Criminalistic Methods Laboratory

A fully equipped laboratory to facilitate the analysis of evidence recovered from crime scenes.

The types of recovered evidence are many and varied. Many analysis techniques are non-destructive, and some examples are given below with each evidence type:

Fingerprints
- Chemical enhancing reagents
- Cyanoacrylate (superglue) fuming
- Humidity treatment
- Alternative light sources and DCS5 for visualisation of fluorescent dyed fingerprints.
Questioned documents
- Electrostatic Document Analyser (ESDA) for visualisation of indented writing.
  - Video Spectral Comparators (VSC) for ink analysis and checking questionable document security features.
- Raman spectrometer for ink comparison to check for alteration of documents.
Illicit substance
- A range of presumptive testing chemical reagents.
- Fourier Transform Infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR).
- Raman spectrometer.
Glass
- Two high power microscopes equipped with video cameras and warming stages to allow measurement of the sample refractive index.
Footwear
- Casting equipment for footwear impressions.
- Inkless visualisation system to allow comparison with the cast.
- Electrostatic Lifting Apparatus (ESLA) for lifting dusty footwear marks from hard surfaces.
Tool mark impressions
- Casting silicone for comparison to suspected tool marks.
- Macro comparison microscope system, for the comparison of cartridge cases from firearms.
Hairs and fibres
- Two high-powered comparison microscope systems for comparison of trace evidence.
- FTIR microscope for determining the infra-red spectra of trace evidence.