1.Hart Island is the location of a 101 acre potter’s
field for New York City, and is the largest tax-funded cemetery in the
world. Burials on Hart Island began shortly after the American Civil War
and was sold to NYC in 1868. There are over a million, unidentified
men, women and children buried on the island. Periodically, the
city is given grant money from the federal government to identify the remains
of some of these individuals. In fact one unidentified body that was
buried on the island several years ago was identified as a John Jay College
Professor who took his own life by drowning in the Hudson River.
Q1. – Should additional federal funds be given to identify these
individuals or should they be left unidentified?
2. Blood stain pattern analysis is a science that very few
forensic investigators are qualified to perform. Most investigators are able to
perform initial analysis of blood patterns but few are qualified to do in
depth analysis.
Q2. Should all
forensic investigators be trained to do in depth blood pattern analysis?
If so, why? If not, why?
3. Generally, firearms issued to law enforcement are test fired
first and the land and groove pattern from the test fired bullet are entered
into a database.
Q3. Should all firearms purchased throughout the country be test fired
in a similar manner and (b) should the federal government be charged with the duty of
maintaining this database?
4. Currently,
law enforcement and cell phone companies, like Apple, are in legal battles over
the ability to get stored, encrypted data from a suspect’s phone.
Q4. (a) Should law
enforcement agencies have the ability to acquire this
information or not?
(b) What should the
requirements be to get this information?
5. Many
times vital evidence to a case is lost because of mishandling by the police or
civilians.
Q5. What steps can be taken to reduce the
incidents of having evidence contaminated by the police and/or the public.
6. Many times, vital crime scene evidence is
lost, because the police fail to conduct thorough crime scene searches and
also fail to expand the crime scene wide enough in order to not overlook
critical evidence.
For example, if a rape occurs in Central
Park,
Q6. (a) how wide do we
establish the crime scene and for how long (not to inconvenience the
public)? How far and wide do you order the search? How long do you
preclude bikers and joggers from using the park?
(b) You are the duty captain
that responds to this investigation, what should you do?
