Microscopic evidence yields huge success

Photo By Staff Sgt. Patricia McMurphy | Soldiers with 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade learn about explosive forensic detection at the mobile forensic lab on Joint Base Lewis-McChord during Yudh Abhyas, a an annual bilateral training exercise between I Corps and the Indian army, Sept. 18, 2015. The lab opened its doors to Soldiers and leaders not participating in the exercise as well, to give them a better understanding of how forensic evidence is processed.  

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, UNITED STATES

09.22.2015

Story by Staff Sgt. Patricia McMurphy 

28th Public Affairs Detachment

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - It looked like any other U.S. Army Conex used on every military installation around the globe. But this was no ordinary storage container, this one was part of a mobile forensic exploitation lab (FXL), provided by the Forensic Exploitation Directorate of the Defense Forensic Science Center used by the military to exploit forensic evidence and identify criminals and anonymous threat actors through the use of international biometric databases.

Darr Reimers, a contractor and security cooperation planner with the U.S. Army Pacific Command Asia Pacific Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Fusion Center, said the mobile lab was brought to Joint Base Lewis-McChord as part of Yudh Abhyas, a joint training exercise between I Corps and its Indian counterparts, and was intended to not only showcase its capabilities to the JBLM-based personnel and Indian soldiers, but to strengthen the partner nation relationship in counter-improvised explosive devices.

Eric Sanders, a contractor and forensic technical representative with DFSC led his team from Gillem Enclave, Georgia, and provided tours of the facility with a video and a brief highlighting the mobile lab’s capabilities and effectiveness in processing evidence that has yielded significant results in criminal identification and prosecution.

“One of our biggest challenges is educating the force about our capability,” said Sanders.

Sanders pointed out that from 2012 to 2015 in Afghanistan, 21,000 cases were processed leading to over 30,000 DNA and 56,000 latent print profiles added to database and 12,000 DNA matches and 6,000 latent print identifications. Out of those cases, over 1,300 convictions averaged eight years of incarceration when based on forensics and biometric data from exploited evidence. It must be noted that a six-year incarceration in an Afghan prison is equivalent to that of a life sentence according to DFSC.

The DFSC team members provided multiple tours during the lab’s weeklong stay on JBLM. During each tour, DFSC described the many different types of forensic evidence, how each was collected and used, and answered questions about the evidence collection process. The forensic experts gave detailed briefs and demonstrations of how they processed evidence in each of their fields [also called disciplines], such as latent prints, electronics and explosives analysis.

“I think the level of understanding on how [the FXL] works is vital to military policemen,” said Sgt. 1st Class Ruel Lopez, an 18-year military police veteran with 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, 593rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command.

Lopez said he had never seen where evidence he and his military police colleagues went after it was collected and turned in for processing.

“I have been deployed multiple times and I had heard about these, but never seen how they worked,” said Lopez. “Usually when you collect stuff, you hand it over as evidence and that’s it, it ends right there.”

Lopez said he wished these labs and the information they supplied during the tour were more readily available to show the younger police men and women how evidence is processed so they could have a better understanding of the evidence collection process and make their training better.

“When you go to respond to an incident that requires evidence collection, it is very important to know what to touch and what not to,” said Lopez. “As a MP we know this, but, the more you understand the whole process like this, the more proficient you are at your job.”

Labs such as this one are located in several strategic locations in the U.S. and deployed on military installations in a variety of countries in order to supply information quickly and accurately assist in the apprehension of dangerous criminals.

Sanders said there was an online training tool anyone could access for anyone interested in seeing what the labs can do but did not get the opportunity to see the live application.

The app has a virtual reality view of the inside of a lab, as well as providing several training tools to explore for further training and educational benefits. Over the next year, additional material will be made available online that will be accessible via smartphone, tablet and desktop.

Additionally, DFSC will be launching a new cross platform website that will make it easy to access DFSC information and training products.

“The application allows the user to dive deeper into each capability by entering a (virtual) lab to get a tutorial on what each discipline has to offer using an Augmented Reality interface with our Graphic Training Aid,” said Sanders. “For the younger Soldiers, this is a good way to get them interested and keep them knowledgeable about what we do.”

• Date Taken: 09.22.2015
• Date Posted: 09.23.2015 19:33
• Story ID: 177024
• Location: JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US