Who says TV ain’t educational?
A slightly humorous, but also slightly alarming story I read today about criminals using TV shows like CSI to outwit forensic experts. Apparently, more and more criminals are wearing gloves, and are trying tricks like leaving old cigarette butts at the scene of the crime that they picked up from the street. Honestly though, that’s pretty simple stuff - don’t leave fingerprints, maybe wear a hairnet (actually, I always thought a scuba diving suit would be the way to go, albeit somewhat conspicuous) and maybe leave some sort of a false trail. The scientists who conducted the research did say, though, that at best the criminals can hope to through the police down the wrong track initially.
Interestingly, I actually found out about this after doing a show at the Police Museum in Brisbane, where they put on a little bit of a display about forensics. I was really interested in finding out more, and perhaps even doing a tour of their labs, but they said that they couldn’t - firstly, because they have all their ongoing investigation stuff in the room, which would all have to be secured and cleared away first, but also because they don’t want anyone finding out too much about how they identify criminals and the techniques and equipment they use. Rats!
I’ve got to wonder though - is there any more information on a show like CSI than there is in a really good detective novel? What about Patricia Cornwell and her series about Kay Scarpetta, forensic pathologist? It’s probably a little on the light weight side of things, and I’ll bet there are books out there written by even greater experts on modern forensic techniques. I suspect in reality that criminals who are smart enough to do things right will find the information no matter what (heck, I’m sure there’s a website with all the details in easy Googling range!) and what this study has really seen is the, er, less intelligent criminals picking up a few tidbits on their stolen TV.
And if you’re interested in larger scale, world dominations projects, you’re probably more interested in these tips for evil overlords.