Crime Scene at the Library

My buddy and fellow author Linda Mickey (www.lindamickey.com) and I get to do a cool presentation to library audiences in the Chicago area a few times a year and it's not just a trick to sell books.

Aware of the public's fascination with forensic science shows like CSI and NCIS, we teamed up with a forensic scientist from the Northern Illinois Police Crime Laboratory to offer an hour of give and take about the role a real lab plays in the investigation of homicide. Linda moderates. I get a chance to play the police role as an evidence technician (in Illinois, police officers trained as evidence techs process the crime scene). Ken Pfoser, a DNA analyst, describes what happens when certain kinds of evidence arrive at his lab.

It's been a fascinating experience. One thing that amazes me is the number of people who attend. We've had as many as seventy to eighty folks turn out for a session. They ask terrific questions, too.

One of our goals is to dispel some of the myths television and movies create about crime scene investigation. Another is to showcase the incredible work done by forensic scientists and the advances made in the last few years in crimesolving technology. For example, just a couple of years ago it took months to process a DNA sample. Now, in critical circumstances, Ken tells us he could do the work in a week.

Most people are interested to learn that responsibility for processing what is often the largest piece of evidence in a homicide, the body, falls specifically to the coroner or medical examiner and not the crime lab. And that the morgue where autopsies are done is not next door to the crime lab, as it is on CSI. Many people are also surprised to discover that the lab's forensic scientists, except in unusual cases, seldom travel to crime scenes, leaving that work to the police evidence technicians (who are trained by crime lab personnel).

Another thing we note is that the science used on CSI is mostly real, not fantasy, but that CSI's writers manipulate the way it's used for dramatic effect. Ken says he hasn't yet found a machine that will not only spit out a DNA result but show the person's name, address, drivers' license picture and criminal history all on the same screen!