Psarreas, Tricia. Crime Scene Investigations: Term Paper

The author talks about several investigations, including the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, jr., that have been aided by firearm evidence teams.

Evidence Submission Guideline #10: Firearms Evidence. Indianapolis-Marion County Forensic Services Agency Retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://www.indygov.org/eGov/County/FSA/Documents/Firearms.pdf

This documents provides the guidelines for investigators submitting firearm evidence in Indianapolis-Marion County. It has guidelines for every step of the evidence-collecting process. For example, photos that are taken must have a scale (such as a ruler next to it) to show size. In the firearm itself, the investigator is asked to include certain information in their notes such as the appearance of the cylinder, the marks made on each side of the top strap, and diagrams showing the direction of the rotation. There are also directions on how to package cartridges (both fired and unfired) such as making sure they are surrounded by cotton or a similar soft material, that the package is sealed tightly and that the correct information is included on the label. Most of the guidelines are very specific. But there are also some more obvious guidelines, such as that the firearm should be given to the lab unloaded and that weapons should be handled with care.

"Detroit police suspends firearms testing, orders audit" USA Today, April 25, 2008 Retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-25-318512256_x.htm

This is an interesting article detailing how one forensics testing lab in Detroit is under investigation because some of their firearm evidence report were possibly falsified. Because of the suspicions, the Detroit Police Department issued a temporary suspension of all firearms investigations in that lab until the matter could be resolved. The investigation was initiated because of some "significant discrepancies in firearm evidence reviewed by the crime lab in two homicide cases and several other cases" the so-called discrepancies came from one report that concluded that the fired casings in a homicide investigation came from a single weapon, while another report stated that there were actually three different weapons involved. At the time that the article was written, there was no direct conclusion on whether this discrepancy was a deliberate attempt at deception or if it was a mistake.

WORKS CITED

"Detroit police suspends firearms testing, orders audit" USA Today, April 25, 2008 Retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-25-318512256_x.htm

Evidence Submission Guideline #10: Firearms Evidence. Indianapolis-Marion County Forensic Services Agency. Retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://www.indygov.org/eGov/County/FSA/Documents/Firearms.pdf

"Firearms Evidence Collection Procedures" Physical Evidence Bulletin, California Department of Justice, Bureau of Forensic Services, Retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://www.cci.ca.gov/Reference/peb/peb12.pdf

Psarreas, Tricia. "Crime Scene Investigations: Firearm Evidence," Helium.com. Retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://www.helium.com/items/1481011-crime-scene-investigation-firearm-evidence

Schehl, Sally a. "Firearms and Toolmarks in the FBI Laboratory Part 3," Forensic Science Communications vol. 2 April 2000.