FSCI 3010 – INTRODUCTION

TO FORENSIC SCIENCE

Robert Green OBE

- Professor
 BEFORE WE BEGIN – LET ME
INTRODUCE SARAH
1. Sarah Field is our subject
librarian. She will help
guide you through your
library resources and is
always incredibly
helpful. To book an
appointment with her,
you can do this through
the link here.
The QR code will take you to some
useful library inks which Sarah has put
together for YOU. Please make use of
PERHAPS I CAN INTRODUCE MYSELF
1. As some of you all know, already, this
is a ‘wildcard’ module. Which means
it is offered across different divisions.
2. The module is accessible to all and
want it to be a welcoming space for
you ALL to learn.
3. I am comfortable with ‘Bob’ but just
be careful when communicating with
others that the more formal approach
may be preferred
4. My email address is
The [email protected] and history’my
QR code will give you a little ‘potted of
my WhatsApp number
background. But is (0759)
a couple of things5920063
though to
mention, before we get going. Firstly, this is your
so please get in contact if there’s
module and not mine. Secondly although I’m
anything
introducing I can
myself help
now, the with
module is about you
 YOUR PRE-READ
1. Take a look at the
document (Glossary) on
page 169, in particular.
2. You can
access the materials here
3. If you are reading this in
class (scan the QR code)
4. Please come, prepared
to answer the
interactive quizzes
Alerting you to
interactive content,
 MATCH THE NUMBERS
1. A container for materials that A. Presumptive
have been exposed to blood? Test
2. The unwanted transfer of B. Personal
material between two or more protective
sources of physical evidence equipment

3. An invisible fingermark C. Latent

4. Disposable gloves, masks
D. Biohazard bag
overshoes etc.
5. A non-confirmatory test, used to
E. Cross -
screen for the presence of a
Contamination
substance
1 2 3 4 5

D E C B A
 TEACHING METHODS &
ASSESSMENT
• Delivery methods Pass mark 40%
1. Presentation
2. Case studies On-line quiz 1 20%
• Assessment
On-line quiz 2 20%
1. 100% coursework
2. 3 x Moodle Quiz On-line quiz 3 60%

Large amount of material covered. Past

experience suggests a significant relationship
between attendance & results
 COURSEWORK DEADLINES

Submission due week number

Markers & (Moderators)
Submission Type

Submission Date
Assessment
Convenor

Weight

Title

Moodle
Green Prof R 20% Online Quiz 1 Green Prof R 13/11/24 15
Quiz

Moodle
Green Prof R 20% Online Quiz 2 Green Prof R 04/12/24 18
Quiz

Moodle Green Prof R /

Green Prof R 60% Online Quiz 3 22/01/25 25
 INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

Increase forensic 1. Perhaps you’d also

awareness across many like to review the
evidence & crime types list of diverse
‘Padlet’ resources,
Understand the context in put together by
which forensic science Sarah (here)
operates.
Increased their practical
knowledge of crime scene
management.
Developed their
understanding of practical
forensic science.
 YOUR WHITEBOARD
1. Please keep an eye on this QR a little more explanation on? If
code (or link). so, put this in the form and I’ll
2. You will see it embedded all the follow up each week by
way through your materials. responding to these queries.
3. We have a big class and, want to8. This is your free space to add
make this as inclusive as I comments on the module, as we
possibly can (I know it takes real go along.
stamina to raise your hand in a 9. We have a lot to do to get
large class size). through so I’m hoping that this
4. So, this idea is to embed a QR gives the opportunity to answer
link you can access via your any queries and make sure that
mobile device (try this out now). no one gets left behind.
5. The document which is 10. You’ll see that, each week you
completely anonymous. have chance to feedback on
6. It allows you to ask questions as the lecture and grade the
we go along. content.
7. Is there anything that you’d like 11. Please do your best to
engage with this
NEED ANY HELP?

1. You can access

this at any
point.
2. Please engage
with this if you
need any help or
clarification.
3. Use it to feedback
on your module as
we go
 WARNING
1. This is a module which deals with
many of the practical aspects of
forensic science
2. The module introduces topics that
some might find upsetting.
3. Wherever possible, a warning slide
will precede this type of content
4. Don’t access if you feel this may
be upsetting
 LIMITATIONS
Alone it will not provide the skills to
become
Forensic scientists
Pathologists
Crime Scene Specialist
Fingerprint Experts
Et cetera
WHY SO MUCH
RELIANCE ON
FORENSIC
SCIENCE?
WHY IS FORENSIC SCIENCE IMPORTANT?
 CONFESSION EVIDENCE
1.19th October 1989
2.Lord Justice Lane in the
case of Conlon, Hill,
Armstrong, & Richardson.
3.“… The officers must have
lied”
4.1991 - The Birmingham
Six.
 WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Pattern evidence can be subjective ….

What do you see?
NEED ANY HELP?

1. You can access

this at any
point.
2. Please engage
with this if you
need any help or
clarification.
3. Use it to feedback
on your module as
we go
 FORENSIC SCIENCE?
From the Latin - forum

Forum – the meeting place

The application of science

to the law.
 THE FORENSIC SCIENCE
SERVICES
1. To provide scientific support in the
investigation of crime and expert
evidence in the courts
2. To locate scenes of crime
3. To link scenes of crime
4. To link a suspect to a crime or
crime scene
5. To eliminate suspects from police
enquiries
 FORENSIC SCIENCE SERVICES
• Serious Crime
• Murder
• DNA
• Rape • Casework
• Indecent Assault • National DNA Database,
• GBH • Paternity analysis
• Abduction • Mass Disasters
• Kidnap • Documents & Handwriting
• Arson • Forged credit cards/documents
• Volume Crime • Typewriters/word
• Burglary • processors/computers
• Theft of and from Cars
• Firearms
• Criminal damage
• Weapon classification and condition
• Drugs
• Ammunition examination;
• Possession
• Range
• Intent to supply
•
• Trajectory and accuracy
Supply of controlled drugs
• Production of controlled
drugs
 PROCEDURE
Evidence collected from scene by police

Submitted to laboratory

Case assessment by Reporting Officer -

strategy for examination

Evidence Recovery Unit / Analytical

Specialists / DNA Analysis

Case Interpretation / Statement - Reporting

Officer
WHAT IS A CRIME SCENE?

• A crime scene can be

described as:-
“…a scene capable of yielding
physical evidence which has
the potential to assist in the
identification of an
offender”.
 WE MUST CONSIDER THE
FOLLOWING
1.The victim
2.The suspect
3.The witness
4.The houses belonging to
the victim, witness and
suspect.
YOU BE THE WITNESS
1. Imagine you are at a petrol
station buying milk (we
can’t afford fuel now) .
2. A man walks in, threatens
the employee at the
counter, robs the cash
register, and runs out.
3. The entire ordeal lasts
about five seconds.
4. This is the man you saw…
YOU BE THE WITNESS
 YOU BE THE WITNESS…..
1. The police have asked you to
help them identify the
perpetrator
2. They will show you a set of
pictures, and it is your
responsibility to select the
picture of the man you saw rob
the gas petrol station…
YOU BE THE WITNESS…..
 YOU BE THE WITNESS…..
1. So, which picture did you choose?
2. And the correct answer was... #2
3. Were you right?
4. How long did it take you to pick
out the right suspect? Did you
need to “think” about it?
5. Do you begin to see the value of
forensic science?
GENERAL CRIME SCENE
CONSIDERATIONS
 THE FORENSIC INVESTIGATION
PROCESS

Recognition Comparison

Documentation Individualisation Reporting &

Presentation

Collection & Evaluation/

Preservation Interpretation

Identification Reconstruction
 CRIME SCENE ASSESMENT

Crime Scenes are precious

The recovery of forensic material from
a crime scene and its potential to
provide evidence to detect the crime is
well recognised.
But interpretations of what has
happened at the scene can offer the
investigator far more and may help to
unlock the door in determining the
whole course of the investigation.
 SCENE ASSESSMENT
“...The murder crime scene is, without doubt the
most important crime scene that a Police Officer
will be called upon to attend. Because of the
nature of the crime, death by violence or
unnatural causes ,the answer to what happened
can only be determined after careful and
intelligent examination of the crime scene”.
V.J.Gerberth.

”…Oh, how simple it would all have been had I

been here before they came like a herd of buffalo
and wallowed all over it.”
A. Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery,
 SCENE ASSESSMENT
At every crime scene the
offender leaves messages
about himself, indicating what
is the motivation and drive for
the crime.
Investigators MUST consciously
subject themselves to a mental
process of reconstructing what
had happened.
 SEARCH OF BOSCOMBE POOL, SIR
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
(1890)
“... A search of the damp marshy ground
revealed that the murder was committed
with a piece of wood, and that the
murderer was a tall man, left- handed, who
limped with his right leg, wore thick soled
shooting boots and a grey cloak; smoked
Indian cigars, used a cigar holder and
carried a blunt pen knife in his pocket”.
 HOW DOES HOLMES WORK THIS
OUT?

Left-
Piece of Tall Grey
handed Limped Boots? Cigars
wood? man? cloak
?
DEDUCTION & INDUCTION
• Deductive reasoning
– “…drawing inference
by reasoning from
generals to
particulars”.
• Inductive reasoning
– “… production of fact
to prove general
statement”.
• Holmes was in fact an
inductivist!
• What is forensic science?
NEED ANY HELP?

1. You can access

this at any
point.
2. Please engage
with this if you
need any help or
clarification.
3. Use it to feedback
on your module as
we go
ALPHONSE BERTILLON
1853 - 1914
• Bertillonage
– Anthropometric system of
measurements designed to insure the
identification of known offenders.
• Developed by Alphonse Bertillon for the
Paris police in France in the 1880s.
• Bertillonage System:
– Selection of anthropometric
measurements for purposes of human
identification.
• Prior to 1920 in connection with
police departments and penal
institutions.
• Portrait parl’e (speaking likeness)
BERTINOLAGE
 BERTILLON & BIOMETRICS
1. The birth and development of
biometrics (link here)
 EDMUND LOCARD (1877 - 1966)

1. “.. Every contact

leaves a trace”.
2. Professor of Forensic
Medicine in Lyons.
3. Traite de
criminalistique (1912)
4. What did he actually
say?
Case: Emile Gourbin (1912) - accused of
murdering girlfriend but had strong alibi.
Flakes of skin and face powder under
Gourbin’s fingernails
 LOCARDS PRINCIPLE OF EXCHANGE

Whenever two objects meet,

there is an exchange of
material from each to the
other

Random Transfer: Control Sample:

Is the accidental or Is the suspected
incidental exchange source of the
that takes place random transfer
 EDMUND LOCARD (1877 - 1966)
• Locard exchange principle: Often stated
simply as “...every contact leaves a trace”.
• Locard (1877 – 1966) actually wrote in 1920:
– “…on the one hand, the criminal leaves marks at
the crime scene of his passage: on the other hand,
by an inverse action, he takes with him, on his
body or on his clothing, evidence of his stay or of
his deed”.
• Forms the central hypothesis of trace
evidence examinations.
• In summary - the postulate that every contact
between people or objects results in transfer
of material between them.
LINKAGE THEORY
 LET’S CHECK OUR
KNOWLEDGE
1. Do you remember the name of the
presumptive test I should have used on the
kebab sauce stain? 
2. We said that forensic science is used to
locate scenes of crime, to link these scenes
of crime and linking suspects with crime or
crime scenes. It is also used to --------
suspects.
3. In the forensic investigation process, after
recognition what is the next step, we should
consider?
1 2 3
Kastle Mayer (KM) Eliminate Documentation
 HOWEVER - PERSISTENCE?
• In the context of trace evidence
persistence relates to the length of time
trace evidence remains as an item
following a transfer event.
• Persistence is a property of two factors -
namely:
1. The material transferred (donor)
2. The item onto which transfer has occurred
(recipient)
• Persistence may also be influenced by the
nature of the transfer and by external
factors.
QUESTIONS ASKED IN FORENSIC SCIENCE

Did the item under examination

make the mark at the scene?
Did the material found at the
scene originate from the
suspect?
Have these two items been in
contact with each other?
What is this material?
 DEPENDENCIES
The contribution of forensic science
depends on
The evidence recovered.

The results of the examination.

The circumstances of the case.

The information passed to the

scientist.
 SAMPLING - THREE ISSUES
1. Sample continuity
a. Chain of evidence
b. Continuity is the establishment of the location
and security of an item at all times between the
taking of the sample, its analysis in the
laboratory and production in Court.
c. Continuity is established through a series of
statements by all persons in whose possession
the sample has been.
d. The statements will include the time and date
that a sample was delivered to a second party
and the identity of that person.
e. Integrity of samples - have they been
opened/tampered with?
 SAMPLING - THREE ISSUES
2. Sample packaging:
a. The medium used to transport and store
samples.
b. For fire debris, the selection of suitable
packaging is made after a consideration of
sample size, sample loss (through
evaporation), the potential for
contamination and the possible solvent
effect of the sample on the packaging.
c. The most common packaging materials are
metal cans, glass bottles and bags
constructed with a suitable material.
 SAMPLING - THREE ISSUES
3. Sample selection
a. Refers to:
1. The sampling site
2. The number and the size of the samples
selected.
b. Should maximise the opportunity for the
recovery of material with investigative
and/or forensic value.
c. On occasions, several samples will be
deemed necessary whereas on others, the
decision may be not to sample at all.
d. How do you chose?
 INTERPRETING THE FINDINGS
The scientist can work at three
levels:
1. Source - that the glass found on
a suspects clothing matches that
from the window.
2. Activity - that the suspect was
the person who broke the
window.
3. Offence - that the person was the
one who committed the offence.
 TRACE EVIDENCE
1. Fingerprints 7. Hair samples
2. Fibres 8. Etc. Glass
3. Shoe marks 9. Wood
4. Tool 10.Paint
impressions 11.Blood
5. Vegetation 12.Body fluids
6. Soil
DEALING WITH THE S.C.E.N.E
• Deal with the immediate
Safety: requirement to save or prevent loss
of life.

• Place your cordon around the area

Cordon: that you wish to protect.

Evidenc • Preserve your evidence

e:
Nominal • Keep a record and log of all who

:
enter the scene.

Evaluat • Assess and evaluate what you

e:
have.
 SCENE SECURIITY
• Scene guards • R.V. Points
• Scene logs • Minimise
• Cordons access
• Common • Predatory
approach animals
path • Press
incursions
 WHY IS THERE A NEED TO
PRESERVE THE SCENE?
1. In order to prevent material from
being added to the scene.
2. To prevent material from being
carried out of the scene
3. To prevent material from been
destroyed within the scene.
4. To prevent unnecessary handling
of material
 SCENE EVALUATION
1. Recording ( video-photographs-plans-
notes)
2. Ambient temperatures
3. Scene Security
4. Descriptions (scene-body-weapons-
clothing/disturbance-conditions of
contents)
5. THIS MUST BE CARRIED OUT PRIOR TO
ANY PHYSICAL DISTURBANCE OF THE
SCENE.
 SCENE PRESERVATION
1. Climatic conditions 8. Lighting
2. Tents 9. Scene tape
3. Polythene 10. X-contamination
sheeting 11. Helicopter down
4. Stepping plates draughts
5. Animal 12. Deliberate
interference intervention by
6. Health & safety offender
7. Protective clothing
NEED ANY HELP?

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this at any
point.
2. Please engage
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need any help or
clarification.
3. Use it to feedback
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we go
TENTS
 INITIAL ACTION
STABILISING THE SCENE
Deal with the Ascertain that a crime
immediate has been committed
requirement of saving and introduce your
and preventing loss of cordons
life.
Treat every witness at If a potential suspect
the scene as a or witness is not at the
potential suspect. Do scene and you know
not allow them to re- they are in hospital.
enter the scene. Send an officer
immediately to
 SCENE MANAGEMENT
1. Timing of examinations
2. Appointment of a Crime Scene
Manager
3. Number and competency of SS
personnel
4. Succession (closure and hand-over)
5. Health & Safety requirements
6. Contamination
MANAGEMENT OF SPECIALISTS AT
THE SCENE
1. Forensic Medical Examiner
2. Forensic Pathologist
3. Forensic Scientist
4. Other experts
5. Pre and post, strategy meetings
should be considered
6. Sequenced examinations should be
considered to maximise evidence
 COMMON APPROACH PATH
There are only three ways to gain an entry
to a scene that gives reasonable certainty
that the relevant marks are not destroyed:
• A ‘corridor’ should be thoroughly
examined for footwear, which are then
retrieved before anyone else goes
through the area.
• Bridges or stepping plates can be used
to protect the floor
• Choose a route that is unlikely to have
been used by the offender.
 SEARCHING METHODS
1. Circular or Spiral method
2. Strip Method
3. Line searching
4. Zone Method
5. All these methods have one thing
in common. Whatever method you
choose to use it must be carried
out methodically and thoroughly.
ZONE METHOD
A B

C D
CIRCULAR METHOD
THE STRIP METHOD
 LINE SEARCHING

Best for large areas.

Formalized plotting by
string.
Searchers move parallel
to one another
 CONTAMINATION ISSUES

1.Trace 5.Fingerprints
evidence at 6.Fibres
scene 7.Blood
Contamination
2.DNA The unwanted transfer of
material from another source
3.Glass to a
evidence.
piece of physical

4.Paint Cross-contamination
The unwanted transfer of
material between two or
more sources of physical
evidence.
 LET’S CHECK OUR
KNOWLEDGE
1. Type of reasoning where we draw
inference, by reasoning, from
general observations to particular
2. Bertillon introduced a series of
measurements which were known
by this name
3. Term – every contact leaves a trace,
introduced by
1 2 3
Deductive Anthropometry Locard
 CONTAMINATION ISSUES.
THE GOLDEN RULES
 Isolate person from other  Doctor examining victim
Suspects, victims & witnesses and suspect should be
required to change
protective suit.
 Do not allow person to eat,  When removing clothing from
drink smoke, wash etc. people have them stand on
sheet of paper.
 A different officer must deal  Items removed must be
with each suspect. packed separately.
 The same vehicle must not be  Wet clothing should be put
used to carry, victim & into open polythene bags and
suspect until they are dried by laboratory staff or
 examined
The same room should not be  trained officers
Do not test tools found on
used for the examination. suspect with marks at scene.
 CONTAMINATION LOG
SCENES

21 SEDEN

P342CCT
ESCORT
MORTEM

FORD
POST
AVE

NAME
F.SMITH
B. JONES
P.HANSON
 PLANS & NOTES
Plans are a useful medium by which to
record the scene.
1. However - they may mislead if drawn
inaccurately.
2. They are all subject to the rules of
disclosure!
 EXHIBITS
Exhibits need to be packaged correctly
to ensure that:
1. They can be readily identified
2. They can not be contaminated by
other exhibits and it can not
contaminate another exhibit
3. They will not deteriorate.
4. They will not be damaged in transit.
 EXIBITS (CONTINUED)
• Clothing, Shoes and • Blood for grouping.
Vegetable matter etc. – Place in
– Always pack in paper refrigerator.
bags • Blood for DNA
• Powders, paint flakes – Freezer
and other granule • Saliva
material
– Freezer
– Use a sheet of A4
paper, folded in • Swabs
Packaged, sealed,
squares, containing – Freezer
labelled &
sample. Place paper documented
into polythene bag immediately after
seizure
 CORRECT PACKAGING PROTECTS
CONTINUITY AND INTEGRITY OF EXHIBITS.
 PACKAGING - CLOTHING
Do package
clothing in
brown paper
sacks.
Top of bag Do not
folded package
over twice clothing in
polythene
& signed
white
labels Brown
Bin
sack
Base of bag
is stitched.
Can be
Clear plastic folded over
Exhibit
panel & integrity
 PACKAGING - CLOTHING FOR
VOLATILE MATERIAL
Do package in nylon bags.
Do not package in paper or polythene

Exhibit
Swan label
neck
twisted
with
integrit
y seal

Nylon Bag
 PACKAGING - KNIVES & TOOLS

Manufactured Knife/
- rigid knife sharp
tubes object

Exhibit label
NEED ANY HELP?

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 STRENGTH OF EVIDENCE
• Could be conclusive • Conclusive
– Semen, blood, plucked – Fingerprints and
hair root blood grouping. mechanical fits
– Multiple paint layers, • Inconclusive.
multiple fibres, glove-
– Window glass,
marks, shoe-marks, tool-
container glass,
marks, handwriting
single fiber type,
• Good Evidence single paint layer
– Min of two paint flakes,
wood mixture, rare glass,
mixture of glass
– Three (plus) fibres from
different sources.
 LET’S CHECK OUR
KNOWLEDGE
1. We discussed interpreting the findings
and said that there are three levels we
can consider. What is the third level
which we generally can’t address?
2. What does C. stand for in the
pneumonic we discussed?
3. Only made of aluminum and used to
protect the floor from contaminating
footwear marks
1 2 3
Offence Cordon Stepping plates
ARE OUR RESULTS BIASED?

What do we
expect is the next
in this sequence?
ARE OUR RESULTS BIASED?

Were we biased by
the information?
One more look at
eyewitnesses

How many ladies do

you see in this image?

Vote now
1 2 3 4
 OUR FINAL QUIZ
1. Matching broken glass from a scene with glass on a
suspects clothing addresses what level of proposition? A. Trace evidence
2. Linkage theory connects suspects, victims and
B. Contamination
crime scenes by?
3. Drawing inference by reasoning from generals to
particulars is an an example of? C. Locard's principle

4. Forms the central hypothesis of trace evidence

D. Physical evidence
examinations.
5. The unwanted transfer of material from another E. Source
6. The unwanted transfer of material between two or
more sources of physical evidence F. Persistence

7. A corridor, established to approach the scene? G. Deductivism

8. Anthropometric system of measurements designed
to ensure the identification of known offenders H. Bertillonage

9. The length of time trace evidence remains as an I. Common approach

item following a transfer event path
10. Fingerprints, fibres, shoe marks are examples of? J. Cross-contamination
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
E D G C B J I H F A
 HOW DID WE DO?
Do you think this has helped you
to:
1.Place further study in context
2.Have a greater understanding
of the practical applications of
forensic science
3.Provide a broad introduction to
forensic & investigative
 MAKE MOST OF THE STUDENT
VOICE
1. Your views are
appreciated, and I will
always respond.
2. Constructive critique can
be incredibly helpful.
3. Please let us keep the
feedback flowing
during the module.
(1) Would like any of these topics developed a little
more? (2) Are there any topics that you haven’t fully
grasped? (3) Can you suggest any areas for
improvement please? Let’s try to do this while
we’re in class. This way – we don’t forget.
FEEDBACK AS WE GO
ALONG

1 2 3 4