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NIJ Training Course on Collecting DNA Evidence at Property Crime Scenes: Demonstration on Biological Evidence Packaging

Content Advisory
Please be aware that this content contains descriptions of violence that may be distressing to some viewers.
August 2020
An interactive tool used to supplement the NIJ online training course entitled 'Collecting DNA Evidence at Property Crime Scenes', as outlined in the third learning module, 'Evidence Collection'. This brief demonstration shows how the use paper wrapping to prevent contamination on wet and dried biological evidence.

NIJ Training Course on Collecting DNA Evidence at Property Crime Scenes: Demonstration of Swabbing Wet Stains on an Absorbent Wood Surface

Content Advisory
Please be aware that this content contains descriptions of violence that may be distressing to some viewers.
August 2020
An interactive tool used to supplement the NIJ online training course entitled 'Collecting DNA Evidence at Property Crime Scenes', as outlined in the third learning module, 'Evidence Collection'. This brief demonstration shows how a blood sample is swabbed from an absorbent wood surface.

NIJ Training Course on Collecting DNA Evidence at Property Crime Scenes: Demonstration on Blood and Body Fluid Collection into Bindle Paper

Content Advisory
Please be aware that this content contains descriptions of violence that may be distressing to some viewers.
August 2020
An interactive tool used to supplement the NIJ online training course entitled 'Collecting DNA Evidence at Property Crime Scenes', as outlined in the third learning module, 'Evidence Collection'. This brief demonstration shows a blood sample being scraped into bindle paper.

Video of an attorney proffering an analyst as an expert witness

August 2020

0:01 Where are you employed? Illinois State Police. 

0:05 And what is your title? Forensic scientist. 

0:08 What are your primary duties my primary duties  include receiving evidence and screening them  

0:14 or looking for biological stains such as  blood semen or saliva I then perform DNA  

0:19 analyses on these stains and if I'm if it is  requested I testify in court to my findings. 

0:27 How long have you been employed  as a forensic scientist with ISP? 

Network Forensics: Challenges and Tools

August 2020

This webinar introduced the importance of network forensics, which included capturing network traffic and reconstructing digital artifacts. Presenters discussed big data challenges, open-source tools, and the new toolkit FileTSAR.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on August 12, 2020.

NIJ Training Course for Forensic DNA Officers of the Court: Excluded or Non-Matched DNA Samples in a Laboratory Report

August 2020
An interactive tool used to supplement the NIJ online training course entitled 'Principles of Forensic DNA for Officers of the Court', as outlined in the sixth learning module, 'Understanding a Forensic DNA Lab Report'. This brief animation shows an excluded DNA sample typically found in a forensic lab report and is used as common terminology. 

NIJ Training Course for Forensic DNA Officers of the Court: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Analysis of Maternal Inheritance Patterns

August 2020
An interactive tool used to supplement the NIJ online training course entitled 'Principles of Forensic DNA for Officers of the Court', as outlined in the eighth learning module, 'Mitochondrial DNA & Y-STR Analysis'. This brief animation shows how mtDNA is passed from a mother to her children and the implications of this inheritance pattern in forensic testing. 

NIJ Training Course for Forensic DNA Officers of the Court: Uninterpretable DNA Samples in a Laboratory Report

August 2020
An interactive tool used to supplement the NIJ online training course entitled 'Principles of Forensic DNA for Officers of the Court', as outlined in the sixth learning module, 'Understanding a Forensic DNA Lab Report'. This brief animation shows how inconclusive or uninterpretable results found in an electropherogram lab report can be excluded as the source of DNA evidence. 

NIJ Training Course for Forensic DNA Officers of the Court: Child Inheritance Pattern in Nuclear DNA

August 2020
An interactive tool used to supplement the NIJ online training course entitled 'Principles of Forensic DNA for Officers of the Court', as outlined in the second learning module, 'Biological Terminology'. This brief animation shows how a child inherits genes from its parents in a nuclear cell and is used as biological DNA terminology. 

PACE™: Rapid and Automated Artifact Identification and Number of Contributor Prediction

July 2020

This webinar focused on the use of PACE™, a method developed by Syracuse University, to perform artifact management and probabilistically predict the number of contributors (NOC) in forensic DNA samples. This is performed using a combination of biological modeling and machine learning, permitting high accuracy NOC calls (greater than 90%) of complex mixtures. It does so rapidly (seconds to minutes) without the need for high performance computing resources.

Intact Low Explosives Analysis with an Emphasis on Microscopical Methods

July 2020

This webinar discussed intact low explosives analysis with a focus on microscopical methods. It covered terminology for explosives, the rationale of low explosives analysis for most crime laboratories, six categories of low explosives, and examples of three analyses using microscopical methods.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on July 16, 2020.

Validation and Tutorial of NOCIt for Determining the Number of Contributors

July 2020

This webinar highlighted the results of a full developmental validation of a method that estimates the A Posteriori Probability (APP) of the number of contributors in a DNA sample(NOC), and demonstrated that estimating the APP based on peak heights outperforms methods that rely on binary determinations alone. This presentation focused on including the true NOC in Likelihood Ratio interpretations and on repeatability.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on July 14, 2020.

Drug Exposures in the Forensic Laboratory: What We Know, What We Can Learn

June 2020

Highly toxic, synthetic drugs introduce significant health hazards to the forensic laboratory.  Understanding current knowledge and best practices will help laboratories manage their liability. This presenter covered topics such as known risks of handling hazardous drugs, creating a practical framework for the assessment, development, and improvement of safety systems, and additional research needed regarding exposure risks.

This webinar was presented by the NIJ Forensic Technology Center of Excellence on June 25, 2020.