
The Changes in Forensic Science (it's nuts!)
Forensic Science, Behavioral Analysis, Crime Scene Investigation, Pathology, AND the Medical Examiner's office, or coroner, depending on the state's rules - change dramatically nearly day by day.
Locard's principles have moved on (no, not entirely). Mapping the crime scene especially in larger, well-budgeted cities, those involved often use a 3D scanner, which is used per room (also used in other fields like geographical mapping). Investigators can take fingerprints with biometric scanners. Touchless, in fact.
AIFIS? pfft, send those prints to the FBI & you have results in moments. Utilizing outside resources, one can find unusual trace patterns of just about everything. DNA and mitochondrial DNA can be found more quickly using AI. I'm not sure I appreciate artificial intelligence messing with the PCR (old news, eh?) just to identify a suspect promptly & efficiently. "Hi HAL! Run this sample for me and I need the results in twenty minutes." HAL - if you get the reference, comes from an old sci-fi cautionary tale of trusting computers, robots, etc.
Testing fibers is not gone. Not really. Nor has capturing the tire impressions (just a different method). Behaviroal analysis is an important factor still requiring a human to sort. First, the victim. Find his/her home. Look around. What made this victim vulnerable? Who would want this person dead? Abused? Scammed? What could possibly be the motive? Money, lust and power. Don't forget the sociopaths and psychopath.
Ballistics? Now, the ballistics experts can check the type of glass minutely imbedded in the ammunition (given the bullet is still there). Was it through a windshield? What kind? There are some very interesting aspects of ballistic testing that the average person doesn't know. The character says, "This bullet came from this gun. We know because of the markings." Maybe. What the average person is told may not reveal the manufacturer's stamped lot number on the gun.
Pretend you're a factory worker. Everything from candy to cars are stamped. If you and I both drive a KIA 2005 Amanti, they have the same blueprint. When the witness says, "It was a black KIA 2005 Amanti," your forensic specialist has to look at ALL the KIA Amanti produced from that year, and then the factory blueprints are identical.
Same thing with bullets. We already know this. 'It's a .45 ACP consistent with ...' Next, the gun. What if you've narrowed it down to a Springfield Armory, 9mm, standard pistol. Guess what? You think each barrel has different markings from that gun? No way! The serial number maybe different however the pistol was perhaps made from the same factory over the period of the month. That means, the gun left at the scene may or may not be the same gun as the perp's. If there are significant changes in the barrel that show up on the ammo as opposed to another gun, well now you've closed in on the suspect. If the bullet comes out the same as the next 50 Springfield pistols, well, now ya got a problem. Registration? That gun has already been registered to the owner by the serial number. Oops that may be a state secret. That's WHY you call the cops if your gun was stolen and on what day. WHY you keep the serial number. Because you WILL get a visit from your sheriff, city police, worse, the FBI and way worse, Homeland Security. You well may be the prime suspect or even culpable in a murder or terrorism if you don't tell your local sheriff...
Trajectory always seems so simple on TV. It's not. It's changed. A lot.
What about medical forensics? Thermal scanners.
Don't even get me into the specifics of the 'very' complicated art of blood cross typing, matching, etc, lest I blow a gasket. I got schooled in this by a retired lab rat supervisor. Every book I've read from here on out brings a bout of cringe when everyone goes into give blood 'for' a loved one and the blood is actually given.
What you see in novels you read and see on TV are worlds apart. It's easier to pare down the messy amounts of people by having one person in the forensics lab (think Abby, from NCIS) who does it all from toxicology, forensic photography, trace evidence, to fibers, tire patterns, blood typing, genetics - let's not confuse the reader (or the writers' ability to give a year into characterizing each character). Imagine walking from one room to another computer tech, to another fiber specialist ... etc. Why, you'd never be able to remember all those names!
The pathologist, ME, and more, become one in the novel. Why? Same as above. If you have a group of behavioral analysts, it's a book unto itself. They spend time only on profiling the suspect, not the victim because the victim is secondary.
In one of my novels, Silk & Slippers, the denier (morgue assistant) was also the forensic specialist, crime scene investigator, fiber, DNA, behavioral analyst, & toxicology specialist - why? Because 1. it's a small town without a decent budget 2. and the last thing I wanted were more characters to confuse you, dear reader (and me). A Vice Detective was an IT specialist (oh, yes, along with the forensic assistant, which is yet another branch of criminal investigations, by the way).
So that's my word for the day. It's insane and changes with such rapidity, the novelist is constantly working with advanced technology (ie more research). Imagine going back 100 years. That's a bit easier than what we are dealing with today. A lot of these older techniques, however? They remain. Some have gone away.
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