As technology infiltrates every aspect of our lives, it is no wonder that solving crimes has become almost futuristic in its advances. From retinal scanning to trace evidence chemistry, actual forensic technologies are so advanced at helping to solve crimes that they seem like something from a science fiction thriller.
With all this forensic technology, its no wonder that this field is one of the fastest growing in the U.S. Shows like CSI and NCIS have made most of the forensic science techniques used today common knowledge. You might think that virtually the whole gamut of forensic technology is old hat to today’s savvy viewer. In fact, there are a number of incredibly cool forensic technologies that you probably never knew existed.

Covers the following 10 technologies:
1. Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)
2. Alternative Light Photography
3. High-Speed Ballistics Photography
4. Video Spectral Comparator 2000
5. Digital Surveillance For Xbox (XFT Device)
6. 3D Forensic Facial Reconstruction
7. DNA Sequencer
8. Forensic Carbon-14 Dating
9. Magnetic Fingerprinting and Automated Fingerprint Identification (AFIS)
10. Link Analysis Software for Forensic Accountants

The ability to gather and analyze different types of evidence is one of the most important competencies for anyone who conducts investigations. There are many types of evidence that help the investigator make decisions during a case, even if they aren’t direct proof of an event or claim.

The first rule is that evidence must be relevant to the investigation. If it is not directly related to the case it isn’t relevant evidence. That said, there are many types of evidence that, while not admissible in court, can be valuable to an investigator trying to reach a conclusion in a workplace investigation or other non-criminal investigation. And even some evidence that is not admissible on its own may be admissible in conjunction with other types of evidence.

Follow a human autopsy process from start to finish including an external examination, opening the body, viewing internal organs, removing the organs and weighing them, removing the brain, replacing all organs and closing the body.

Since 2004, the Bertino Forensics Science Institute has become a leading forensics training programs for teachers in the United States attracting participants from over thirty states and as far away as Myanmar, Taipei and Russia. Our program includes our forensic textbook (Forensic Science: Fundamentals and Investigations), additional teaching resources and teacher education opportunities through workshops, conference presentations, seminars and Webinars. These provide educators with hands-on experiences that inspire and educate students in the principles of scientific inquiry, analysis and creative thinking.

Blood behaves not unlike those spilled water droplets, and the speed at which the droplets travel when they strike a surface, known to analysts as a target, affects their shape. This speed, combined with angle and surface characteristics, also determines how far blood droplets skip or bounce after meeting a barrier.

Because blood behaves according to certain scientific principles, trained bloodstain pattern analysts can examine the blood evidence left behind and draw conclusions as to how the blood may have been shed. From what may appear to be a random distribution of bloodstains at a crime scene, analysts can categorize the stains by gathering information from spatter patterns, transfers, voids and other marks that assist investigators in recreating the sequence of events that occurred after bloodshed. This form of physical evidence requires the analyst to recognize and interpret patterns to determine how those patterns were created.

Use the menu on the right of the page to navigate through the information.

Website includes:
- Games on CSI
- Bloodstain Analysis
- Careers in Forensics
- Digital Forensics
- DNA
- Forensic Biology
- Drugs and Crime
- Fingerprints
- Fire Investigation
- Firearms and Tool Mark Examinations
- Forensic Anthropology
- Forensic Art
- Forensic Pathology
- General Forensics
- Prescription Drug Abuse
- Toxicology
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There are basically two types of evidence: material and physical. Material evidence is generally considered anything that can be manufactured: paint, fibers, or glass, etc. These bits of evidence can be visible or invisible. In many cases, evidence must be examined with the use of microscopes or other scientific instruments to detect and collect valuable data or information. Material evidence is also commonly known as trace evidence.

The term "criminal profiler" likely conjures images of popular characters such as Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs or Dr. Samantha Waters from The Profiler. While television and movies have raised awareness of criminal profiling as a profession, as with most careers, it's important to separate fact from fiction to get a better picture of what a job as a criminal profiler is about really.

The idea of a brilliant but deranged psychiatrist and murderer who spends his time in prison assisting rookie FBI agents on major cases is intriguing, but reality TV it's not. Nonetheless, a career as a criminal profiler can be a tremendously fascinating and intellectually stimulating pursuit.

The title "criminal profiler" is used to describe investigators who specialize in inductive and deductive reasoning to build a profile of particular criminal based on characteristics of the crime committed. Most profilers are law enforcement investigators with several years of experience investigating violent crimes and who have training and degrees in ​forensic science and psychology.​​

Also included is information on:
-Roles of a Criminal Profilers
-Requirements to Become a Criminal Profiler
-Criminal Profilers Salary
-Is a Career As a Criminal Profiler Right for You?

Ontario’s Centre of Forensic Sciences is one of the most extensive forensic science facilities in North America. The roots of the Centre are in the creation of the Attorney General’s Laboratory in 1951, renamed The Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) in the Province of Ontario in 1966.
In 1986, as part of the Northern Initiative Program, the Ontario Government approved the establishment of the first regional forensic science laboratory. The new laboratory, the Northern Regional Forensic Laboratory (NRFL), located in Sault Ste. Marie, became operational in July 1992.
The two laboratories conduct scientific investigations in cases involving injury or death in unusual circumstances and in crimes against persons or property. Highly specialized forensic examination and analysis are conducted in the following areas:
Biology
Chemistry
Documents
Firearms and toolmarks
Toxicology
Independent scientific laboratory services support the administration of justice and public safety programs across the province. Law enforcement officers, crown attorneys, defense counsel, coroners, pathologists and other official investigative agencies make use of the Centre’s services.
The CFS also offers many educational programs and materials for persons or agencies using its services. Included are lectures at police colleges, forensic pathology courses, coroner’s courses or universities. Frequent seminars are also arranged for special groups from the legal profession and the police.
Visit their website for more information.

Law enforcement has relied on fingerprint analysis to identify suspects and solve crimes for more than 100 years. Investigators use fingerprints to link a perpetrator to a crime scene. Individual fingerprint identification records have also been used in sentencing, probation, and parole decisions. Officers often rely on chemical techniques, such as those above, to visualize the evidence. However, inadequate proficiency testing of investigators has led to inaccurate interpretations of the evidence. Recent wrongful convictions and scientific studies of forensic methods have increased scrutiny of the validity and reliability of several forms of forensic evidence, including fingerprints. A recent report prepared by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) makes strong recommendations for improving the scientific basis of forensic evidence used in the courtroom. For fingerprinting, the report emphasized the potential for automating fingerprint analysis, to potentially reduce bias in interpreting match results when fingerprints at a scene are smudged or otherwise unclear.

How It’s Done
Samples That May be Collected at a Crime Scene
A wide variety of physical evidence can be collected at a scene that is deemed valuable (“probative”) for collection and investigation:

-biological evidence (e.g., blood, body fluids, hair and other tissues)
-latent print evidence (e.g., fingerprints, palm prints, foot prints)
-footwear and tire track evidence
-trace evidence (e.g., fibers, soil, vegetation, glass fragments)
-digital evidence (e.g., cell phone records, Internet logs, email messages)
-tool and tool mark evidence
-drug evidence
-firearm evidence

Also included:
-Who Examines Crime Scenes
-How a Crime Scene Investigation is Conducted
-How and Where Tests on the Evidence are Conducted

Crime Scene features fictional crime cases in a unique combination of interactive fiction and gaming.

Each week, Yoknapatawpha County detectives post evidence from the current case.

You are invited to participate in the investigation by reviewing the presented evidence and offering your theories and questions to the detectives and other web sleuths.

What is criminal profiling?
Criminal profiling is an important part of a criminal psychology. This part of an article will partially answer questions about what criminal profiling is, what it is used for, what is aim of it, in which cases it is mostly used, what are it’s types and what kind of approaches it has.

In short, Criminal profiling (also known as offender profiling and specific profile analysis) is to create a psychological and not only psychological portrait, determine location of the offenders by gathering their personal attributes from crime scene behavior in order to assist in detection of them.
Criminal profiling is typically used when offender’s identity is unknown and with serious criminal offences such as murder, sexual assault. Profilers also work on crime series, where is considered, that the crime is committed by the same offender.

Also included:
-The Process of Criminal Profiling
-Forensic Psychology
-Criminal Behavior
-Interviewing

A vital aspect of a forensic investigation may be to detect and locate specific people or substances of interest, ranging from illegal drugs to missing people to clandestine graves. Sophisticated detection equipment does exist, however this technology can often be expensive, have unsuitable portability, and may even prove useless when searching vast areas. Fortunately for investigators, there is an ideal tool available. Dogs, sometimes known as K9s or sniffer dogs by law enforcement professionals, have played an important role in legal investigations for decades, with their keen sense of smell being harnessed to aid investigations. The average human being has roughly five million sensitive cells within the nose to aid in scent detection. This appears to be a large number, until compared with the 200 million cells in the average dog’s nose. Further increasing the canine’s sense of smell is an organ in the roof of the mouth that is not present in humans. This organ essentially allows the dog to ‘taste’ a smell, thus strengthening its ability to detect odours. Canines detect odours directly from the source or residual scents; odours which persist in an area after the original source is no longer present. Obviously the air is full of a vast variety of different odours, many of which will be powerfully clear to the dog. Fortunately they are able to distinguish between different odours, even if one smell overpowers another, and trace a specific scent to its source.

Also included:
-Drug Detection
-Explosives Detection
-Arson Dogs
-Cadaver Dogs
-Search & Rescue Dogs
-Tracking Dogs
-Training
-Fieldword

We touch things every day: a coffee cup, a car door, a computer keyboard. Each time we do, it is likely that we leave behind our unique signature—in our fingerprints.
No two people have exactly the same fingerprints. Even identical twins, with identical DNA, have different fingerprints. This uniqueness allows fingerprints to be used in all sorts of ways, including for background checks, biometric security, mass disaster identification, and of course, in criminal situations.

Fingerprint analysis has been used to identify suspects and solve crimes for more than 100 years, and it remains an extremely valuable tool for law enforcement. One of the most important uses for fingerprints is to help investigators link one crime scene to another involving the same person. Fingerprint identification also helps investigators to track a criminal’s record, their previous arrests and convictions, to aid in sentencing, probation, parole and pardoning decisions.

Each person in the world has a set of fingerprints unique to them! Even though every print is different, they can be categorized into one of three general types:
-loops (found in 65% of the population)
-whorls (found in 35% of the population)
-arches (found in 5% of the population)

Analyzing fingerprints can be a tricky business, especially without computers to help. After categorizing a print as a loop, whorl, or arch, look for these individual features:
-core: in a loop fingerprint, this is the center of the loop. 
-delta: in loop and whorl patterns, this is an area where ridges meet from three directions. (There is usually one delta on a loop and two or more on a whorl.
-ridge end: notice where individual ridges come to an end. 
-bifurcation: notice where a ridge divides into two ridges (like a fork in a road)
-island: notice any short ridges cut off from others. 
-crossover: notice where any ridges appear to cross over each other.

Try your hand at fingerprint analysis! Two different fingerprints have been found at a crime scene. Compare them to the fingerprints of the 4 suspects on this website.

-Arson and explosions often present complex and difficult circumstances to investigate due to the fact that the perpetrator has thoroughly planned the act, is not present during the act, and the destruction is so extensive.
-The criminalist’s function is rather limited to detecting and identifying relevant chemical materials collected at the scene and reconstructing and identifying ignitorsor detonating mechanisms.

Also included:
-The Chemistry of Fire
-The Fire Scene
-Collection
-The Basics
-Gas Chromatography
-Explosions
-The Explosive Market
-Collection & Analysis
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Forensic Science is the application of the scientific method to solving mysteries. Forensic scientists draw on skills from a number of disciplines in order to gather evidence and draw conclusions about an event. Teachers may use the subject of forensic science to stimulate interest in the various disciplines of science among their students. The discipline is particularly useful in the classroom because it emphasizes hands-on learning and gives students the opportunity to develop their reasoning skills.
Many of the activities on this site use computers and computational science. Such methods are useful to forensic scientists because they allow scientists to view evidence with greater clarity, to simulate specific events and to save time by automating tedious processes.

This site covers everything you wanted to know about forensics in Canada, from forensic science to medical examiners.