TAMPA, Fla. – Forensic technology has been key to solving criminal cases across the country.
Over the years, forensics has advanced, from DNA to digital technology.
Many advances in forensic technology have occurred in the Tampa Bay area at the Global Forensic and Justice Center in Pinellas County.
The Global Forensic and Justice Institute, in partnership with Florida International University, trains law enforcement agencies, members of the Department of Defense and other organizations to use the latest forensic technology in their daily operations.
This facility has broken barriers since it opened nearly 30 years ago.
“It’s really surprising,” said Kirk Grates, Director of the Forensic Chemistry Research Project at GFJC. “I never thought technology would advance as much as it has.”
The concept of forensic DNA technology was not very old, even ten years ago.
“When I started, it was like no one could imagine that DNA was coming out of a lab,” said Robert O’Brien, an expert biologist with GFJC.
O’Brien says it wasn’t until the last decade that that changed, with the introduction of rapid DNA technology.
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“You basically put your soap in the cartridge, put the cartridge in the device, type in the correct information and away you go,” O’Brien said. “An hour and a half later, you come, a DNA sample, the same as the one produced in the laboratory.”
Instead of having to send DNA evidence to a laboratory and wait days, weeks or months for results, a rapid DNA machine can bring answers directly to the crime scene.
“Now you can take this device anywhere,” O’Brien said. “It’s still used in mass disaster situations. It was used at Surfside, which happened in Miami.”
Advances are seen, from forensic DNA technology, to chemistry and toxicology.
Grates said new technology over the years has changed the ability to test items for illegal drugs or explosive devices.
“Law enforcement, border patrol, military, hazmat teams can use this technology to identify unknown chemicals within 15 minutes,” Grates said.
Grates said they are training agencies like the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to use this latest technology that can detect drugs or explosives at the scene, instead of sending samples to a lab and waiting for as long as a month. for answers.
Two years ago, Grates said, some technology can scan an object from up to 6 feet away. It can detect drugs or chemicals within seconds, and without it is necessary to touch something that could kill.
“It could be illegal drugs, chemical warfare agents, explosives, toxic industrial chemicals,” Grates said.
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Some of the most rapidly evolving forensic technology is at our fingertips. Digital forensic technology has become an integral part of research and practice, as digital technology continues to evolve.
“Everyone has a phone,” Ricky Ruckman, Technology Coach with GFJC, said. “People have drones. People have those electronic devices in your home. Even the things you do in your car can be digitally recorded.”
Ruckman says digital forensics can give you more information about the future than biometrics and DNA.
“With digital forensics, you can get a lot of insight into who they are, what they’re thinking or what their motives were,” Ruckman said.
Experts with GFJC say the development of forensic technology is just beginning.
“I think the future with DNA testing is to take these tools, obviously to make them smaller and faster,” O’Brien said.
From saving lives to solving lawsuits, experts say they expect progress to continue to improve.
“I think it’s limitless,” Ruckman said.
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