{"id":2275,"date":"2023-01-26T13:25:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T13:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2275"},"modified":"2023-01-26T13:25:46","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T13:25:46","slug":"new-forensic-tools-aid-fight-against-sexual-assault-and-other-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2275\/new-forensic-tools-aid-fight-against-sexual-assault-and-other-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"New forensic tools aid fight against sexual assault and other crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Technological developments in evidence gathering hold out promise of fewer offences going unpunished.<\/p>\n

By<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0ALI JONES<\/p>\n

The global success of television dramas like\u00a0CSI: Crime Scene Investigation<\/em>\u00a0has lulled many into thinking that forensic analysis is an all-seeing, speedy science.<\/p>\n

The reality is that it\u2019s much slower than TV lets on, with more limited scope for success.<\/p>\n

Not like TV<\/strong><\/p>\n

TV detectives investigating a rape, for example, are portrayed as finding incriminating DNA evidence easily enough. In the real world, however, the search is often constrained by current forensic methods that can detect only 10% of sperm traces because surfaces absorb evidence and criminals often attempt to wipe it away.<\/p>\n

Now two European projects have developed technologies to improve ways of finding the microscopic material needed to ensure a conviction. One\u00a0\u2013 from French biotechnology company AXO Science\u00a0\u2013 is a newly formulated spray for detecting evidence at rape scenes.<\/p>\n

\u2018The spray enables investigators to be really specific in identifying sperm stains and it\u2019s three times faster than existing methods for collecting samples,\u2019 said Benjamin Corgier, AXO Science’s director of research and development. \u2018There is less doubt about what\u2019s being collected, nothing is missed and no time is wasted on analysing samples that don\u2019t yield results.\u2019<\/p>\n

In Europe, 1 in 10 women over the age of 15 has experienced some form of sexual violence and 1 in 20 women has been raped, according to an\u00a0EU survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AXO Science\u2019s forensic crime-scene spray, developed as part of the EU-funded\u00a0Themis<\/a>\u00a0project, could increase the number of rape convictions. A prototype, called STK Spray, is being put to use across Europe and in North America, South America, Japan and China.<\/p>\n

Oldest crime lab<\/strong><\/p>\n

From Lyon, France, home of the world\u2019s first police crime laboratory dating to 1910, AXO Science developed the new detection technique for sperm traces after the city\u2019s forensics lab asked for help a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Using a simple solution that is mixed on location, investigators cover the rape scene with the non-toxic STK Spray. They then check the area with a special ultraviolet light that reveals any semen stains as a blue glow.<\/p>\n

The technique identifies 100% of the bodily fluid across most surfaces \u2013 floors, walls, door handles, sinks and even grass and leaves \u2014 but not textiles. Within minutes, the spray opens the door to DNA identification of the offender.<\/p>\n

With forensic experts around the world testing STK Spray, a number of current and cold cases are already heading to court thanks to evidence secured through use of the prototype.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s National Gendarmerie has confirmed the presence of semen in a 25-year-old case using the technique on evidence that had been stored. In the US state of Nevada,\u00a0the Reno Police Department recently announced that it had arrested and charged a man with sexual assault dating to 2014 with the help of STK Spray.<\/p>\n

Less strain, more proof<\/strong><\/p>\n

In court proceedings, seeing is often believing. That\u2019s why the analysis of minute transfers of material invisible to the naked eye is also central to crime-scene investigations.<\/p>\n

Tiny fragments of physical evidence such as hair, blood, skin cells and clothing fibres can all link a suspect to a victim and a crime scene. But before that happens, many long hours in the lab can be needed to piece the forensic jigsaw together.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s very time consuming and expensive to extract the relevant traces\u00a0\u2013 and for the technician it\u2019s far from pleasant at the beginning of an investigation,\u2019 said Colonel Gr\u00e9gory Briche, head of the Forensic Department at the National Gendarmerie. \u2018It\u2019s tedious work.\u2019<\/p>\n

Briche led a just-completed international effort to develop a forensic toolkit. The initiative was known as\u00a0SHUTTLE<\/a>, short for Scientific High-throughput and Unified Toolkit for Trace analysis by forensic Laboratories in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u2018To analyse crime-scene evidence such as a blanket used to carry a victim\u2019s body currently takes weeks,\u2019 he said. \u2018With our new toolkit, clothes fibres and hair can be looked at simultaneously \u2013 in around a week.\u2019<\/p>\n

A SHUTTLE prototype is being tested in five European countries \u2013 France, Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Portugal \u2013 plus\u00a0Israel. It promises to change the way trace evidence is collected while relieving technicians of the burden of many hours spent staring through a microscope.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because an automated microscope takes high-quality images of microtraces collected on specially designed tape and algorithms store and classify them on a central database.<\/p>\n

The database is designed for the national and international exchange of information to help police identify offenders and open new lines of investigation.<\/p>\n

Forensic technicians will still oversee the work, but without the human strain of hour after hour of microscope work taking its toll on tired eyes and concentration.<\/p>\n

\u2018The idea of SHUTTLE is to have consistency and no subjectivity caused by tiredness,\u2019 Briche said. \u2018Technicians have limits, whereas with the toolkit the quality of work is the same whatever the time of day.\u2019<\/p>\n

High expectations<\/strong><\/p>\n

The partners in SHUTTLE and Themis, both of which ended in late 2022, are enthusiastic about the potentially dramatic improvements in forensic analysis and the resulting rise in investigations that experts will be freed to handle.<\/p>\n

With regard to STK Spray in particular, it is still being fine-tuned in the lab and may become ready to manufacture at scale soon.<\/p>\n

\u2018There is a real \u201cwow effect\u201d for forensic experts when they try the new product,\u2019 said Corgier at AXO Science. \u2018They never thought this result would be possible.\u2019<\/p>\n

More info<\/p>\n