Hamilton Police Update Their Crime Lab
By Ken-Yon Hardy
Journal News (OH)
October 9, 2006
HAMILTON — When fighting crime, the Hamilton Police Department wants to make sure they have all the tools possible to solve a case.
For over a year now, one of the police department's newest weapons has been a fully renovated crime lab.
In recent weeks, the HPD has used the lab to help solve some crimes with equipment not previously available.
"In the old days they gave you a brush, black powder and white powder and that was it," said HPD Det. Jim Smith. "Now we have the equipment and training and we are doing a lot with the crime lab.
"We use it in all types of crimes," he said. "It's not just any one crime — we can use it for homicides down to criminal damaging."
Smith said an example of the police using the crime lab for misdemeanor criminal damaging is fingerprints left on a car window which are now much easier to obtain and process.
Still, Smith said real life police work isn't like popular television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigators. He said, for instance, the HPD's crime lab is not equipped with the tools to deliver DNA results.
"It's not like TV. Every case has its own specifics," he said. "Often times we get prints and they are partial, smudged, or the core is missing and you only catch half the print. It's very difficult (to extract a fingerprint)."
"(The television show) CSI overdoes it. They catch them in an hour everytime."
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2190 or khardy@coxohio.com.