Accepting forensic science and CSI related questions and queries!

If it’s very specific, I’d prefer it if you were off anon so I can properly discuss it with you!

-C

Anonymous sent:

Howdy! Do you have any tips how on a writer may hide a code or clues to a "secret" in evidence left behind? I'm writing a heisting story and could use any info you might have. Thanks!

This is more of a personalised type thing, and you may want to message off anon so we can discuss specifics.

-C

Anonymous sent:

Ok dude so I want to go into forensics. But I want to be the person at the crime scene packaging everything and whatnot. What is the name of that specific job? And honestly should I just try to go into a speciality like ballistics? Also how is job outlook?

In the UK, that person is called a Scene Of Crime Officer (or SOCO) and they’re wildly different to experts. Experts and specialists (like ballistics experts) tend to have a qualification in the field, since they, and their expert testimony, need to be relied on in court.

It used to be possible to have a specialism, which you’d get by just going to a lot of appropriate crime scenes. My main source of info, CSI Gary, had a bit of specialism in fire investigation.

If you’re serious about ballistics, your best bet would be to do a degree (in Forensics, Human Anatomy if you’re interested in the messy end of gunshots or some form of Physics if you’re interested in the not so messy end) and then a PhD in the area of ballistics.

Job outlook in the UK is the same as most other job areas: not great, and you need to be the best at what you do.

You may, like me, get turned off science altogether and go into something else, or you may find it’s exactly what you want to do forever.

Best of luck to you!

-C

Anonymous sent:

Is the forensic division still active? I don´t have specific questions, but knowing a bit more about the human anatomy and behaviour after death would certainly be helpful for many people I think.

It is still active… just not very active. I will talk to C and see what’s going on with everything and/or if he wants help. I know this is his sideblog baby and I don’t want him to feel invaded.

-H

twh-forensics:

It is worth noting that unlike the US, the UK’s forensics laboratories are part of the private sector since 2010. To quote Douglas Adams; “This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.”

So, how does a crime scene work?

Not like on the telly box with that…

Bringing this back around for anyone that missed it!

-C

Anonymous sent:

If someone's being strangled and they've got a cloth in their mouth to muffle them, what happens when they (unsuccessfully) try to spit that cloth out? Does it mean they suffocate faster? Thank you!

Ok, so most of this is guesswork, since there’s no set literature on “How do people choke to death while being strangled.”

I’d assume that given they can breathe through their nose, the cloth wouldn’t really do much in the way of suffocating them, unless they somehow managed to get it further in their mouth and it completely blocked the airway. And then, their airway is blocked by strangulation anyway, so I don’t think it would make a difference to the speed at which they kick the bucket.

If someone’s airway is obstructed or constricted at the throat, then a blockage in the mouth won’t affect the asphyxiation.

Hope that helps!

-C

Anonymous sent:

My characters kill zombies for a living, but I don't know how to dispose of the bodies. My research has told me that burning a body isn't as easy as they make it look on tv. So what are some successful ways to get rid of a body, preferably on site and immediately after killing?

Ooh, this is right up my street. Zombies AND Forensic Science.

Right, corpse disposal time.

Obvious methods: Burying, chopping up, acid bath, fire.

We’ll start with burying. If you’re going to bury something, unless it’s one hell of a digger, it’s going to struggle to get out, and the deeper it’s buried, the better. That is, of course, if it’s not dead.

Cons of this method are it takes effort, energy, and a spade. Also, it may contaminate the soil of wherever you bury it, thus spreading your zombie infection further around.

Chopping up. The best bit about this method, is if you couple it with burning or the acid, it’s going to get rid of them a damn sight easier, since burning and dissolving it are easier with smaller bits.

Again, this takes energy and if you don’t have a chopping implement, problematic.

Acid baths aren’t as effective as burning. You’ll have to leave them in for a few days, and after that time is up, you’ll be left with a rather vile sludge with bones, teeth and hair left in it.

Burning a body smells. I’ll be honest here. The smell of burnt flesh, I’ve heard from a fire investigator, is not a smell you’ll ever forget. So if your characters have a strong stomach, don’t mind chopping up a body, and can maintain a hot enough flame to burn a corpse, (crematorium ovens are the best for this purpose, look up how they work) then burning is actually a pretty effective method as far as I’m aware.

Don’t hold me to this, my primary source for the tougher questions had a bit of a ‘wut’ moment with this. We’re more about clean up than disposing of bodies.

-C

Due to unforseen circumstances, I am on hiatus until monday evening.

I apologise for the inconvenience.

-C

FORENSIC EQUIPMENT FRIDAY!

This series of posts will be out on Fridays and will be spotlighting various tools in a Crime Scene Investigator’s arsenal.

These beautiful, wonderful bits of kit are called Stepping Plates. In a strange turn of events, they’re used for stepping on.

They’re placed at a scene when there may (or obviously will) be evidence on the floor and you don’t want to step on it. They’re placed around the common approach path (where the suspect is likely to have walked and shed their juicy, juicy trace evidence) in order to preserve anything that may be present.

So, to sum up, used to prevent destruction of trace evidence and footwear marks by errant CSIs and/or Officer Dickhead trampling it by providing clear places to put your feet that won’t do the above.

Tune in next week for the exciting tale of ESLA!

-C

Anonymous sent:

I was wondering which carreer should a CSI on the UK study? Need the info for a character and I don't know how it works there :) if you know about the US I'd love to hear about that too. Thank you!

In the UK, you can study a Forensic Science degree (which is what I’m doing) and then apply for a job with one of the Forensics companies. (LGC Forensics, Key Forensics, Celmark, etc.)

However, I’m pretty sure there are other ways to do it, the police used to offer a CSI training program, but the FSS (Forensic Science Service) has been disbanded and Forensics has been outsourced to private companies like LGC and Key.

If the character has been a CSI since before 2010, then the chances are they either did a degree, the police training, or even both.

As for the US practice, I don’t know. US followers, any of you guys CSIs?

-C