CSI: James Madison
March 4, 2010 • By John Sutter, The Breeze
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Forensic Investigations Unit in Police Department Solves Cases Using High-Tech Equipment in Anthony-Seeger Hall
HARRISONBURG, Va. — A 1991 on-campus assault and battery left a trail of blood spattered across the ceiling of a Greek Row dorm room.
JMU Police Chief Lee Shifflett, using his personal 35mm camera, analyzed the physical evidence of what would become the first of many cases for the JMU forensic investigation unit.
Since that first investigation in 1991, the forensic investigation unit can now collect, identify and preserve physical evidence from crime scenes. The unit handles an average of five to 10 cases per week.
“Eighteen years ago I saw a need that I didn’t think we were giving our community the best service that we could,” Shifflett said.
According to evidence technician Larry Ressin, an Alternative Light Source can alter the lighting to find physical evidence that fluoresces at different frequencies.
“The ALS is portable enough that you can take it to a scene and actually find fibers, body fluids and hairs,” Shifflett said.
After the evidence is identified, it is stored and then sent to a regional lab in Richmond or Roanoke for detailed analysis. The regional labs can run DNA analysis, do fingerprint matching and determine blood type.
“We don’t analyze like you see on TV,” Shifflett said. “We collect and preserve the evidence and send it to the regional lab, where they have experts that do nothing but [analyze].”
To identify fingerprints, Ressin also uses superglue in a vacuum chamber. The emitted vapors adhere to the oils and acids in the fingerprints, solidifying the print and making it visible.
Shifflett said the forensic unit uses superglue on site and even, if necessary, will superglue a car’s interior. However, he said it’s a balancing act between damaging the object and obtaining evidence.
“If we identify something that is potential evidence, we try to bring it back here to the controlled environment,” Shifflett said.
To identify unknown chemicals and substances, the forensics unit can use a portable Raman spectrometer. According to Ressin, this device can quickly analyze an unknown substance and compare it to an on-board database of 7,500 known chemicals or connect to the Internet for a database of every known chemical substance.
“It tells us right now what the chemical is,” Shifflett said. “We don’t have to wait 48 hours for someone in Richmond to tell us what it is.”
If an unknown substance is accidentally left in a chemistry lab or if a bottle is left out, the Raman spectrometer can immediately identify the substance without having to evacuate the building or call a Hazardous Materials Response Team.
“Could you imagine if we didn’t have this, and then we called Potomac Environmental and spent a quarter of a million dollars, and it’s a bottle of water?” Ressin said.
JMU is the only department in the region to have this device.
According to Shifflett, local police departments often collaborate, utilizing a system of reciprocity to solve cases. JMU police do not charge a fee to process requests from other departments.
“All the law enforcement in this area, we collaborate daily, weekly — if Bridgewater, Harrisonburg — it doesn’t have to be local — if they come ask for our help, we’re going to help them,” Shifflett said.
Harrisonburg Police Department spokeswoman Mary-Hope Vass said local agencies collaborate because jurisdictions overlap.
“We frequently share information and resources
with JMU and the community and vice versa,” Vass said.
The forensics unit can also pull footprints from dust, analyze documents, and do on-site testing for chemicals and gun-shot residue.
“I think that our community deserves this type of service from us,” Shifflett said. “Instead of just taking a report on it, let’s try and solve it and use all the resources we have available at that time.”
To mix the chemicals necessary for fingerprinting, Shifflett works with chemistry professor Donna Amenta. She said Shifflett buys the chemicals in large quantities and then they work to mix them to the right solution.
Shifflett said the cost to run the lab is minimal after the equipment is purchased. Some equipment is expensive, like the $15,000 ALS scanner, while other pieces cost less, such as $100 for a pack of 15 field narcotics tests. The lab is covered in the operational costs of the public safety department.
“What’s the cost not to [have one]?” Shifflett said.
Recently, the unit identified and lifted fingerprints from a car break-in at Rockingham Hall in 2008. After sending the prints to the regional lab for analysis, a match came back on the Automated Fingerprint Identification System for Alejandro Dominquez, 24, of Charlottesville.
Dominquez pleaded guilty to tampering with a vehicle and grand larceny and has been sentenced to four years and seven months in jail.
After a series of three break-ins in 2008, fingerprints from a door and money envelope in Memorial Hall led to the arrest of Charlie Collins, Airik Carter and Jonathan Artope on Feb. 16.
The three are scheduled to enter pleas in court in March and April.
The forensic investigation unit also has a cyber crimes department that began nine years ago. Computer crimes investigator, Sgt. Sid Hartman, investigates four to five external requests per week. Even though internal cases are not as numerous, the lab is utilized whenever there is a need for computer or technological analysis, Shifflett said.
“We’re going to spend the time, because we’re trained to do it, and we owe it to the community,” Shifflett said.
Contact John Sutter at sutterjj@jmu.edu
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