Physical Evidence

Question 1

Documentary - Evidence in written rather than oral form.
Depends upon: Proof of the authenticity of the document, the purpose for which it is being offered in evidence

Physical - Real Evidence - in the form of material objects (e.g. weapons, tools, fingerprints, etc).
More reliable than eyewitness testimony and is an important investigative aid to the investigator.
Courts are placing emphasis to determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant.

Testimonial - Statement of a witness in court, usually under oath, and offered as evidence of stated truth.

The Three Types of Evidence

Physical Evidence

Answer 1

TYPES OF EVIDENCE;

Question 2

Advertisement of company seal/logo
Detect through backlighting
Changed regularly by manufacturers
Used to determine age and origin of questioned document
*Secret Service maintains a water library
Use the watermark to determine the date of the document

Physical Evidence

Answer 2

WATERMARKS;

Question 3

USSS has the worlds largest ink library
Types of Ink: writing, printing, stamp pad, toner, ribbon, carbon copy, etc.

Physical Evidence

Answer 3

PENCIL/INK/TONER/ETC;

Question 4

Two basic types:

Impact printers: (wheel, chain, drum)
Non-impact: (dot matrix, photo transfer, ink jet, laser)

Each type of printer has its own characteristics
QD examiners can determine type of printer and possibly the individual printer

*man made, will have some defects

Physical Evidence

Answer 4

PRINTERS;

Question 5

Humans: hand writing, hand printing

Machines: check writers, adding machines w/print

Physical Evidence

Answer 5

EXEMPLARS CAN BE OBTAINED FROM TWO SOURCES;

Question 6

Obtain exemplars early in the interview
Approximate the questioned writing conditions
- same type of document/surface
- same writing/printed instrument
Prevent the subject from seeing the questioned documents
Give writer frequent breaks
Note any special instructions given to subject
Have subject fill out the personal history sheet (good source of writing style)
Dictate whenever possible, don’t spell
Obtain sufficient quantity of exemplars

Physical Evidence

Answer 6

PROCEDURES - REQUEST EXEMPLARS;

Question 7

Exists as the result of normal business and personal transactions, “historical writing”
Advantages:
They are generally free of disguise and more closely approximate the individual true hand writing
Often can be obtained w/o subject’s knowledge
Often non-request hand writing can be obtained from the same time period as the QD
- Ask the subject to bring some to the interview
Disadvantages:
More costly and time consuming to collect
Can present problems of admissibility
Often difficult to obtain writing comparable to …

Physical Evidence

Answer 7

EXEMPLARS - NON-REQUEST;

Question 8

Fingerprint cards
Cancelled checks
Employment/loan/marriage licenses applications

Answer 8

SOURCES OF NON-REQUEST H/W;

Question 9

When obtaining H/W exemplars also obtained “rolled prints” for latent prints exam:
finger prints, least 2 cards
palm prints, both hands
writers palm printers, 2 impression of both hands
side of hand prints, opposite thumb

When requesting H/W exam also request latent print exam of original documents

Physical Evidence

Answer 9

LATENT PRINTS ON QD’S;

Question 10

How do you best determine the age of a document

Physical Evidence

Answer 10

THE INK AND PAPER - WATERMARKS

Question 11

What are the three major components of a document

Physical Evidence

Answer 11

PAPER, INK, WRITING INSTRUMENTS;

Question 12

What is the easier writing instruments to identify

Physical Evidence

Answer 12

TYPE WRITER (TOOL MARKS)

Question 13

Can you trace a machine produced document back to its source? How?

Physical Evidence

Answer 13

TYPER WRITERS - LETTER STRIKES, TRACE MARKS, IMPRINT OF CODE INTO DOCUMENTS;

Question 14

If you have to mark on a questioned document, how do you do it?

Physical Evidence

Answer 14

MEDIUM DIFFERENT THAN ON DOCUMENT IN NON-CRITICAL PLACE

Question 15

Why do you mark on document container before inserting document?

Physical Evidence

Answer 15

PROTECT AGAINST INDENTED WRITING;

Question 16

What are the basic types of exemplars?

Physical Evidence

Answer 16

REQUEST AND NON-REQUEST

Question 17

Which type of exemplar is generally free of disguise?

Physical Evidence

Answer 17

NON-REQUEST;

Question 18

What is the main advantage of request exemplars - can duplicate message exactly

Physical Evidence

Answer 18

CAN DUPLICATE MESSAGE EXACTLY;

Question 19

Should you ever allow a suspect to see writing in question? Why?

Physical Evidence

Answer 19

NO WRITING MAY HAVE MISSPELLINGS AND/OR OTHER UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS;

Question 20

What should you have suspect do prior to taking exemplar?

Physical Evidence

Answer 20

COMPLETE PERSONAL HISTORY FORM;

Question 21

What can affect a person’s handwriting?

Physical Evidence

Answer 21

AGE, ALCOHOL, DRUG, HEALTH;

Question 22

What examinations can be performed form an original?

Physical Evidence

Answer 22

PAPER/INK ANALYSIS, INDENTED WRITING, FINGERPRINTS/DNA, TRACINGS, ETC. (SECRET WRITING, CODED WRITING)

Question 23

Who determined what to examine on a document, you or the lab examiner?

Physical Evidence

Answer 23

YOU DO;