A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E - Colby-Sawyer College

crime-solving tools, and the one that has changed the face
of crime detection almost as much as fingerprints did, is the
Capillary Electrophoresis Genetic Analyzer. This powerful tool
is more simply called the DNA typing instrument, and it can
deliver a DNA profile from a sample as small as 50 to 100 cells,
which is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
While the tools for solving crimes have come a long way
technologically, one tool has stayed the same, and Kim feels it
may be the most important of all. “The crime scene investigator
is close to the ultimate tool because the more you see, the
more experienced you become, the more valuable you become.
If you can get to the point where you can think outside the
box, you’ve made a breakthrough. The instruments and tools
we use can’t think outside the box…yet, so the trained criminalist
is currently the ultimate weapon in solving crimes.”
With a CSI as dedicated as Kim, the bad guys better beware.
Kim is asked to testify in court about four or five times a
year, and is more often asked to give depositions. While she
does not particularly enjoy testifying in court, she says the
upside is that you have a chance to interact with the jury.
“With so many CSI shows on TV,” she explains, “juries seem
to understand much more of what we explain in court. For
example, if we use the terms Leuco Crystal Violet (LCV) or
luminol, they know what those are.* In the old days we’d have
to spend time explaining those chemicals and what they’re
used for. The downside of the CSI programs is that juries think
you can get DNA off anything and everything, and that DNA
can solve any crime. The CSI shows are accurate for the most
part, but there are things they depict that sometimes make us
laugh down at the lab.
“The worst pitfall in court,” Kim says with just a hint of
agitation, “is when you get what I call ‘a mean attorney’ who
may show you a book you’ve never seen before and ask if
you’ve read it. When you say no, he jumps right on it and asks
why you haven’t read it and proposes that it’s essentially the
bible for your field of science. Then, even if you say, ‘No, that’s
a pathology book,’ he still may have discredited you a little bit
with the jury.”
Kim has seen difficult sights, smelled terrible smells, and
has, at the least, brushed shoulders with the worst in human
*When Leuco Crystal Violet (LCV) and hydrogen peroxide come into contact with the hemoglobin in blood, a catalytic reaction occurs and the solution turns to
a purple/violet color. Luminol is a versatile chemical that exhibits chemiluminesence with a striking blue glow when mixed with an appropriate oxidizing agent.
Both are used at crime scenes, but LCV is easier to photograph, as it does not require a fully darkened room, whereas luminol does.
Kim uses tweezers and an alternate light source to collect fibers from a pair
of blue jeans.
20 COLBY-SAWYER ALUMNI MAGAZINE
The FTIR microscope is used when examining fibers for chemical composition.