Last Day

Today is my last day. I gave my DTR to our supervisor, I completed every little detail during this day. Everything turned out fine(i mean the whole experience), but before I went home, I did a little task.

I stamped the papers(macro-etching certificates, lots of them!). After that, I was all set and ready to go.

Alone

Today, May 25, 2007, is my first day alone. OK, it was rather interesting though. There's this thing that's called a bullet recovery box. It is where guns are being test fired in order to check the bullet for grooves under a microscope. Policemen use this box(although its shape is really cylindrical, I wonder why it's called a bullet recovery box. It should be called a bullet recovery cylinder or something, but definitely not box!), OK, policemen use this box for them to recover the bullet in(maybe not perfect condition) but really close to that. We then recover the bullet and check the grooves whether they match with the bullets found in the crime scene.

I also had a look at several different bullets. They differ in their diameter. Shotgun shells have nine(9) pellets. A magnum bullet has more gun powder than the usual bullets, and a 50mm machine gun can cut a person in two(2).

How Does the Firearms Work?

First thing to do is to feed the weapon with bullets. We have two types of feeding: manual and mechanical feeding. In manual feeding, you feed the bullet directly into the weapon while in mechanical feeding, you feed it indirectly with the use of a magazine. Second is the chambering. The chambering of bullets. Next, we have the locking. The locking of the weapon would force it not to fire. Firing is the most important part because a weapon is primarily made for this sole purpose. Then, we have the unlocking which allows the weapon to fire. We also have the extracting of bullets, used bullets. The ones that were already fired. Closely after extracting is the ejecting of the bullet. It is where the bullet is flipped off from the weapon. Last is the cocking. It is were you load the bullet so it could be fired.

Checking for Nitrates

Today, May 21, 2007, our first day together alone with Miss Cuadra and without Miss Gucor. OK, my guess was right. We inspected the particles we got from the cotton swabbing thing whether there is presence of gun powder nitrates. We used DPA or diphenylamine and the results were rather stunning. All four guns(because we cotton swabbed for of them) showed positive signs of gun powder nitrates, and therefore, we can conclude that the weapon was fired. But as I said, this test is corroborative because of some important reasons.

Could Be the Luckiest Day Ever

Today, May 19, 2007, marks another milestone in my SSIP days. I got a job, for real! With real money and real work.

I was all alone, as usual during weekends, and we were supposed to have a general cleaning(must be the very reason why Miss Cuadra didn't show up). Well, I was supposed to clean up the whole place(not the whole barracks, just the crime lab) but then, something weird but wonderful happened!

OK, I was hired as a text whatever(but it doesn't matter! What matters is that I got P300 worth of cellphone load and a P200 salary). Talk about lucky! I must be one when they're not around!

P.S I didn't have to clean the whole wretched place after all!

Last Wednesday May16,2007, Sir Florentino lectured us about How firearms work. He also enumerated the steps in how a firearms work. They are Feeding, Chambering, Locking, Firing, Unlocking, Extracting, Ejecting and Coking. He taught us all about the steps.

Today, Friday, May 18,2007, I and Mark Carlo are the only one left to report in the agency. We had observed fingerprints in a lens. We had seen the whirls and parts of the fingerprints. We also had observed Sir Edgardo when he got the fingerprints of two pulis applicants.

Posted by: Faye

Swabbing of Cotton

My apologies for I can't think of a better title. Okay, earlier this morning, we went to the Hall of Justice. We attended a hearing because our supervisor, the person who supervises us, was the witness.

Later in the afternoon, we took some pictures then performed the cotton swabbing or swabbing of cotton(whatever that is), then we took some more pictures.

Cotton swabbing or swabbing of cotton(whatever that is again) is one of the simplest things we learned in the history of our crime lab days. All you have to do is to clean or swab the gun with cotton. That simple!

The main purpose of this is to learn whether the weapon was fired or not fired by checking the cotton(with the gun powder nitrates presumably) by using DPA or diphenylamine to the cotton sample.

Cotton Swabbing

Today, May 8, 2007 Sir Florentino taught us how to swab a gun and he told us the purpose of Cotton Swabbing. The purpose of cotton swab is to determine presence of gun powder in an evidence firearm. I, Isabelle and Mark Carlo tried one by one. We cotton swab one gun by putting a cotton on a barrel then use a stick to push the cotton to pass the barrel and get gun powders. We did cotton swabbing on the barrel twice and we also cotton swab the holes of where bullets are place. The agency will conduct further examination on the cottons used in the cotton swabbing.

Posted by: faye

My Debut Blog

A week ago, May 7, 2007, I started my internship in the crime laboratory. It was easy and I was well oriented about the things to do. First, i was taught on how to perform the macro-etching exam. It is were you check the chassis and the engine number. Whether it is tampered or not which is basically common among stolen vehicles. The tricky and the dirty part is when you look for the chassis and the engine number. If it's dusty, you'll be sneezing your way all day long. Literally.
Shortly after, Ma'am de Guzman, head of the crime laboratory, taught me the Marquiz and the Simon's test. These tests are used to know whether Marijuana and Methampetamine Hydrochloride, commonly known as "shabu", is present in urine.
Later on that day, Ma'am de Guzman performed the paraffin-DPA text or the dermal-nitrate test.By the way, DPA stands for diphenylamine. The test seems quite easy. All you have to do is to spread DPA all over the paraffin wax they have taken some days before(now, that's more or less a week ago). After which, you'll have to check for blue specks or nitrates. Gun powder nitrates to be exact. However, this procedure is corroborative because of some reasons like : humidity, wind velocity, gloves and the type of ammunition.

Testing Marijuana

Thursday in the afternoon, Ma'am Vicky let I, Isabelle and Mark observed her test Marijuana. First, she made us smell a standard Marijuana and a suspected MArijuana. The smell was different so we guess that suspected marijuana is not a real marijuana. Yet, we chemically test the suspected marijuana. We applied fastblueb salt test to both specimens (the suspected marijuana and the standard example of marijauana. The result was different so we can already say that the suspected marijuana is indeed not a real marijuana.

Ma'am Vicky let us read effects and dangers of marijuana last tuesday. A marijuana could also be called mary jane, brownies and so on. It can made us confused, it can distort our emotions and senses, can give us chest pain, can make us easily forget. Marijuana is not good for our body. It has many side effects and it cannot solve our problems. Now, it is up to you if you will still use marijuana or not.

Posted by: Faye

All About Lectures

Sir Chan gave us a lecture about SOCO (SCENE OF THE CRIME OPERATION). He lectured us about what are the things they do in a crime scene, how to preserve the evidences and who are the members of the team.

Ma'am Vicky also gave us a lecture on Forensic Chemistry and on dangerous drugs. She lectured us about the effects of these dangerous drugs and she gave us some reading materials that we can study.

We had a lecture about fingerprints again with Sir Andres. He showed us some other kinds of fingerprints. He let us perform how to get the fingerprints or each other but since I've already done this before with Faye, Mark was the only one who did it. He also taught us on how to transfer the fingerprint found in a crime scene. He put a black powder on it and scattered it using a brush. Then he put a scotch tape on it and transferred it on a bond paper.


posted by Isabelle

The Test

Yesterday, the crime lab received a white crystalline substance to be tested for the presence of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride and crushed leaves that is suspected to be marijuana. Our supervisor tested the white crystalline substance first. Like what I have written before about how to test the presence of shabu, she did that same test again. She also compared the white crystalline substance's reaction to tawas, rock salt, iodized salt and white sugar's reaction to the three reagent and only the unknown white crystalline substance gave a positive result.
Next, our supervisor tested the crushed leaves that is suspected to be Marijuana. She also used a standard or real dried marijuana plant to compare it to the suspected crushed leaves. She compared their smells and they were different. She used the fastblueb salt test. And after she did the test, the result was negative because it was dark red in color and the expected color if its positive is bright red.


posted by Isabelle

The Test

Yesterday, the crime lab received a white crystalline substance to be tested for the presence of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride and crushed leaves that is suspected to be marijuana. Our supervisor tested the white crystalline substance first. Like what I have written before about how to test the presence of shabu, she did that same test again. She also compared the white crystalline substance's reaction to tawas, rock salt, iodized salt and white sugar's reaction to the three reagent and only the unknown white crystalline substance gave a positive result.
Next, our supervisor tested the crushed leaves that is suspected to be Marijuana. She also used a standard or real dried marijuana plant to compare it to the suspected crushed leaves. She compared their smells and they were different. She used the fastblueb salt test. And after she did the test, the result was negative because it was dark red in color and the expected color if its positive is bright red.

The Second Part

Last Friday, Sir Chan did the Paraffin Casting and yesterday Mam Vicky performed the paraffin test. Together with Faye and Mark who had just reported, we observed how Mam Vicky did the test. She put Diphenylamine or commonly known as Lange's Reagent to the cast. If it is positive of gun powder nitrates, a blue color will appear from the bottom and will continue to grow bigger. Sometimes there are blue dots that would appear, but if it didn't come out from the bottom, so it is not gun powder nitrates. It could be a contamination because nitrate can also be present in other like the soil.

The paraffin test can be performed only within 72 hours from the time that person fired the gun because after 72 hours the nitrates might already be blown away by the wind or other factors. They don't also perform paraffin test to a person who was already embalmed because the pores of the skin will no longer open so it you put a hot wax for the nitrate to evaporate it will just stick to the wax.


posted by:

Isabelle Melinette M. Gucor

Paraffin Casting

Today, May 7, 2007, Ma'am Vicky let us observe a paraffin testing. Last Friday, I and Isabelle observed paraffin casting. Today, we had test the paraffin cast they have made from last Friday casting. Ma'am Vicky applied DPA( a solid substance + H2SO4 ). If the victim do really fire a gun, there would be a color blue that will come from the cast. However, the result of the test was negative, there were no color blue thing that came out from the cast. Ma'am Vicky explained to us how things happen in the paraffin casting and testing. She also told us when they would not execute Paraffin casting and explained why. Ma'am said they would not cast a paraffin on dead people who was already "balsamar" neither they will cast a paraffin on a person who is suspected to fire a gun in more than 72 hours.

Also today, Mark Carlo reported to the agency.

Macro Etching

Sir Jayger gave us a lecture on Physical Identification particularly in Macro Etching. Physical Identification includes tool marks, macro etching, molding & casting, hair comparison/identification, glass fracture and fingerprint but fingerprint has a separate division because it is a wide coverage. He can only explain to us Macro Etching because the others will be explain to us by our supervisor. All that are include in the Physical Identification Division are perform by a chemist or a chemical engineer but Sir Jayger as a licensed criminologist was authorized by Ma'am Vicky to do the Macro Etching or the Examination of the engine number and chassis number of motor vehicles if there is a sign of alternation or tampering, because it uses only a small amount of chemicals and also the lack of chemist and chemical engineers.

Paraffin Test

We observed a Paraffin Test last Friday. A Paraffin test is use to determine the presence of gun powder in the hands of someone who is suspected of firing a gun. The test is painful because the wax that will be put on your hands is hot but it won't burn your skin. You will just avoid touching water for ten to fifteen hours. The test wasn't finish yet because a reagent will still be drop to determine the presence of gun powder and our supervisor will do it next week.

Paraffin Casting

On Friday, May 4,2007, together with Isabelle we observed a paraffin casting. A civilian from Loboc, Bohol was blaimed firing a gun in there place. He wants to prove that he not guilty, he undergo paraffin casting to know if there are gun powder in his hands. Sir Chan performed the casting by heating wax. The wax would be applied to the suspect's hands. It is very very hot that the suspect would nearly cry. His body was colored red. Then after, Sir Chan placed cotton and applied wax again and they will wait for it to dry. Sir Chan made it to the other hand. When it was already dry, they removed the hand and the cotton that was cast was left. It would go for further examination by our supervisor but since Ma'am Vicky was on a court duty, the further examination would be done next week.

When I saw the pain in the suspect, just seeing the casting made me wanna cry. Just seeing the casting, I felt the pain. I told myself that I don't want to experienced the same thing the suspect experienced. That is why, I wouldn't fire a gun illegally.

posted by: Faye

Firearms

On Wednesday, May 2, 2007, I and Isabelle listened to a lecture about firearms and Sir Florentino explained to us the Principle of Firearms Identification, Principles involved in Bullet Identification and Principles involved in Shell Identification. He also told us about the two general characteristics of firearms. Using a Bullet Comparison Microscope, we saw microscopic markings in a primers of a bullet shell. We saw the similarities or differences of the markings found in the primers.

Sir Art arrived at the agency when we were using and observing the microscope. He talked to Ma'am Vicky and to the personnels in the agency. After their talk, we also have some chit chat with Sir Art. He leave the agency before lunch since he need to visit PHO where Gino and Mark are.

In the afternoon, we observed gun firings. Since we were not allowed to fire gun ourselves, we observed Sir Jayger and Sir Florentino firing a gun.

Posted by: Faye

Bang!

Today, Sir Art visited us. Before he arrived at the agency, we had a lecture about firearms with Sir Florentino. He explained to us the Principles of Firearms Identification, Principles in Bullet Identification and Principles involved in Shell Identification.

We were viewing the primer of a bullet shell under a Bullet Comparison Microscope when Sir Art arrived. He and our supervisor were talking while we were observing the minute differences and similarities of the primers of two bullet shells. Sir Jayger also gave us some informations of how a gun work. He showed us some examples of different kinds of bullets for different kinds of gun. He asked permission if we could try to fire a gun but we were not allowed because we are still young for it so we just observed Sir Jayger and Sir Florentino fired a gun for testings.