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Archive for the ‘Arson’ Category

Fire Investagation

Fire investigation, sometimes referred to as origin and cause investigation, is the analysis of fire-related incidents. After firefighters extinguish a fire, an investigation is launched to determine the origin and cause of the fire or explosion. Investigations of such incidents are done using a systematic approach and knowledge of basic fire science.

Fire investigation is one of the most difficult of the forensic sciences to practice. In most forensic disciplines, even the basic question of whether a crime has been committed is normally obvious. During a fire investigation, an entire process must be undertaken just to determine if the case involves arson or not. The difficulty of determining whether an arson fire has occurred or not arises because fires destroy evidence.

A fire investigator looks at what is left behind after a fire and obtains information to piece together the events that occurred in the moments leading up to the fire.

One of the challenging aspects of fire investigation is the multi-disciplinary base of the investigator’s job. Fires can be caused by or involve most things people see or use. For this reason, fire investigators need to know not only basic science of fire behavior, but knowledge of many different areas of study (including construction, electricity, human behavior, vehicles etc) is helpful. If the fire origin has, for example, a gas appliance, an investigator should know enough about appliances to either include or exclude it as a possible cause of the fire. Fire investigators must also know their own limitations and call upon experts to assist when needed. Accordingly, fire investigators sometimes work with forensic electrical engineers (when examining electrical appliances, household wiring, etc.) or others skilled in forensic engineering (gas-powered appliances, air handling equipment, gas delivery systems, etc.).

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  • TV Myths

    1.) Myth- On television, the select few characters on the show are able to complete all types of specialist analyses.

    Television crime shows take the job descriptions of approximately 5 different forensic specialists and combine them into one to create a ’super scientist’, a person who is able to solve any type of crime almost entirely on their own. In reality, a forensics laboratory is divided into half a dozen different sections which all have different specialists working within them. One piece of evidence is usually passed through a number of sections before deciding if the evidence reveals anything.

    2.) Myth- Every piece of evidence is always perfect and easily definable, for example, smudges of dirt and dust, fingerprints and broken fingernails. In the end, the crime scene reveals all.

    More often than not, evidence in the crime scene is well hidden and requires a thorough initial search and usually many returns to the crime scene. Evidence such as latent fingerprints are difficult to find and other evidence found is often contaminated or unusable.

    3.) Myth- TV makes the analysis of evidence appear to be fast and simple.

    In real life, crime labs can take weeks or months to analyse and process evidence and the evidence usually goes through several sections before the analysis is complete. Certain chemical processes can also take days and cannot be sped up. If a piece of evidence has to go through several types of chemical analyses, the process takes even longer.

    4.) Myth- On television crime shows, every forensic laboratory is fully equipped with everything needed to solve every crime.

    In real life, crime labs are usually under funded and it is a constant battle with larger departments, such as fire and police, for funding and resources. Many labs often find it difficult to obtain enough staff members, are often tight for space and using worn out equipment.

    5.) Myth- On TV, all of the crimes are solved and the criminals are brought to justice and punished.

    Fact- The majority of crimes are never solved and the chances of a person being sent to prison for committing a crime are 1 out of 100. Approximately eighty percent of murders are solved, but less than twenty percent of burglaries are solved.

    6.) Myth- On TV, violent crimes are very common and hundreds of people are murdered every day.

    Fact- Since the year 1955, television crime shows have included scripts with murdered characters. These continue to be shown today but the rate of murder according to these crime shows would be one thousand times higher than the murder of actual people in the real world.

    7.) Myth- TV policemen always get to use their guns at nearly every case they are called on to investigate.

    Fact- The average police officer in the city of New York, America would have to work for approximately sixty years just to be able to shoot once.

    8.) Myth- On TV, crimes always seem to happen in the most convenient of places, for example, in places where people are packed in to increase the number of hostages.

    Fact- In reality, crimes often occur where there are no witnesses present and the majority of times, crimes will occur outside a busy venue rather than inside. Crimes where there are huge numbers of hostages involved are not very common.

    9.) Myth- On television, forensic investigators and police often allow citizens not involved in the investigation to enter and exit the crime scene whenever they please.

    Fact- In real life, crime scenes are sealed off effectively to preserve the evidence within. Citizens not involved with the crime are very rarely allowed into a crime scene area unless they have special permission. This is because the more people that are allowed to enter and exit a crime scene, the more chance there is of precious evidence being contaminated or destroyed.

    10.) Myth- On television, TV police and forensic scientists always seem to be able to bend the law in their favour in order to solve crimes.

    Fact- In reality, there are stringent procedures in place to ensure that the law is always obeyed and never tampered with during the solving of a crime. Certain procedures are compulsory, for example the storage and analysing of evidence in a laboratory i.e no evidence should be taken out of its storage area for the personal interest of a forensic scientist.

    Criminology

    Forensic science (often shortened to forensics) is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to the legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or to a civil action. But besides its relevance to the underlying legal system, more generally forensics encompasses the accepted scholarly or scientific methodology and norms under which the facts regarding an event, or an artifact, or some other physical item (such as a corpse, or cadaver, for example) are ascertained as being the case. In that regard the concept is related to the broader notion of authentication whereby an interest outside of a legal form exists in determining whether an object is in fact what it purports to be, or is alleged as being. The word “forensic” comes from the Latin adjective “forensis” meaning of or before the forum. During the time of the Romans, a criminal charge meant presenting the case before a group of public individuals in the forum. Both the person accused of the crime and the accuser would give speeches based on their side of the story. The individual with the best argument and delivery would determine the outcome of the case. Basically, the person with the sharpest forensic skills would win. This origin is the source of the two modern usages of the word “forensic” - as a form of legal evidence and as a category of public presentation. In modern use, the term “forensics” in place of “forensic science” can be considered incorrect as the term “forensic” is effectively a synonym for “legal” or “related to courts”. However, the term is now so closely associated with the scientific field that many dictionaries include the meaning that equates the word “forensics” with “forensic science”.

    Documentation Procedures

    Many law enforcement agencies use a variety of preprinted documents or forms, designed to record certain aspects of crime scene investigation. These documents normally have resulted from a trial-and-error approach based on actual case experiences. Despite variations in the design of these documents, the purpose and goals behind their use are usually identical from one agency to another. 

There is an important point to consider when forms, are being drafted for routine use. Often, there is a tendency to regard forms as means to cover every possibility that personnel may confront, such documents normally serve only as reminders of the minimum pertinent information needed to perform a task. Each scene will require some? L of deviation from the norm, based on the complexities at hand. Forms are not substitutes for thinking; they are merely tools to assist personnel to fully exercise training and experience to meet the needs of a given situation. 

There are normally six important categories of documentation that are considered applicable to any search:

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    Arson-What Influences

    A lot of thing can influence a person to commit arson (criminal damage act). Usually its to cover up a murder but that isn’t helpful; because human bones don’t fully burn up into dust. And that can leave behind important evidence that can help solve a case. For example someone was stabbed with a knife the knife marks between two rib bones can identify the length, width and sometimes the type of knife just by the marks on the bones. Another example would be Rage, or even for fun. and a thing that scary even firefighters have been known to start commit arson for gratification for example firefighters would set fires and then go in and save the people in side. And even if there’s a lack of fires firefighters will go an commit arson. But you can rest assured that a firefight probably won’t commit arson it is very rare for this to happen.

    Fire Scene Prior to Investagation

    Fire Scene after investagation

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