PHYSICAL EVIDENCE MANUAL - Crime Scene Investigator Network
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE MANUAL - Crime Scene Investigator Network PHYSICAL EVIDENCE MANUAL - Crime Scene Investigator Network
Physical Evidence Manual Safety and Contamination Prevention Current DNA technology allows for very small amounts of sample to be analyzed. For example, a blood stain the size of a sharpened pencil point may be enough to perform DNA analysis on, as would the residue amount of sweat and skin cells on the inside rim of a ball cap. Because of this, inadvertent contamination of the evidence is possible if you do not take precautions. • Wear gloves and, if desired, a mask and eye protection while collecting biological samples. • Change gloves frequently or anytime your gloves are contaminated with biological material. • Do not touch the tips of cotton swabs with your fingers. • Avoid contaminating your swabs by getting them dirty, talking over them, blowing on them to make samples dry faster, etc. Consider purchasing individually wrapped sterile swabs. • Do not touch your water dropper bottle tip to any surface or evidence. • Clean tools (such as scissors or tweezers) that you might use to collect evidence with a 10% bleach solution and dry thoroughly. General Collection Guidelines In general, wet or moist biological evidence should be dried if possible and packaged into paper containers. Paper packaging prevents the evidence from degrading, so wrapping the evidence first in plastic then placing that inside paper (or vice versa) defeats the purpose. Mark the packaging with a “BIOHAZARD” label. Rules of thumb for long-term storage of biological evidence is refrigerate wet or liquid evidence and freeze dry evidence. UV Light Searches Many officers chose to use an ultraviolet (UV) light, Woods lamp, or other alternate light source to assist in the search for biological stains. Such devices can be helpful in a search, given that many biological stains such as semen and saliva may fluoresce, or appear bright, when viewed with UV light in a darkened room. However, there are three important points to remember when using a UV light to assist your search for biological stains: Adopted: May 2002 Revisions: 6 Last Revision: January 31, 2008 6-2
Physical Evidence Manual 1. A number of other materials may also fluoresce, such as urine, stains from food or drink, laundry detergent, and many other substances. 2. Not all semen or saliva stains will necessarily fluoresce with a UV light. 3. Blood will not fluoresce when viewed with a UV light; rather, it will appear dark. Blood Evidence Blood evidence is common in violent crimes. In addition to DNA, blood contains cells and proteins that allow the laboratory to perform the following examinations: • Testing can determine if blood is human or non-human in origin. • The specific animal family can be determined for non-human blood. Collecting Liquid or Moist Blood – Large Quantity 1. Saturate several (5 to 10) sterile cotton swabs with the blood. Allow swabs to air-dry. 2. Venous blood will coagulate so it is important to collect a good mix of clotted cells and serum. 3. The dried swabs can be placed in a paper container (e.g. paper envelope or bag). 4. Do not lick envelope seals, as this is a safety and contamination hazard. Collecting Liquid or Moist Blood – Small Quantity 1. Limit the number of swabs. One-by-one use swabs to collect the blood, concentrating the blood onto each swab. Use as many swabs as needed until the entire stain is completely collected. 2. Allow swabs to air-dry. 3. The dried swabs can be placed in a paper container (e.g. paper envelope or bag). 4. Properly label and seal the container. Do not lick envelope seals as this is a safety and contamination hazard. Collecting Dried Blood If the stained object is transportable, submit the item intact. Dried blood may flake off an object, so be careful to seal all openings of a package. If it is not transportable, collect the blood by one of the following methods. Adopted: May 2002 Revisions: 6 Last Revision: January 31, 2008 6-3
- Page 1 and 2: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE MANUAL OREGON STA
- Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 PREFACE......
- Page 5 and 6: COLLECTION OF GUNPOWDER EVIDENCE...
- Page 7 and 8: Physical Evidence Manual 2.0 FORENS
- Page 9 and 10: Physical Evidence Manual SERVICES P
- Page 11 and 12: Physical Evidence Manual 4.0 GENERA
- Page 13 and 14: Physical Evidence Manual Sealing A
- Page 15 and 16: Physical Evidence Manual Forensic S
- Page 17 and 18: Physical Evidence Manual 5.0 ARSON
- Page 19: Physical Evidence Manual Adopted: M
- Page 23 and 24: Physical Evidence Manual Semen Evid
- Page 25 and 26: Physical Evidence Manual If the hum
- Page 27 and 28: Physical Evidence Manual Collection
- Page 29 and 30: Physical Evidence Manual When cland
- Page 31 and 32: Physical Evidence Manual Major Crim
- Page 33 and 34: Physical Evidence Manual Figure 3:
- Page 35 and 36: Physical Evidence Manual Examples-
- Page 37 and 38: Physical Evidence Manual • Check
- Page 39 and 40: Physical Evidence Manual • Urine
- Page 41 and 42: Physical Evidence Manual Table 4: F
- Page 43 and 44: Physical Evidence Manual 10.0 FINGE
- Page 45 and 46: Physical Evidence Manual Routine id
- Page 47 and 48: Physical Evidence Manual Adopted: M
- Page 49 and 50: Physical Evidence Manual Adopted: M
- Page 51 and 52: Physical Evidence Manual Casting Me
- Page 53 and 54: Physical Evidence Manual Exemplars
- Page 55 and 56: Physical Evidence Manual Adopted: M
- Page 57 and 58: Physical Evidence Manual Collection
- Page 59 and 60: Physical Evidence Manual Adopted: M
- Page 61 and 62: Physical Evidence Manual clean pape
- Page 63 and 64: Physical Evidence Manual 17.0 PAINT
- Page 65 and 66: Physical Evidence Manual 18.0 PLAST
- Page 67 and 68: Physical Evidence Manual When possi
- Page 69 and 70: Physical Evidence Manual Adopted: M
Physical Evidence Manual<br />
Safety and Contamination Prevention<br />
Current DNA technology allows for very small amounts of sample to be analyzed.<br />
For example, a blood stain the size of a sharpened pencil point may be enough<br />
to perform DNA analysis on, as would the residue amount of sweat and skin cells<br />
on the inside rim of a ball cap. Because of this, inadvertent contamination of the<br />
evidence is possible if you do not take precautions.<br />
• Wear gloves and, if desired, a mask and eye protection while collecting<br />
biological samples.<br />
• Change gloves frequently or anytime your gloves are contaminated with<br />
biological material.<br />
• Do not touch the tips of cotton swabs with your fingers.<br />
• Avoid contaminating your swabs by getting them dirty, talking over them,<br />
blowing on them to make samples dry faster, etc. Consider purchasing<br />
individually wrapped sterile swabs.<br />
• Do not touch your water dropper bottle tip to any surface or evidence.<br />
• Clean tools (such as scissors or tweezers) that you might use to collect<br />
evidence with a 10% bleach solution and dry thoroughly.<br />
General Collection Guidelines<br />
In general, wet or moist biological evidence should be dried if possible and<br />
packaged into paper containers. Paper packaging prevents the evidence from<br />
degrading, so wrapping the evidence first in plastic then placing that inside paper<br />
(or vice versa) defeats the purpose. Mark the packaging with a “BIOHAZARD”<br />
label.<br />
Rules of thumb for long-term storage of biological evidence is refrigerate wet or<br />
liquid evidence and freeze dry evidence.<br />
UV Light Searches<br />
Many officers chose to use an ultraviolet (UV) light, Woods lamp, or other<br />
alternate light source to assist in the search for biological stains. Such devices<br />
can be helpful in a search, given that many biological stains such as semen and<br />
saliva may fluoresce, or appear bright, when viewed with UV light in a darkened<br />
room.<br />
However, there are three important points to remember when using a UV light to<br />
assist your search for biological stains:<br />
Adopted: May 2002<br />
Revisions: 6<br />
Last Revision: January 31, 2008<br />
6-2
Change language