Experiences of evidence presentation in court: an insight into the practice of crime scene examiners in England, Wales and Australia

Background: The ability to present complex forensic evidence in a courtroom in a manner that is fully comprehensible to all stakeholders remains problematic. Individual subjective interpretations may impede a collective and correct understanding of the complex environments and the evidence therein presented to them. This is not fully facilitated or assisted in any way with current non-technological evidence presentation methods such as poor resolution black and white photocopies or unidimensional photographs of complex 3D environments. Given the wide availability of relatively cheap technology, such as tablets, smartphones and laptops, there is evidence to suggest that individuals are already used to receiving visually complex information in relatively short periods of time such as is available in a court hearing. courtrooms could learn from this more generic widespread use of technology and have demonstrated their ability to do so in part by their adoption of the use of tablets for Magistrates. The aim of this current study was to identify the types of digital technology being used in courts and to obtain data from police personnel presenting digital evidence in court. Results: A questionnaire study was conducted in this research to explore current technology used within courtrooms from the perspective of crime scene personnel involved in the presentation of complex crime scene evidence. The study demonstrated that whilst many of the participants currently utilize high-end technological solutions to document their crime scenes, such as 360° photography or laser scanning technologies, their ability to present such evidence was hindered or prevented. This was most likely due to either a lack of existing technology installed in the court, or due to a lack of interoperability between new and existing technology. Conclusion: This study has contributed to this academic field by publishing real life experiences of crime scene examiner’s, who have used advanced technology to record and evaluate crime scenes but are limited in their scope for sharing this information with the court due to technological insufficiency. Contemporary recording techniques have provided the opportunity for further review of crime scenes, which is considered to be a valuable property over previous documentation practice, which relied upon the competency of the investigator to comprehensively capture the scene, often in a single opportunity

Collaborative practise in forensic science and academia: the development of a documentation strategy for fingerprint examinations in an English fingerprint bureau in the ISO 17025 era

The mandatory introduction of ISO 17,025 accreditation to fingerprint comparisons forced changes to the documentation procedures. Academic and grey literature consistently suggest that the documentation should provide a sufficient auditable trail, yet there is some dissimilarity in the guidance relating to documentation content, and subjectivity with its interpretation. The accreditation body, UK Accreditation Service (UKAS), was not prescriptive in the methods required to produce working notes and were open to different practises, which has provided a useful opportunity to compare approaches to casework and to work with practitioners to inform effective practise. The research team carried out a gap analysis between pre-accreditation operational documentation practise and an ACE-V checklist, which was a summary of best practise guidance on documentation content. A white box study included thirty-one fingerprint examiners from six institutions, who were asked to undertake an ‘Analysis’ of eight friction ridge impressions. Participants were asked to produce working notes using their pre-accreditation documentation approach and a piece of software called ‘PiAnoS’, which prompted mark annotation and an assessment of mark quality. The notes were compared to the ACE-V checklist to determine which of the documentary suggestions were considered to obtain an understanding of experts’ decision making. The results were used to develop a documentation strategy for an operational English fingerprint bureau, referred to as a “Mark Analysis Form”. It consisted of content from the ACE-V checklist, supported by literature, and which received high response rates from experts alongside discussions by the research team to determine its relevance in the documentation strategy. The strategy met with the ISO 17,025 standard, evidenced by UKAS approval, and is currently used for casework

The Reed-Stanton press rig for the generation of reproducible fingermarks : towards a standardised methodology for fingermark research

In the search for better or new methods/techniques to visualise fingermarks or to analyse them exploiting their chemical content, fingermarks inter-variability may hinder the assessment of the method effectiveness. Variability is due to changes in the chemical composition of the fingermarks between different donors and within the same donor, as well as to differential contact time, pressure and angle. When validating a method or comparing it with existing ones, it is not always possible to account for this type of variability. One way to compensate for these issues is to employ, in the early stages of the method development, a device generating reproducible fingermarks. Here the authors present their take on such device, as well as quantitatively describing its performance and benefits against the manual production of marks. Finally a short application is illustrated for the use of this device, at the method developmental stages, in an emerging area of fingerprinting research concerning the retrieval of chemical intelligence from fingermarks

Noise reduction of automobile cooling fan based on bio-inspired design

This study aims to minimize the noise generated by automobile cooling fans. Fan blade structures with ridged surfaces based on bio-inspired principles are 3D printed and used to replace the conventional fan blades. The effect of the bio-inspired ridge structures on the noise reduction of the cooling fan is demonstrated by orthogonal experiments in a semi-anechoic chamber. Experimental results show that with an increase in the rotational speed, the effect of the surface textures on the acoustic performance of the cooling fan becomes more significant. For example, at a fan speed of 1750 r/min, all the bio-inspired blade designs reduce noise compared with the original fan and, in particular, the sound pressure level is reduced by 3.83 dB(A) for the design with a ridge width of 4 mm and a ridge pitch of 15 mm. Through variance analysis of the measured noise, the ridge pitch distance has the most significant impact on noise reduction under low speed conditions whilst, under high speed conditions, the ridge width has the most significant influence. In addition to the experimental studies, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of the cooling fan are carried out to explain the mechanism of noise reduction for the ridged fan blades. When the fan runs, the horseshoe vortexes generated by the ridge structures disturb the flow of the boundary layer, reduce the influence of the fluid flow on the boundary layer, and delay the transition of the fan blade laminar flow to turbulence. It is also seen that there is a reduction of the intensity of the fan blade trailing edge vortices and the scale of the secondary vortices, thereby achieving the overall aim of noise reduction. This research has significance in the noise reduction design of automobile cooling fans

Defining a self-evaluation digital literacy framework for secondary educators: the DigiLit Leicester project

Despite the growing interest in digital literacy within educational policy, guidance for secondary educators in terms of how digital literacy translates into the classroom is lacking. As a result, many teachers feel ill-prepared to support their learners in using technology effectively. The DigiLit Leicester project created an infrastructure for holistic, integrated change, by supporting staff development in the area of digital literacy for secondary school teachers and teaching support staff. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the critique of existing digital literacy frameworks enabled a self-evaluation framework for practitioners to be developed. Crucially, this framework enables a co-operative, partnership approach to be taken to pedagogic innovation. Moreover, it enables social and ethical issues to underpin a focus on teacher-agency and radical collegiality inside the domain of digital literacy. Thus, the authors argue that the shared development framework constitutes a new model for implementing digital literacy aimed at transforming the provision of secondary education across a city

The impact of the Great Exhibition of 1851 on the development of technical education during the second half of the nineteenth century

This paper examines the contribution made by the mechanics’ institute movement in Britain just prior to, and following, the opening of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. It argues that far from making little contribution to education, as often portrayed by historians, the movement was ideally positioned to respond to the findings of the Exhibition, which were that foreign goods on display were often more advanced than those produced in Britain. The paper highlights, through a regional study, how well suited mechanics’ institutes were in organising their own exhibitions, providing the idea of this first international exhibition. Subsequently, many offered nationally recognised technical subject examinations through relevant education as well as informing government commissions, prior to the passing of the Technical Instruction Acts in 1889 and the Local Taxation Act of 1890. These acts effectively put mechanics’ institutes into state ownership as the first step in developing further education for all in Britai