Yesterday, we and the Upward Bound kids went to the Peoria Crime Lab. It wasn't as hands-on as the Chicago trip, but I thought it was more varied in that several different types of processes were demonstrated to us. Marty (the officer that gave us the tour) showed us thier evidence processing, evidence room, on-car camera technology, photo processing. He also showed us some techniques used to find the bad guys, including analysis of shoe imprints, several types of fingerprints, as well as ways to photograph crime scenes and evidence. Then he showed us his can loaded up with kits and tools of all kinds to help take samples and do experiments at the scene of the crime. It was a lot of information in one day!
Anyways, entomology...I found a few new ways insects can contribute to an investigation other than PMI. If someone was incapacitated (bound, drugged, or just helpless), they may have some urine or fecal matter soaked into clothes or bed dressings. These secretions attract certain insects which can provide some new clues to antemortem and postmortem circumstances of the crime. Another new situation I found that I thought was really intriguing was the ability of DNA technology to evaluate blood found in the blood meals of bleed-feeding insects. The DNA of human blood can be recovered from the digestive tract of an insect that has fed on an individual...isn't that what they did on Jurassic Park?
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It was very interesting to hear about the "bugs" and how they evaluate them during investigations. The Upward Bound group has placed their "bug-site" up for collection. If you would like some pictures let me know?
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