If you missed your chance to come to the week-long camp, now’s the time to make up for it! Sign up now at our camp website–that’s also where you can find details on the camp itself. Hope to see you there!

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Despite the fact that the operation went seamlessly, the Bin Laden raid was not an easy one.  His compound was surrounded by 8 feet of barbed wire.  There were also additional 7 foot security walls within the compound. So what factors contributed to Bin Laden’s defeat you may ask? US officials say that inside information was an integral part of the operation’s success. The Bin Laden family was also the only family that burned trash, and the only million dollar home that was without phone or internet connections; a giveaway that the compound was ideal to hide someone of great significance.  Administration said that the raid was kept so secretive that no foreign officials were told in advance, and very few within the US government were privy to prior knowledge of the history that was about to unfold a world away.

On September 11, 2001, over 3,000 lives were lost in the worst attacks of terrorism on American soil. On May 1, 2011, the man responsible for this horrific amount of innocent bloodshed was finally brought to justice. Bin Laden’s capture sent throngs of cheering Americans in to the streets in both Times Square, and in front of the White House. Gordon Felt, president of the Families of Flight 93, issued a heartfelt statement saying, “This is important news for us, and for the world. It cannot ease our pain, or bring back our loved ones. It does bring a measure of comfort that the mastermind of the September 11th tragedy and the face of global terror can no longer spread his evil”.

Please check back soon for updates on the forensic discoveries relating to Bin Laden’s capture and killing. For more information, please click here or here.

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Read about another criminal who made a silly mistake

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The driving force of art forgery is the fact that art work created by certain artists is worth more than art work created by others.  If a work of art can be replicated perfectly by an art forger it is only worth less monetarily than the original because of who painted it not because the painting looks any differently than the original.  The same theory applies to forgers who create new art pieces in the style of a master, if the forgery is believed to be genuine it will be deemed priceless but if it is found to be a fake it is deemed worthless, regardless of what the piece of art looks like.

Forensic investigators, along with art historians and appraisers, are often responsible for determining if a piece of art is a forgery or not. Historians often use stylistic analysis to determine if a work of art is genuine or not, possessing large amount of knowledge about the styles, tool, brushstrokes,  techniques used by certain artists. There are a variety of methods used for forensic authentication of art work.   Some of the technical methods for revealing fakes include X-rays, UV lights, and IR light, which can be used to see under layers of paint to see covered up works, determine time period or the actual artist of the painting if an original signature has been covered up.  Chemical analysis and spectral comparisons can detect the components of paint to ensure that modern pigments were not used in supposedly old paintings.  Examination of the craquelure, the network of cracks that appear on old paintings, can be analyzed to ensure that the cracks were not artificially made and that they follow the grain of the wood onto which they were painted.

Art forgery sounds like a thing of the past, but art dealers claim that about 15% of art sold at auctions are fake, which means hundreds of people getting conned out of thousands of dollars.

For more information on art crimes  save the date, the Museum’s new art crimes temporary exhibit is coming on February 15th, 2010!

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DERWIN J. BRADLEY
Law Enforcement/Counterterrorism

I’m sure you all remember the incident where singer Chris Brown battered his girlfriend Robyn Rihanna Fenty, commonly known as Rihanna. I was discussing the incident with a fellow author who was a former Fortune 500 CEO and, I suspect, a frightened estranged wife who might have been battered by her soon-to-be ex-husband.

I told them that in my 25 years of policing, I have seen numerous domestic violence cases where the woman was what we call ‘The Primary Aggressor’. The Primary Aggressor is defined as the person who initiates the violence and/or demonstrates the most aggressive behavior. Now don’t get me wrong, when Oprah said, “There’s never a good reason to hit a woman during an argument,” I agree wholeheartedly; however, it has been my experience in the field that women will typically commit the first act of violence. I have worked many cases where the woman initiated violence by pushing, slapping, or throwing objects at the man. (It is rumored that Rihanna threw the tainted cell phone at Brown, sparking the physical confrontation). Women also tend to try to physically block the man’s path if he tries to leave, or simply verbally berates and belittles him until he explodes violently and batters her. Of course the male wins the fight and is arrested for domestic violence.

I can’t tell you how many times men have sat in the back of my patrol car bewildered saying, “But she hit me first!” I would respond, “I know. But you beat her up.”
“Well what was I supposed to do? She hit me!”
“Take it. Walk away. Run away if you have to.”
“I don’t run from no woman! I ain’t leavin’ my own house!”
“Then you will continue to go to jail.” That statement usually sends them into a rant on how the system gives preference to women. I usually respond, “You are absolutely right. Now you have a choice to make.”

My friend and I really got into a heated debate about this issue. She believes that a man should know when to walk away even if the woman is pushing every button that he has. I told her that it sounds good in theory, but I would caution women on depending on an already unstable, immature, or just plain mean man to know when to walk away and have the inner strength to do so. The statement “There is never a good reason to hit a woman during an argument” sounds like a great rally cry, but if women are to avoid those sudden violent confrontations from violence-prone men, they have got to know when to back out of the situation.

My friend argued that it was not fair that the woman had to get herself under control during an argument because women are emotional creatures and get “caught up” in the heat of the moment. The man should know when to walk away and not lash out physically. I simply asked, “Are you willing to bet your health or maybe even your life on an angry, immature, mean-spirited, drunk/high, or emotionally unstable man doing the right thing?” That pretty much ended the debate for the time being.

I know that this is a tough subject because I had the same debate with my mother and several other women. I told you I would give the tough answers and in this case I only want to keep you safe and maybe even save your life. I’ve done many battered-woman rescues and hunted numerous violent batterers and each case is as frustrating as you-know-what!

So the final question remains: would you rather be right, or would you rather be healthy?

The post Cop’s Corner- Domestic Violence appeared first on Crime Museum.

I recently wrote and published a book entitled Black and Blue: Understanding Modern Law Enforcement In Your America. The book was written to try and give the average person a solid understanding of modern policing.

Interestingly enough, the more I dug into my memory banks for stories, the more I realized just how little the average American knew and understood about how the American Law Enforcement Official goes about doing their jobs. In your defense good citizens, I do realize that most of you get your ideas about police work from television or movies, and therein lies most of the problem.

Fear not folks, I will share with you real police work presented as it should be: honest, straightforward, and to the point. I will answer your questions about current events involving the police as well as inquiries about your personal situations. I will also challenge the old stereotypes that you have been programmed to accept with the truth, which might make you a little uncomfortable, but you’ll learn valuable insight into the world of the law enforcement official. Let’s get into it shall we?
 

CONTENT DISCLAIMER

The views and opinions expressed in the media, articles or comments on this site are those of the speakers or authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions held by the CSI Blog and NMCP. The editorial staff of the CSI Blog oversees and administers the site based on our editorial policy but should not be held accountable for all of the information you may find on this web site.

The CSI Blog and NMCP do not warrant the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of the information contained on our website. If you have a particular complaint about something you’ve found on this web site, please contact us.

Learn what suicide by cop is

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Now a public figure, Dillinger turned to plastic surgery to alter his identity and evade Purvis and the rest of the law enforcement community. In those days, plastic surgery was not as common as it is today, and the medical procedures were primitive, dangerous, time-consuming and very painful. Dillinger underwent several bouts of plastic surgery, some more successful than others, but in the end he only managed to slightly alter his appearance. After one round of plastic surgery from which he was extremely disappointed to find that he still looked the same, one of the doctors suggested that he remove his fingerprints as a way to escape being detected. Dillinger liked this idea and elected to undergo the painful process of obliterating his fingerprints.

A wanted poster for Dillinger, complete with all ten fingerprints

Dillinger was not the first criminal to come up with that idea. In 1933, “Handsome Jack” Klutas had attempted to file down the small ridges on his fingers, but he ultimately failed. Two of Kate “Ma” Barker’s clan, Alvin “Creepy” Karpis and Ma’s son Freddy, decided to remove their fingerprints as well, so they hired mob physician Joseph P. Moran to do the job. Moran was inexperienced in this procedure and repeatedly hacked and knifed at their prints until the gangsters couldn’t bear any more pain, but when their fingers finally healed, the fingerprint ridges grew back to their original patterns.

Hoover was aware of this trend among criminals and he became wary of the possibility of success. He commissioned several surgeons and dermatologists to report on the likelihood of someone obliterating their fingerprints, and in 1934 they came back with their findings. Dr. Howard L. Updegraff, a member of that committee, had extensive experience in the area of fingerprint alterations and he reported that the only way to permanently obliterate a fingerprint is to graft skin from another part of the body over them. And in 1941, that’s exactly what Robert Phillips did when he got a doctor to graft the skin from his chest on to the tips of his fingers. Phillips, however, was caught because the ridges surrounding the graft areas, as well as on the other joints of his fingers were used to identify him.

Dillinger seemed to have taken the road less traveled when he chose acid to burn the tips of his fingers with in late May, 1934. The procedure appeared to be successful; however, faint ridge markings were still visible on his fingertips after the full healing process, as were seen after Dillinger’s death.

Many people in American history have attempted to elude the authorities by scarring or ruining their fingerprints, but forensics has been able to keep up with those criminals all the while. In fact, as Phillips found out firsthand, just ruining the tips of one’s fingers does not preclude fingerprint identification. The ridges that are found on the tips of one’s fingers are also found on the entire surface of the palm, and they are just as unique to an individual. Furthermore, by introducing scars onto one’s fingers, it makes the identification process even easier, since the scar patterns are unique and less common to the general population.

If one thing can be learned from Dillinger and the other notorious outlaws of the Gangster Era it’s that crime does not pay, and eventually criminals will be brought to justice, and not always the pretty way.

The post John Dillinger- Fingerprint Obliteration appeared first on Crime Museum.

does occur, it draws huge attention and everyone wants to get involved in the case. Homicide investigations rely on a large amount of teamwork and draw upon many sources of information, and forensic evidence is only one component of it. Let’s take a brief look at the 5 defining characteristics of a homicide and how they are essential in helping investigators understand their crime and apprehend their criminal. These characteristics were developed and defined in the FBI’s Crime Classification Manual, Second Edition, whose goal was to standardize terminology, facilitate communication within the criminal justice field, educate the criminal justice system and public about the types of crimes being committed, and develop a database for investigative research.

1. Victimology

What makes homicides unique from property and non-violent crimes is the fact that there is a victim. The victim is very often the most important investigative tool, since a lot of information can be revealed about the case from studying the victim. If investigators can answer the question why the victim was targeted, then they are often lead to the motive and potentially their offender.  Areas of the victim’s lifestyle, habits, relationships, employment, personality, leisure activities, alcohol/drug abuse, dating habits, etc. are excellent sources of information about what increased the victim’s risk.

2. Crime Scene Indicators

The location, environment, and time of day may present significant clues as to the nature of the perpetrator and the amount of risk he is willing to take and shed light on the motive of the criminal. It is also possible for there to be several crime scenes as well, such as if the victim was transported at some point during the crime, and that may tell investigators how organized the criminal is. The disposition of the body at the crime scene, if it was concealed, displayed, or positioned may also tell investigators a lot about the criminal and if there was a message sent by the murder. Furthermore, items are often left at the scene, such as a weapon, or removed from the scene, such as a souvenir, which can narrow down the type of criminal, and restraints or other tools of the crime left at the scene can potentially paint a better picture of the crime.

3. Staging

This is the purposeful alteration of the crime scene, meant to mislead investigators. Inconsistencies in the crime scene often uncover staging attempts.

4. Forensic Findings

The value of physical evidence at the crime scene is well known and can be crucial to any homicide investigation. The cause of death, types of trauma, indications of sexual assault, toxicology reports, and hair/DNA/fingerprint/etc. analysis can all lead to apprehending the criminal.

5. Investigative Considerations

These considerations are usually taken once the homicide has been classified, and may include search warrants, locating and interviewing witnesses, and documenting the crime scene.

By using these defining characteristics as a starting point, investigators are usually able to gather a lot of information that will help them in the case. They also generate profiles of criminals to help them determine motive and opportunity. Finally, the information that they gather may help investigators link different crimes based on similar MO’s or criminal signatures, and may be the key to breaking other cases.

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Play our New Trivia Game Now!

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Read about how different states handle the death penalty here

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