A look inside of the MSP crime lab
Investigators says it's not like TV
By Bill Harris
WJRT-TV ABC
November 15, 2006
Investigations in crime scenes similar to those in Saginaw are often conducted by the State Police Crime Lab, the Michigan State Police version of the popular TV series based on crime scene investigations.
But that's where the similarity ends. What we see on TV doesn't always translate into reality.
"It's not real life in the fact that they solve the murder, the crime, you know, in an hour like they do on the shows," said Inspector Kari Kusmierz.
"They just want to know if we received a seed from a South Bolivian
rubber plant that is partially digested by an enzyme from a Himalayan
Yak," said Lt. Ron Crichton.
"We would love to be able to give you your answer by the next commercial break, but it doesn't work that way," said Kathryn Maloney.
So how does it work? What's it like to be a member of the State Police Crime Lab? ABC12 created a scenario and asked that it be carried out -- as if in real life -- and then follow investigators through their paces.
Our scenario -- based on several actual local cases -- begins with the help of the State Police Bomb Squad, just one of many units associated with the MSP Crime Lab.
"We got called by an excavation company in reference to a suspicious package," said Sgt. Steve Hickman.
None of the employees knew what the box was.
"We found a cardboard box with some tape on it, obviously sitting next to some equipment," Hickman said. "We utilized the robot to analyze it and then we rendered it safe.
"The evidence we collected after RSPing the device will be sent over to the laboratory for analysis. Multiple units will get it and we'll get the results from that later."
Once at the State Police Lansing lab -- one of seven throughout the state -- the evidence is analyzed and processed in ways unimaginable in years past.
In fact, the whole process of forensic science has experienced major change not only in technology, but also in philosophy.
"Forensic science used to be a type of analysis that might have been done at the end of an investigation and now it's more the beginning. That's the first place an investigator looks for clues to solve a crime," Kusmierz said.
"Item evidence No. 2 is a battery that typically is used as a power unit on an explosive device," said Sgt. Scott Hasse.
"What we will be looking at this is for latent prints on the tape and the battery. Also, with all our evidence, we can submit to our DNA unit for the presence of human DNA."
The battery was only one piece of evidence gathered. All the evidence collected at the scene would have been analyzed and processed.
Since almost 85 percent of crime lab work is done for law enforcement and fire agencies outside of the State Police, the results, when complete, would then be sent to that requesting agency.
On Nov. 3, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton ruled on a case involving the use of deadly force in an Oct. 9 police shooting in Flint Township.
What role did 21st Century science play in the 25 days between the shooting and the prosecutor's decision?
It was a chaotic, dramatic and a deadly crime scene. Two Flint Township officers and a young man were shot.
Another man was shot and killed by other officers. Almost immediately, the investigation began to answer the burning question: Was the shooting justified?
"In the Flint Township case, those particular weapons that were fired by the officers were investigated and it was determined who shot which weapon," Leyton said.
"At the scene, the casings were recovered so it could be determined how many times each particular weapon was fired."
The evidence -- at Flint Township's request -- was turned over to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab in Bridgeport -- one of the busiest crime labs in the state.
"We probably do well over ... close to 9,000 cases a year here and that increases almost every year," Maloney said.
Investigators and lab scientists at the Bridgeport lab are kept busy with a wide variety of responsibilities including latent prints, criminal sexual conduct, drug analysis and shootings.
And it is there where the pieces to the complex puzzle of the Flint Township shooting slowly and methodically began to fall into place.
"Obviously, by caliber, I can say this gun possibly fired these cartridge casings," Crichton said. "Then, by testing that specific gun.
"I look at it under a microscope for microscopic defects which is commonly referred to as a fingerprint of that firearm. And I can say this particular fired cartridge case came from this gun and this gun only."
But that is only one piece to this complex puzzle.
"We can say this came from this particular firearm," Crichton said. "But it's still up to investigators to say who was operating that firearm."
In this case, the crime lab findings were sent back to Flint Township police and ultimately Genesee County prosecutors who reviewed all the forensic evidence in the case.
"The autopsy, the forensic pathologist, has been able to tell us, specifically, which bullet in this case killed the individual," Leyton said.
Those findings led to Leyton's final decision Nov. 3.
"That was clear, that they were under attack and had to protect themselves as well as the other residents at Hunter's Ridge," Leyton said.
Case closed with the help of 21st Century science.
"I think that the community should feel comfortable that forensic science is doing a lot for ensuring a safer place to be," Kusmierz said.