This unit deals with the
forensic support given to the police to aid ongoing enquiries. In
most cases this involves crime scene examinations carried out by a
team of dedicated scene examiners.
We have a laboratory where items are brought
for specialised examination.
Using various chemical treatments, specialised
lighting and photographic equipment, fingerprints can be revealed
on a variety of surfaces. Our lab is staffed by technicians
who work exclusively on casework for the Fife area. Fife has
one of the largest glue and dye chambers in the country and this is
put to daily use developing fingerprint evidence on articles
recovered from crime scenes.
Out in the field we have a
team of trained crime scene examiners who provide round the clock
cover. Most of their work involves examinations at scenes of
dishonesty type crimes such as housebreakings and thefts from
vehicles, but they are also involved in the more serious
crimes which can occur in Fife. Sometimes this
can involve very lengthy examinations running into weeks of
activity using specialist equipment and techniques.
Of course all this good work is of little
value if the evidence recovered is not put to best use. We
have an administrative wing, which makes sure that the evidence,
and any of the information derived from this is passed to
the officers investigating the crime in as short a time as
possible.
The forensic analysis of
evidence is carried out in the police forensic lab in Dundee, where
the Scottish DNA Database is housed. Fife Constabulary sends
all of the potential DNA source recovered from crime scenes to the
lab for extraction and analysis. DNA evidence has become a strong
tool, used frequently by the police to trace the perpetrators of
crime. This science is not reserved only for serious crime,
and in fact the vast majority of this work is aimed at combating
crimes of dishonesty.