My Mentor

Detective
Elizabeth Love!!!!

She is super awesome. Detective Love has worked with the Police Department since 2004, and has been with the crime scene unit since 2008. My Mentor works full time in the crime scene unit at the concord police department headquarters, she also attended many classes for crime scene work consisting of fingerprinting and crime scene documentation.

Alphonse Bertillon & Edward Henry

Alphonse Bertillon a Frenchman was the first to create a method use for criminal identification. His system was solely based on the classification of skeletal body measurements and characteristics. Bertillon’s method was based only on eleven bodily measurements as well as eye color, hair, and the skin. His classification was adopted by France in 1888. The difficulties of Bertillon’s system made it hard to profile and identify criminals, therefore, a new identification method needed to be created. Fingerprinting became available in the early 20th century (Holtyman).
Argentina was the first country to replace the Bertillon system of measurements with fingerprints when Juan Vucetich solves a murder using bloody fingerprints. In 1896 Edward Henry develops the prototype fingerprint classification system now used in the United States and Europe(Deslich 5).With the establishment of this new system in 1902 Harry Jackson a burglar becomes the first Englishmen to be convicted solely on the basis of fingerprints(Deslich 6).

The Father of Toxicology

Mathieu Orfila was known as the father of toxicology. He published many books “Traite des poisons”, “Elements de chimie medicale”, “Lecons de medecine legale” and many more. Many of his publications were about his experimental observations on the symptoms of different kinds of poisonings, as well as the appearances which poisons leave in a dead body ("Classic Encyclopedia"). In 1840 forensic toxicology evidence was first used with the help of James Marsh, by the use of the Marsh test. This test was created by James Marsh in 1836 and was developed to detect the presence of arsenic in the human body. With this new method arsenic poisoning was found in Marie Lafarge husband’s body and she was convicted (Deslich 4).

Brief History of Forensic Science

The impression of forensic science in the world and its development in the United States has grown along with technology. The 12th was the period in which criminal investigations in the United States was initiated and later became a very important part of solving crime. King Richard I of England created the job of the coroner to further examine disputed deaths. As the population increased in urban areas so did crime. As time went on and cold cases began to stack up, it soon became clear that specialists in medical advancements were needed. Massachusetts was the first state to implement this idea. Later many states in the long run adopted the idea .As time progressed, so did technology. Before forensics was ever developed as a whole more and more crimes were committed. A group of devoted law enforcement personnel were and are now recognized as Forensic Scientist or Criminologist. They are very educated, experienced individuals that know a substantial amount in the method of scientific techniques, collecting and analyzing physical evidence in criminal cases.