Sketch Making in a Crime - Essay Example

Forensic science has long made an important contribution to criminal investigation. Its use by the police, however, needs to be properly managed andorganized if it is to make an efficient as well as effective contribution to the detection and prevention of crime. Forensic science was free to the police at the point of delivery, since it was paid for as part of common police services. Over the previous five years serious (violent) crimes had been rising rapidly, whilst the numbers of forensic scientists had remained stable. At the same time techniques had been developing and requirements for checks expanding. The forensic Science division had become unable to meet the demands made by the police for its service, leading to greater case selectivity. This had led to reduced confidence amongst operational police officers that they were receiving the forensic support they needed. When determining the point of origin of bloodstain patterns, a decision must be made to utilize the computer or manually stringing a bloody crime scene. Like using the computer and composite software to do facial composites in 1988 using the VISATEX system. The system was great for its time. System worked well. The image was not of best quality it worked, better then the old Identity kit. Nothing compares to a good forensic composite artist who can draw the image by hand. However, for those of us who aren't so talented with that medium, the computer and software became our medium and the results were excellent. Computer industry changed. The VISATEX program was in the DOS environment, everything was changing to a graphical environment, Windows. The costs of computers were dropping fast, the programs were cheaper and a lot of those in the industry just couldn't keep up with the changing technology, a financial drain. The "newer" composite programs were using a lot more memory, hard drive space and required better printers. When law enforcement finally caught up to the modern computer world the new composite programs matched the current computers capability. This is where we are today. Several composite programs are offering their composite images in 16 bit, soon to change to 32 bit images. They are now photo quality, some are even in full color! Computer programs are available for sketching crime scenes and blood spatters by inputting certain measurements associated with the scene and the individual spatters. This blood spatter program will then calculate and draw the spatters' points of origin. These programs might come in handy where there are many blood spatters and the points of origin need to be determined. If you have access to a computer you can create a sharp, basic, simple and organized looking finished drawing. Windows 95 or 98 is equipped with a simple and easy to learn paint or paint brush program in the accessories window. It is a simple user friendly program that can be mastered in only a few hours. As the investigator-technician becomes more familiar with this tool by experience, his-her abilities will become unlimited in designing and replicating the crime scene through EZ sketching. The finished product will surpass the look of the hand drawn sketches. Forensic science has changed a lot in these last two decades especially after inception of computer technology. Forensics leads to vital minute details of evidence leading to an eventual capture of the criminal or terrorist. Contribution of computer has paved a long way in reshaping this field. Computer plays a vital role in forensic investigations, computerized I'D cards have certainly changed the spectrum in fields of investigation as example like in my country Pakistan (National Database & Registration Authority Pakistan) I'D computerized cards eventually leads to storing of records of each and every Pakistani citizen above the age of 18. Filing of its records also provide s an opportunity for the authorities to have their finger print stored at NADRA's database as a part of record this aspect being used for forensics at two instances of sectarian terrorist attacks in Karachi in where the suicide terrorist was identified through his index finger print which was the only vital clue left at the crime scene which lead the investigators to a sectarian terrorist group. Using biometric system the index finger is identified through NADRA records to see terrorist hails from which city and province which can lead further to the eventual capture of the whole terror gang. Applicant's thumbprints and index finger prints are captured firstly during enrolment. The expanding availability of and reliance on computers has increased the threat of criminal activity. Technological advancement has resulted in vulnerability to exploitative attacks. Forensic Computer Crime Investigation explores the ways that law enforcement officials are addressing such risks to protect society. Featuring contributions from experts in their fields, we discusses the problems of Internet pornography, encrypted illegal materials, cyber terrorism, Internet crimes against children, and the use of computer viruses in extortion schemes. Coverage includes all of these issues as well as other challenges to digital forensic evidence on both national and international levels. Computers since their use for forensic crime investigations have been used as a database for storage of DNA for prisoners who are about to be released from jails to keep their records as according to various psychiatrists a criminal doesn't leaves his profession that easy. Leading to formation of a DNA databank which ensures timely and due information regarding a concerned person who has been languishing in a prison in the past. The Combined DNA Index Systems (CODIS) is having a dramatic influence on the comparison of blood and other tissue identification for US law enforcement officials. Like in USA Combined DNA information storage system has been formed known as CODIS which utilizes computer software to automatically search its two indexes for matching DNA profiles. Law enforcement agencies at federal, state, and local levels take DNA from biological evidence (e.g., blood and saliva) gathered in crimes that have no suspect and compare it to the DNA in the profiles stored in the CODIS systems basically at the federal level. If a match is made between a sample and a stored profile, CODIS can identify the perpetrator. This technology is authorized by US Govt. under its act of 1994. States of USA are required to send in DNA and blood profiles to CODIS where all this data is stored to be matched later if someone is a fugitive for a crime. As of January 2003, this database in USA contains more than a million DNA profiles in its Convicted Offender Index and about 48,000 DNA profiles collected from crime scenes but which have not been connected to a particular offender. As more offender DNA samples are collected and law enforcement becomes better trained and equipped to collect DNA samples at crime scenes, the backlog of samples waiting testing throughout the criminal justice system has increased dramatically. Not only of prisoner but of normal citizens also, storing their vital DNA records as a part of a big computer server mainframe helps the law enforcement agencies in solving their cases. FINDING MASS GRAVES/GRAVE OF VICTIM THROUGH COMPUTER BASED FORENSICS: The equipment and computer software explained below concerns the computer when a grave site is found in an area and in order to preserve its evidence the following things are used in excavating that site example like that of the genocidal mass graves found in Bosnia and Kosovo of innocent men, women and children, preservation of its evidence used in the trial of former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic. To carry out the excavation the availability of aerial photographs is very limited and the use of Ground penetrating radar or a magnetometer is more of theoretical than practical interest. These hi-tech, very sophisticated instruments are dependent on the specific environment in which the grave may be located, and have to be operated by trained personnel. GPR can "see" as deep as 1.5 to 2m into the soil, depending upon soil character. Sometimes it can "see" the image or structure of a body or other materials (non-soil) at a specific depth. Applicability of the magnetometer (also called a proton magnetometer) depends on soil quality. It works better in homogeneous soils. Unfortunately, both techniques rely on the finding of soil disturbance and require a large amount of expensive equipment on the site. This equipment needs to be operated by personnel skilled in interpreting the information displayed on the computer screen in order to "translate" the patterns of soil. Additionally, covering the searched area takes a lot of time and even under the best of conditions, it may be difficult to interpret what is depicted on the computer screens. References: www.nadra.gov.pk http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/blood.html sketch making in a crime www.feinc.net Read More

www.nadra.gov.pk http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/blood.html sketch making in a crimewww.feinc.net

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