 |
| Saturday, April 15, 2000 |
|
 |
ONE day in the year 1922, a young doctor in the medico-legal section of the Ministry of Justice in Cairo was handed a packet containing three small bones. The police fo Sir Sydney Smith was born in Roxburgh, New Zealand, in 1883. His father was a gold prospector. After his schooling, Sydney went to the medical school in Edinburgh. He practised medicine but a tragedy with an expectant mother deeply moved him and he decided to stop his practice. He applied to Edinburgh for a teaching post. The only post available was that of an assistant in the department of forensic medicine. Before the end of World War I, he served in New Zealand’s army. Later he moved to Egypt where a forensic medicine man was required to organise a police laboratroy. |
| Egypt’s crime rate was so high that
there were about a thousand unsolved murders a year. In
an effort to solve these crimes, Smith developed the
science of forensic ballistics. This helps to prove that
bullets fired from the same gun have individual
characteristics as marked as human finger-prints. In
cases after cases of killings he had proved his science
to be accurate. He was offered a post of Regius Professor
of Forensic Medicine at Edinburgh. A man of great skill,
he delighted all those who heard him. One day, he was
approached with yet another baffling problem. A safe had
been broken and the only clue was a piece of leather as
small as the size of a fingernail. He examined the piece
of leather under microscopes, X-rayed it and even tested
it chemically. Finally he reported that it belonged to a
man’s black shoe, size 9½, worn for about two years
and the wearer had walked through a field that had been
lime sprinkled. With these details the criminal who later
confessed his guilt was detected. In his spare time Sydney wrote
one of the major books on Forensic Medicine. This book
was translated into 12 languages. He titled his
autobiography, Mostly Murder. Despite his
strenuous schedule, he found time to play golf, took
great interest in Botany and even composed blank verse.
Even at the age of eighty, Sir Sydney Smith was flooded
with letters from baffled police all over the world.
(Sources declaring Sir Sydney Smith’s date of death
are not available.) |
Forensic science THE technique of using scientific methods in solving crimes is called forensic science. A person who examines evidence in a police laboratory is known as a forensic scientist. The word forensic comes from the Latin word forensis, meaning forum or court of law. Forensic science includes such specialities as forensic psychiatry, forensic toxicology, and forensic pathology. A forensic psychiatrist examines people suspected of a crime to determine whether they are legally sane. A forensic toxicologist identifies drugs and poisons in body tissues and determines their effects. A forensic pathologist performs postmortem examinations of victims to learn the cause of death. How evidence is handled Forensic scientists and other investigators protect all evidence according to a security process called a chain of evidence. This process involves keeping a record of each person who handles the evidence. The chain begins at the scene of a crime and ends when the evidence is presented in court. If any evidence is left unguarded during this period, the judge may disallow its admission in court. There are three steps in handling evidence: (1) collecting the evidence at the scene of a crime, (2) analysing the evidence in the laboratory, and (3) presenting the evidence in court. Collecting the evidence In most crimes, the evidence is collected either by police officers or by technicians associated with a police laboratory. But in such serious crimes as bank robbery and murder, forensic scientists themselves often go to the scene of a crime. They gather the evidence and, if possible, try to reconstruct the crime as it happened. Analysing the evidence A police laboratory uses several techniques to identify and analyse evidence. These techniques include microscopic examination chemical treatments, and the use of special instruments. Most police laboratories have several types of microscopes. A bullet comparison microscope is used to compare two or more bullets and to examine tool marks and determine their source. Presenting the evidence Forensic scientists are responsible for explaining the significance of evidence. They usually present their findings in written reports and may also give evidence in court. They are called expert witnesses because of their training and experience. Courts allow most witnesses to present only facts, but expert witnesses can give opinions based on evidence. |
 |
 |