Crime Lab Information
Forensic scientists help solve legal problems and criminal investigations. They must be accurate and precise as they use different techniques to make conclusions. Many forensic scientists work in a crime lab. In the crime lab, technicians help them to make careful analysis of materials that may have been used in the commission of a crime.
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Purpose
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Scientists and technicians who work in crime labs assist law enforcement authorities in the delicate process of collecting, preserving and processing evidence found at a crime scene. Once the evidence arrives in the crime lab, technicians may recreate the crime scene to interpret the evidence that was collected. After the crime lab delivers a report of its findings to law enforcement officials, they may use it to apprehend and convict criminals.
History
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In 1910 a professor at Lyons University, Edmond Locard, established the fist crime lab in the world. The first modern crime lab in the United States was opened in 1923 at the L.A. police department. In 1932 the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) opened what is one of the most widely respected and utilized crime labs in the world. To this day, the FBI crime lab serves as a model for the crime labs of many state and local law enforcement agencies.
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Types
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Some small municipalities operate their own crime labs. Forensic scientists who work in these laboratories have received a bachelor's degree in forensic science, chemistry, biology, physics or physical anthropology. Larger crime labs at the state and federal levels may have a team of scientists who specialize in certain areas. These scientists usually have specialized training or education in different areas of the crime lab, depending on their interests. The FBI has a training center available to forensic scientists all over the United States.
Function
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In the latent prints section of the crime lab, scientists make fingerprints, palm prints and footprints visible using powders, chemical or lighting. They compare the prints to those of a suspect or put them through a computer database to find a possible match.
The chemistry area of the lab identifies substances left at a crime scene, such as lead from bullets, paint chips, dyes, drugs, alcohol, poison and food products. The toxicology team examines biological specimens from the body to see if they contain toxic substances and if they caused harm or death to an individual. Scientists also examine and analyze trace evidence such as hair fibers, human animal, wool, clothing, carpet, rope and feathers to find its source.
Considerations
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Small law enforcement agencies may send their complex testing out to regional labs that have more technologically advanced capabilities. The FBI crime lab makes its services available to law enforcement agencies all over the United States. Local agencies can tie into the FBI crime labs database, which compiles a national database of fingerprints and DNA from criminals and samples of everything from tire track impressions to shoe prints.
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References
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