Feb2018Newcover

February 2018

Guest Editor: Stephanie Stoiloff

Forensic science dates back well over 200 years, when Scotland Yard first connected a bullet to the murder weapon (1835) and the first fingerprint classification system was developed (1892). The field has advanced significantly since then, and, when used effectively, forensic science—in all its many forms—can provide valuable contributions to law enforcement’s pursuits of justice and public safety.

Articles

  • Securing a Seat at the Table: How States Support Forensic Science Initiatives

    By Chris Asplen, Executive Director, National Criminal Justice Association
    Across the United States, state and local law enforcement agencies face increasing demands to prevent victimization and respond to crimes in their communities. Crime data on specific incidents, as c...

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  • U.S. Opioid and Fentanyl Case Occurrence in Crime Labs: A Survey

    By Bruce Houlihan, Director, Orange County Crime Lab, California, and Chair, Opioid Task Force, American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors
    In August and September 2017, the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD) requested information from crime laboratories across the United States regarding opioids in controlled substanc...

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  • The Role of Veterinary Forensics in Animal Cruelty Investigations

    By Martha Smith-Blackmore, DVM, President, Forensic Veterinary Investigations, LLC
    Veterinary forensics is a developing field that can assist with animal cruelty investigations. Animal abuse investigations are vital because animal maltreatment is a co-occurring and central aspect of...

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  • Addressing the Complexities of Digital Evidence

    By Scott Vantrease, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Digital Investigations Branch; Christopher Kelly, Director, Digital Evidence Laboratory, Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office; and Jim Emerson, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.), U.S. Marine Corps, Chair, IACP Computer Crime and Digital Evidence Committee
    As noted in a 2014 Police Chief article, “Assessing the Impact of Digital Evidence on State and Local Policing,” the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has recognized ...

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  • Booking Station Hits: Arrestee Rapid DNA Analysis, Enrollment, and CODIS Hits

    By Thomas Callaghan, Chief Biometric Scientist, Laboratory Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Member, IACP Forensic Science Committee, and Stephanie Stoiloff, Commander, Forensic Services Bureau, Miami-Dade Police Department, Miami, Florida, Co-Chair, IACP Forensic Science Committee
    What if law enforcement could determine during booking if the arrestee being fingerprinted and photographed matched DNA evidence left 10 years ago at a murder scene hundreds of miles away in another s...

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  • Investigation of Typed Documents

    By Detective Sergeant J. H. Rogers, Scientific Investigation Bureau, C.I.B. Sydney
    The principle underlying the identification of typewriting rests on the improbability of two typewriters possessing, in a number of identical type characters, irregularities of an identical nature. Th...

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