by next year.

2018-09-05 | Case Study: Local AFIS Eradicates Aliases in Ohio
The palm prints, which the West Chester examiners regularly take, did not produce any hits in the local or state database. But after the fourth burglary, latent-to-latent hits matched all the crimes together, according to Tivin. The eighth crime developed a lead: a juvenile offender. Most minors are not allowed to be fingerprinted in Ohio, owing to state law. But when police proved their case to get a court order to print the juvenile, they had their immediate answers: all eight burglaries, and an auto theft, all matched against the boy’s biometrics. “It sounded like a pinball machine with all the beeps we were getting, all the hits,” said Tivin.

2018-08-28 | Conviction Overturned After Chemist Testified While on Meth
A Montana judge ordered a new trial for a man convicted of possessing methamphetamine after learning a state crime lab employee ingested meth before testifying to convict him. “The manifest hypocrisy in this situation — when a Montana Department of Justice Employee with meth in his system testified and helped secure another man’s meth possession conviction — is abhorrent,” District Judge John Parker wrote Thursday. Chemist Derek Thrush’s testimony confirmed meth residue was found in a glass pipe James Donald Bachtell was carrying when he was arrested in June 2017.

2018-08-28 | After Deputy Scrubs Crime Scene, Defense Wants Charges Nixed
The cleaning service hired by Hoagland removed bloody carpet, linen and a mattress and scrubbed the walls in the room where Fisher’s body was found. “It seemed like it needed to be done,” Hoagland said. “When I got up there, it was already starting to smell and I was worried about insect infestation, a rodent problem in the house. I didn’t want the whole place to be destroyed because of that.”

2018-08-27 | DNA ‘Shedders’ Test Shows Men, Thumbs Leave More Traces
DNA forensic science has zoomed in on progressively microscopic genetic traces left at crime scenes. “Touch DNA” can now identify someone based off a simple, single tap of a finger. The problem is, some studies have shown a phenomenon called secondary transfer: that an innocent person’s DNA could be transferred by an object or even a handshake to a place where they’ve never been. But it depends on how many skin cells they are apt to shed.

2018-08-09 | An L.A. County deputy faked evidence. Here's how his misconduct was kept secret in court for years
Jose Ovalle, one of the deputies who also booked the evidence, had been suspended five years earlier for pouring taco sauce on a shirt to mimic blood in a criminal case. He nearly lost his job. Ovalle’s past was kept secret for years from prosecutors, judges, defendants and jurors, even though he was a potential witness in hundreds of criminal cases that relied on his credibility, according to a Times investigation.

2018-08-08 | Deputy AG: Forensic Science is Not Only Numbers, Automation
“Human observation, comparison, interpretation and judgment are core components of good science,” said Rosenstein, in his prepared remarks to the crowd of prosecutors and experts. “Some critics would like to see forensic evidence excluded from state federal courtrooms. You regularly face Frye and Daubert motions that challenge the admission of routine forensic methods.” Rosenstein touted the use of “uniform language” when it comes to fingerprints testimony, as unveiled in February. Such language is intended to make clear how good a likely “match” is—by carefully avoiding words such as that without context.