Assignment Two

The open, shiny, metallic, wall mounted safe.

Evidence Finger prints. Techniques Collection - Finger prints are first identified at a crime scene by using metallic dust to make them visible. They are then collected with lifting tape and taken to the lab for analysis. These are called marks as they are left by chance. Marks taken within controlled circumstances, i.e. on occurrence of arrest, are called prints. Comparison In this instance, you will have to take the prints of the victim and anyone else who has access to the safe. When you have your crime scene mark and your print you can begin to compare them. This is done by putting the fingerprints side by side and analysing them for similarities by using a magnifying glass and blown up pictures of the prints. When comparing the two sets, you are looking for three things; formation, uniqueness and persistence. The print will have one of three patterns; a loop, an arch or a whorl. Upon establishing that the patterns are a match, you would begin to look much closer at the print, right in to the friction ridges themselves. You would look for similar Galton details within each print (ridge unit, short independent etc) and also for any unusual and unique markings. Significance If you find a print that does not match anyone who had access to the safe but did match someone who had access to their office you may be able to start questioning people. The only problem with this evidence is that if you match up all of the prints to the people who had access to the safe including the victim then you really dont have any evidence at all.

A paper knife with traces of blood which is lying on the desk.

Evidence Blood and fingerprints. Techniques You will first have to prove that it is actualy blood. There are many simple chemical tests that can be done too prove this, the most common of which is a Kastle-Meyer (KM) test. The suspected blood stain is rubbed with filter paper to remove a small amount of the subsatnce for testing. The filter paper is then submerged in KM solution (which contains the indicator Phenolphthalein) and Hydrogen Peroxide. If the stain is indeed blood then the filter paper will turn a bright pink colour. After you have confirmed that it is blood, you will want to test it against the victimes blood to mke sure tht it is theirs. Also, if the blood does not match the victims then you could take blood from all the people whos prints that you found on the knife (if you have ID'd them) and compare that to find a match. Luminol the desk if you are really stuck to see if the knife had been moved at any point. Significane If the victim has a stab wound you would be able to to use the prints to id who stabbed them (if there are any on it that shouldnt have been) and the blood if not the victims could be your killers. Again though unless you can match the blood to someone on the system or someone who worked there it may amount to nothing.

The fibers on the door snib. Evidence taken the fibres would be taken from the snib using lifting tape and then put in a zip locked evidence bag (find out how these are marked and filled in etc). Techniques used to analyise fibers adhering to the surface of items are removed with adhesive tape and then analyised using a low power microscope to find any which vaguely resemble the target item. They are the broadly classified by type using a polarising microscope. Then the fibers obtained from the scene are examined using a comparison microscope which allows you to view them along side the samples that you have chosen. Basicaly write up the whole page but in different words! Potential significance that you could get from this evidence when you figured out what the fibers where, you could identify possibley who they belonged too. But, since it would have been really easy too contaminate the scene, they may belong to someone who was on the scene (policaman etc) and if this was soi then the evidence would not matter atall.

Half Full Coffee Mug With Lipstick Prints

Evidence Fingerprints could be lifted from the mug, the coffee could be screened for foreign substances and the lipstick could be tested to match that of a suspects. Techniques Coffee Liquids are analysed using a chromatography machine and an analytical technique called Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry that combines the physical separation capabilities of liquid chromatography with the mass analysis capabilities of mass spectrometry. Using this technique you would be able to identify any foreign or suspicious chemicals in the coffee. You would then compare your findings to that off the victims blood sample and see if there was a match. Mug You could recover marks from this using Superglue with Cyanoacrylate as the active ingredient and analysing it under a UV light to make the marks florescent. You would then remove them with lifting tape and begin to compare them to the database of prints as well as the ones that you had already acquired from the suspects. Lipstick This would be analysed using High-performance liquid chromatography. This is another chromatographic technique that can separate a mixture of compounds and is used to identify, quantify and purify the individual components of the mixture. You could take samples of each of the suspects lipstick to analyse for comparison. Significance Coffee If you do find traces of a suspicious substance or chemical within the coffee that is also present within the victims blood then you would have good grounds to build up evidence of poisoning being the cause of death. But, if the chemical or substance is found to be not that of a lethal dosage (unless it has perhaps mixed with the tablets to create a fatal chemical reaction) then you may have to rule out poison as the cause of death. Mug Fingerprints on the mug would only really be significant if it you found unidentifiable prints as anyone could have touched it at any time. Even if only the victim usually touched the cup and a suspects prints were discovered on it this would be suspicious, but not significant. Lipstick If the victim is not visibly wearing lipstick then this will be immediately significant. If you get a match to it from the samples that you have taken from the suspects then you may be able to place them at the scene of the crime.

Half a Dozen Tablets lying on the desk. Evidence which might be recovered When you have identified the pills you can then do a toxicology test on the victims blood to see if there is any trace of them. From this you may be able to determine if they played a part in the victims death. This does not work for all drugs however as they all take different times to work their way around the body. Arsnic, for example, is undetectable during autopsy. It does however preserve the body therefore gives itsself away. Techniques used This case will be treated as a Sudden Death until enough evidence is gathered to prove otherwise. Therefore in order for a Toxicology report to be carried out the Toxiocologists will need to be provided with the victims medical history including that of drug or alcohol missuse, the enviroment in which they lived, their last movements and the position in which the body was found. All of this is necessary to be able to rule out certain substances which they may come across in the blood. Good communication with the Pathologist, the Police and even the Prosocuare Fiscal is essential. If you have ID'd the pills then you can screen for them specifically. Evidential significance - If the pills should not be in his body this is suspicious but you do not have the container to identify who they belong too. You could take a urine sample from your suspects and screen it for the same drug. If any of them are poitive then you may have some evidence to back up your suspicions. But if the drugs are painkillers, it is not worht spending money testing everyone coz everyone takes them, it is not an unusual thing at all. Also, if you ID the pills then check the medical records and it tuens out that the victim was taking them then there is no significance at all. Unless the victim took far more than the prescrived doseage and it could not have been an accident coz they have been on them ofr ages. In conclusion, although we are able to recover fingerprints,