INQUIRY 1999

Lab Scientists Apply Analytical Expertise to Forensic Techniques

Ames Laboratory scientists are hoping to convert some of their analytical expertise into techniques that may help local and national forensic investigators.

Representatives from both the FBI Laboratories and the Iowa Criminalistics Laboratory are searching for rapid, more accurate methods of assessing crime-scene evidence. Forensic investigators often use various types of chemical and materials analysis as they search for clues from evidence such as firearm residues, fingerprints and fragments left by explosive devices.

Because Ames Lab scientists use some of the latest analytical techniques available in these fields, law-enforcement agencies are interested in finding ways of adapting these techniques for use in forensic investigations.

Five research projects for the FBI Laboratories -- the nation's largest forensic laboratory -- are already underway. Along with counterparts from the Iowa State University campus, Ames Lab scientists are investigating techniques that would enable criminal investigators to:

• Restore stamped or engraved serial numbers that had been obliterated from guns and stolen automobiles.
• Characterize various types of explosive devices and understand blast effects upon detonation.
• Use analytical tools to determine the sources of metal fragments found at crime scenes.
• Develop criteria for comparing pieces of trace evidence.
• Access an electronic database of facilities and veterinarians throughout the country who could rapidly determine the presence of animal pathogens that could be used as biological warfare agents.

Meanwhile, Lab officials are still discussing possible research projects with the Iowa Criminalistics Laboratory, which serves local and state law-enforcement agencies in Iowa.

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Last revision: 12/17/99 sd

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