NEW USE FOR RECYCLED TONER?

Angus Carnie of 300 Recycling recently noted in Solid Waste and Recycling magazine that he has had a fantastic response from all over the world for his solution to reuse the toner powder as forensic finger print powder. Click the above link to read the article.

Copy toner has been advocated for several years as an alternative to fingerprint powder. It has been mentioned in certain US Army Military Police School classes as a viable alternative to commercial products in certain situations. A comparison of Material Safety Data Sheets of copy toner and various brands of black fingerprint powder show that they all have a common primary ingredient, carbon black. Like fingerprint powder, copy toner is finely milled, as anyone who had to change a copier cartridge can readily attest as it manages to get everywhere (just like fingerprint powder). Toner, however, may have additional ingredients such as parrafin, silicone, and polymers which may or may not adversely affect fingerprint collection. With shrinking budgets and more stringent conservation laws, recycling copy toner into fingerprint powder may merit further study.

CFSO PROPOSES LEGISLATION

From Joe Polski of the IAI

The Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations (CFSO) is working with Congress to craft legislative language to implement many of the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Forensic Science Committee. Note especially the makeup of the recommended oversight body, now called the Forensic Science Commission (FSC), and particularly the makeup of the subcommittees that will set policy, standards etc. for the various forensic disciplines. The fact that as set out in this draft, the members of those subcommittees need not be practitioners in the discipline and need to only be “knowledgeable” about the discipline. In addition, the Deputy Director of the new FSC, a person who will be detailed to the FSC by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will appoint all sub-committee members. The director of the FSC will come from the Justice Department but that department will have scant influence on the decisions and appointments to the various subcommittees. It is no secret that the Innocence Project greatly influenced the direction of this proposed legislation.

Some of the provisions of this legislation are fine, others are most troublesome. This is still “work in progress” and will undoubtedly go through changes before being introduced in Congress. Nonetheless all IAI members need to be aware of what’s occurring with this matter and stand ready to contact your legislators if necessary changes are not made.

This draft legislation is available by downloading it from the AAFS web link

TRAINING REVIEW: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION AT WVU

TIM SEGUIN, CCSI

This is part of a continuing series of training program reviews, some out of the Michigan-Ontario area or unconventional. All are of interest to the forensic practitioner.

Earlier this year I was asked by the faculty of West Virginia University to do a pre-release review of their latest on-line course, "Crime Scene Investigation". This is part of their Forensic Science series and is made available to state, county, and municipal forensic investigators through an NIJ grant.

This course is delivered in an online asynchronous format, which allowa the student to access it at anytime and anywhere they have access to an internet conncetion. WVU estimated that the course can be completed in an average of fifteen hours, which was consistent with my experience. WVU awards 3.6 International Learning Units (ILUs) upon completion. This course covers the following topics:

• Introduction
• Crime Scene Safety
• Crime Scene Provisions
• Initial Assessment of the Crime Scene
• Documentation of the Crime Scene
• Evidence Search Methods
• Physical Evidence at the Crime Scene
• Final Assessment of the Crime Scene
• Reports and Forms
• Expert Witness Testimony

One of the highlights of this course was the simulated crime scene where the student could move through the area and examine evidence as it is found. Despite the sophisticated graphics, there is no substitute for actual experience. I found the remainder of the course to be readily understandable with relevant test questions at the end of each section as well as the final exam. Support from WVU was readily available in the form of e-mail and discussion forums, but I had no need to use it.

In summation, I found this course to be relevant to novices or experienced forensic personnel. If used by novices, it should be taught in conjuction with practical exercises presented by an experienced forensic investigator as the course is largely a didactic presentation.

Persons with news of interest should submit them by e-mail to webmaster (at) moia.org or via fax at (267) 347-8923. Publishing articles in this newslatter may help satisfy requirements for IAI recertification. Consult the IAI web site for additional information.

1999-2009

Our web site, moia.org, celebrated ten years of continuous operations.

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