Tool Marks In Criminal Investigation

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When a crime has been committed there are a lot of factors that can come into play. For instance there is many forms of crime scene investigation tactics and strategies used to find the evidence that a criminal has left behind for the trained eye to find and inspect. One of the tactics and strategies used is making impressions of many things at the crime scene. There are many forms of impressions from tool marks ranging between cuts, gouges, or abrasions. The tool mark is caused by any tool making contact with any object. Burglary scenes that have forcible entries into a building, safe, window, door, or anything else someone can break into are the most often scenes to involve tool marks. Careful examination of impressions can reveal size and shape. Crime Scene Investigators use silicone-based putty to reproduce tool marks. The Crime Scene Investigation members can coat where a tool mark is left on any surface whether it is a door, window frame, and wooden panel, anything that has a tool mark at the crime scene. Crime scene members can also coat the tools itself in the silicone-based putty to attempt to exhume specific marks and striations on the suspected tool. Significant individual characteristics are rarely revealed which could allow the examiner to identify the tool used. Similar to how a firearm gets random striations…show more content…
The Crime Scene Investigators will place a piece of mylar sheet on the dust print. Then place the grounding plate next to the mylar with the electrostatic lifting device on both the mylar and plate. They then turn on the machine which presses the film against the impression. They roll out the sheet of mylar so the print is clear and can be pulled up without a problem. Using Bromophenol Blue and exposure to water vapor, dust impressions can be chemically enhanced by Crime Scene Investigation

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