A real "CSI" seen up close
By Leslie Parrilla
The Tribune San Luis Obispo
November 6, 2006
Real life is a far cry from "CSI" on television where DNA matches catch killers between commercials and microscopic fibers from bloody socks miraculously implicate a dead girl’s boyfriend before credits roll.
For local forensic specialist Ken Jones, the "CSI" effect means he must explain to San Luis Obispo County jurors that fingerprints aren’t found in five minutes and analyzing the outside of a single Pepsi can for evidence can take two hours on a good day.
"This isn’t ‘CSI,’ ’’ Jones said referring to the three hit CBS shows, which are said to have raised real-world expectations of forensic science. "This is the real stuff. We don’t get DNA results in 52 minutes."
Nine students in a crime scene investigation class saw Jones and his colleagues in action on Wednesday during a tour of the county sheriff’s crime laboratory. Some said they took the Cal Poly Continuing Education class because of an interest in forensics as a career, while others simply wanted to know what goes on in a crime lab.
Chief Deputy Gary Hoving, who leads the 10-hour class, shows students how to identify whirl patterns and dust for latent fingerprints. He also leads them through real investigations and shows them methods used to solve murder cases.
The three-room lab the students saw last week "was kind of small" compared to television’s picture-perfect setups, said 18-year-old Melissa Muñoz of San Luis Obispo.
Muñoz, who says she has always liked solving mysteries, peered into each room watching forensic experts analyze mock evidence on multi- thousand-dollar devices.
It’s not like on television
The "CSI" lab is all glitz and glamour compared to Supervising Laboratory Technician Teri Prince’s daily routine.
Forensic glamour for her means wearing explosion- and acid-proof glasses while screening urine samples for drugs with a chromatography machine. The seemingly homemade device is equipped with an upside down blow drier and hot plate.
"Somebody was drinking bleach and Pepsi to mask a drug," Prince told students about finding the combination during a screening. "That doesn’t work."
One student asked about the difference between crack and crank while others questioned the likelihood of producing false positive test results. Prince herded the group from another room where she had shined a light wand on a Starbucks coffee cup, discovering fingerprints invisible to the naked eye.
Outside in the hall Jones asked a student to write a message on a notepad. He tossed the original in the trash and kept the blank sheet underneath, covered it with plastic and sprinkled glass beads across the top to recover impressions that spelled "Give me the money!"
Jones leveled with students about the truth behind analyzing evidence, explaining that it’s not a glamorous job, but it is rewarding, especially when you can prove someone did not commit a crime because fingerprints don’t match.
Jones is one of four lab employees who pore over evidence from cases throughout the county, studying fingerprints, ballistics, videotape and urine samples and recovering evidence of writing. DNA, blood, body fluids and trace evidence are sent to the California Department of Justice, the FBI or private labs for more technical analysis.
Looking at accreditation
The county is exploring accreditation of its lab through the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors — Laboratory Accreditation Board, Prince said. Approval would take about two years and would signify that the local lab meets national standards.
When asked why the lab, which has operated since the 1970s, is exploring accreditation now, Hoving said it only recently began drug screening and is hiring a doctor as a consultant. A doctor and sophisticated scientific analysis, such as drug screening, are two requirements for accreditation.
The county’s crime lab is one of about 50 in the state, 14 of which are not accredited, according to the National Forensic Science Technology Center and the accreditation board. There are about 440 crime labs in the country.
"It doesn’t mean the lab is not doing a good job," said Bill Marbaker, president of the American Society of Crime Lab Directors. "But accreditation is the only way to demonstrate to the court and the public that you are meeting general standards."
Hoving said he did not believe there has been any impact on local cases because the crime lab is not yet accredited.
Jones has analyzed more than 150 pieces of evidence during the last six months, he said. The number of pieces of evidence analyzed at the lab each year was not immediately available.
The turnaround for processing evidence varies from week to week, but the lab is not backlogged, according to Prince.
Nearby, the skin from a finger of a person found dead in a creek was sitting on a desk in a jar of formaldehyde.
"You have to have a curiosity," Jones said, giving students advice to help them determine if his job is right for them. "You have to enjoy what you do. And you have to tolerate some disgusting things."
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Leslie Parrilla can be reached at 783-8645.
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© 2006 San Luis Obispo Tribune and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.