My first fandom was x-files, where many many fic authors did a better job than canon at crimescene details. It's my experience that the source texts often get the details quite wrong (I can't watch CSI for this reason). While I'm not a forensic scientist by far, my (unused) degree is in biomedical science and I once wanted to be a medical examiner and so did a lot of reading in the area. Yes, I think I was morbid for awhile there in college; what can I say, I idolized Scully:)
What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that I think fic writers shouldn't be intimidated by writing investigation stories - chances are your source text has done it worse than you could ever do, and you'll be convincing enough to the casual reader if you take a little time with some reference books, or the book series Keerawa suggests. Plus, detail overkill will bog down your story faster than glossing over a few details ever would.
Common errors I've noticed (and this is in the source texts, not fic so much): 1. Labs with super hi-tech equipment (Bones, I'm looking at you) - even the FBI labs have been accused of being sloppy and behind the times. Chances are, the technicians aren't working with the best equipment money could buy. And they don't have super-duper imaging software that can three-dimensionally visualize a fingerprint or whatever. Bones is set in a Smithsonian knock-off, and I'm telling you right now the gov't doesn't give enough cash to repair the buildings, let alone cough up the kind of bling that show uses on a regular basis.
2. Lab techs who double as interrogators and chase criminals. Or even, you know, leave the lab. I can give tv shows the benefit of the doubt here (how interesting would it really be to have a drama about people in white coats who spend hours bent over a microscope or test tube??) but in RL this just wouldn't be the case.
3. As you mentioned, the time factor. These tests take time. You won't get results overnight. Hardly any drama I've seen gets this part right.
4. Cops who should know better messing with a fresh crime scene. Unfortunately, I think this happens in RL as well as fiction. But ideally, nothing should be touched or moved unless you're doing it to save someone's life.
5. Very few forensic psychologists or profilers are psychic. (even if I love the ones who are, whether canonically or fanonically).
6. getting DNA and/or fingerprints off of any possible surface. It just can't be done. And it's a relatively easy thing to check in reference books.
7. VICAP is a computer database, not a unit of law enforcement (like Homicide or Vice divisions).
At one point there was a great website resource put together with the X-Files fandom in mind (was it Behavioral Science Unit?) Anyway, there may be similar fan-driven resources out there.
Also, in closing, the former profiler Robert Ressler has published some books on the subject that could be useful.
Bones is set in a Smithsonian knock-off, and I'm telling you right now the gov't doesn't give enough cash to repair the buildings, let alone cough up the kind of bling that show uses on a regular basis.
I agree that the hi-tech stuff on this show is mostly unbelievable, however they have made it clear that the Jeffersonian gets part of its funding from generous non-government donors. Jack Hodgins' family business is its biggest supporter I believe. So with that in mind, I can see Jack secretly supplying money so they can have the best bling in town.
ah, I was too hard on poor Bones. That's a great point. I think what I was trying to express (badly) is that the limitations of budget can be an interesting plot point for your characters - knowing that they might be able to work faster or better if they had more money; having to find ways around it. Especially if this is a more local agency (city or town police vs. big metropolis like NYC) say.
ANother thing I forgot to add is that many local police agencies have to send their evidence to larger labs; so this adds to the time. Not all police agencies have their own forensic unit.
(via <lj user=metafandom>)synecdochicApril 1 2007, 05:03:10 UTC
I'd actually agree on all your points except #6 -- sure, it's not possible to get DNA evidence off just anything, but it's pretty amazing what you can get off things that have just been in minor contact with skin cells.
Sure, you're going to get scenarios where the guy who knocked over the 7-11 hit the Eject button on the security camera VCR to steal the tape, and the clueless detective swabs it and brings it down to the forensics lab (where they will laugh at him; most forensic analysts I have known will turn around and tell the detective "if he didn't spit on it, bleed on it, or come on it, I'm not going to get a profile off it"), and that won't have the DNA profile you're looking for; there wasn't enough contact.
But you can very often get a workable profile, sufficient for entering into CODIS or a state database, from, say, the steering wheel of a car that the carjacker drove for no more than five or ten minutes, or the door handle of the car, especially if the perp was sweating heavily. Epithelial cells are very easy to pick up, and you can usually get a workable profile off a steering wheel/doorknob/computer keyboard/etc that's had minimum contact. There are lots of environmental factors, and a lot of variables involving how much contact the perp had with the surface, but nine times out of ten it's actually easier to get a profile out of epithelial cells than blood or semen.
The real Holy Grail of evidence, the one you can almost always get a profile off of? Cigarette butts. Ditto water bottles/soda cans/drinking glasses/etc. You're also usually able to get a workable profile from a garment such as a t-shirt, especially around the neckline and armpits. It's very common, in fact, for a shirt to be a very strong piece of evidence in a murder or assault case, because it will have the victim's blood and the perp's skin cells on it.
(My girlfriend (sarahq) is a forensic DNA analyst, and please allow me to pimp her as a resource; she has a series of forensics posts that can be very useful resources for people looking for how it Actually Works in the Real World.)
My first fandom was x-files, where many many fic authors did a better job than canon at crimescene details. It's my experience that the source texts often get the details quite wrong (I can't watch CSI for this reason). While I'm not a forensic scientist by far, my (unused) degree is in biomedical science and I once wanted to be a medical examiner and so did a lot of reading in the area. Yes, I think I was morbid for awhile there in college; what can I say, I idolized Scully:)
What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that I think fic writers shouldn't be intimidated by writing investigation stories - chances are your source text has done it worse than you could ever do, and you'll be convincing enough to the casual reader if you take a little time with some reference books, or the book series Keerawa suggests. Plus, detail overkill will bog down your story faster than glossing over a few details ever would.
Common errors I've noticed (and this is in the source texts, not fic so much):
1. Labs with super hi-tech equipment (Bones, I'm looking at you) - even the FBI labs have been accused of being sloppy and behind the times. Chances are, the technicians aren't working with the best equipment money could buy. And they don't have super-duper imaging software that can three-dimensionally visualize a fingerprint or whatever. Bones is set in a Smithsonian knock-off, and I'm telling you right now the gov't doesn't give enough cash to repair the buildings, let alone cough up the kind of bling that show uses on a regular basis.
2. Lab techs who double as interrogators and chase criminals. Or even, you know, leave the lab. I can give tv shows the benefit of the doubt here (how interesting would it really be to have a drama about people in white coats who spend hours bent over a microscope or test tube??) but in RL this just wouldn't be the case.
3. As you mentioned, the time factor. These tests take time. You won't get results overnight. Hardly any drama I've seen gets this part right.
4. Cops who should know better messing with a fresh crime scene. Unfortunately, I think this happens in RL as well as fiction. But ideally, nothing should be touched or moved unless you're doing it to save someone's life.
5. Very few forensic psychologists or profilers are psychic. (even if I love the ones who are, whether canonically or fanonically).
6. getting DNA and/or fingerprints off of any possible surface. It just can't be done. And it's a relatively easy thing to check in reference books.
7. VICAP is a computer database, not a unit of law enforcement (like Homicide or Vice divisions).
At one point there was a great website resource put together with the X-Files fandom in mind (was it Behavioral Science Unit?) Anyway, there may be similar fan-driven resources out there.
Also, in closing, the former profiler Robert Ressler has published some books on the subject that could be useful.
sorry for the long post!
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I agree that the hi-tech stuff on this show is mostly unbelievable, however they have made it clear that the Jeffersonian gets part of its funding from generous non-government donors. Jack Hodgins' family business is its biggest supporter I believe. So with that in mind, I can see Jack secretly supplying money so they can have the best bling in town.
Reply
ANother thing I forgot to add is that many local police agencies have to send their evidence to larger labs; so this adds to the time. Not all police agencies have their own forensic unit.
Reply
You're absolutely right about that. I love the long X-Files police procedural fics, in some ways almost more than the show.
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Sure, you're going to get scenarios where the guy who knocked over the 7-11 hit the Eject button on the security camera VCR to steal the tape, and the clueless detective swabs it and brings it down to the forensics lab (where they will laugh at him; most forensic analysts I have known will turn around and tell the detective "if he didn't spit on it, bleed on it, or come on it, I'm not going to get a profile off it"), and that won't have the DNA profile you're looking for; there wasn't enough contact.
But you can very often get a workable profile, sufficient for entering into CODIS or a state database, from, say, the steering wheel of a car that the carjacker drove for no more than five or ten minutes, or the door handle of the car, especially if the perp was sweating heavily. Epithelial cells are very easy to pick up, and you can usually get a workable profile off a steering wheel/doorknob/computer keyboard/etc that's had minimum contact. There are lots of environmental factors, and a lot of variables involving how much contact the perp had with the surface, but nine times out of ten it's actually easier to get a profile out of epithelial cells than blood or semen.
The real Holy Grail of evidence, the one you can almost always get a profile off of? Cigarette butts. Ditto water bottles/soda cans/drinking glasses/etc. You're also usually able to get a workable profile from a garment such as a t-shirt, especially around the neckline and armpits. It's very common, in fact, for a shirt to be a very strong piece of evidence in a murder or assault case, because it will have the victim's blood and the perp's skin cells on it.
(My girlfriend (sarahq) is a forensic DNA analyst, and please allow me to pimp her as a resource; she has a series of forensics posts that can be very useful resources for people looking for how it Actually Works in the Real World.)
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