Prevalence of gunshot residue particles on back seats of police vehicles.

The presence of gunshot residue (GSR) in a sample can provide valuable information in forensic investigations by associating a suspect with a shooting incident. However, in order to have confidence in the integrity of the results' interpretation, the possibility of contamination by secondary transfer of GSR occurring during the transportation of a person under custody in a police vehicle should be evaluated. In order to investigate police vehicles as a source for secondary transfer of GSR particles, a total of 51 samples were collected from the rear seats of random police vehicles and used to transport arrested individuals.

Toward Developing Techniques─Agnostic Machine Learning Classification Models for Forensically Relevant Glass Fragments.

Glass fragments found in crime scenes may constitute important forensic evidence when properly analyzed, for example, to determine their origin. This analysis could be greatly helped by having a large and diverse database of glass fragments and by using it for constructing reliable machine learning (ML)-based glass classification models. Ideally, the samples that make up this database should be analyzed by a single accurate and standardized analytical technique.

The influence of a possible contamination of the victim's clothing on the estimation of shooting distance in mutual shooting incidents.

One of the tools for estimating shooting distance is examination of smokeless powder particle distribution on the target area. Components of the powder that are utilized for this purpose are nitrite anions. The traditional method for detecting nitrite anions mainly involves applying the Griess Test.

A likelihood-ratio framework for evaluating results of forensic gunshot-residue analysis.

When reporting results of Gunshot Residue (GSR) analysis from a person suspected to be involved in a recent shooting, most forensic experts only provide the court with the raw results (i.e. the number of GSR particles found) and a disclaimer that a positive finding does not prove that the suspect was involved in a firearm shooting incident whilst a negative finding does not prove that he was not.

Inter-laboratory workflow for forensic applications: Classification of car glass fragments.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has coordinated a research project titled "Enhancing Nuclear Analytical Techniques to Meet the Needs of Forensics Sciences" (CRP F11021) with the aim of empowering accelerator and reactor based techniques for applications in forensic sciences. One of the key topics of this project was the analysis and classification of forensic glass specimens using Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) techniques and in particular, Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE). To this end, glass fragments from car windows from different car models and manufacturers provided by the Israeli police force were subjected to PIXE measurements at three laboratories to determine their elemental compositions and possible glass corrosion.

Finding GSR evidence on used towels.

When a firearm is discharged, gunshot residue (GSR) is produced and may be deposited on a shooter's body and his close vicinity. The tendency of GSR to drop off easily from the shooter may hinder forensic detection; this well-known phenomenon is accelerated by various common physical activities so that the number of particles detected on a suspect decreases over time. After shooting incidents, suspects will often try to cover their tracks by taking a shower.

The risk of inter-stub contamination during SEM/EDS analysis of gunshot residue particles.

Detecting gunshot residue (GSR) particles on samples collected from individuals or their belongings can connect them to a shooting event. Scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM/EDX) is currently the most common forensic method for detecting and characterizing GSR. At the forensic laboratory of the Israel Police, one inch (25 mm) diameter sticky stubs are used to collect samples from suspects' hands, hair, clothes and vehicles.

Photographic Image Comparison of Vegetation.

Images and videos are common types of evidence in crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis. Images may be taken by the suspect and/or by crime scene investigators and may serve as crucial elements in forensic laboratory analysis. Forensic photographic image comparison is the process of comparing one or more objects or persons in photographs/images when at least one image is known to be related to a crime.