The difference between a revolver & a pistol

Sir Jayger gave us some information on how to differentiate a pistol from a revolver. A revolver has a rotating cylinder where you will put the bullet. The pistol don't have a rotaing cylinder and it is close unlike the revolver. If you fire a gun, gun powders are more present in your hands if you used a revolver, because a revolver is an open one. Sir showed us a Caliber .40 pistol and a Caliber .38 revolver to see the difference. The caliber indicates the diameter of the gun in inch. Example, a Caliber .40 pistol has a diameter of .40 inch.

How to test the presence of shabu

A white crystalline substance was submitted to the crimelab lab office for testing, and our supervisor showed us how to test the presence of shabu. First,the substance was weighed. IN the test, three reagents were used, Simon's Reagent 1,2 & 3. We also used a tawas to compare its reaction and the white crystalline substance's reaction to the three reagents. When the Simon's reagent 1 was dropped , the substance dissolved but the tawas didn't. In the second reagent, no reaction happened to the substance but the tawas bubbled. The third reagent wil then determine the color. Blue is the expected color if shabu is present and if not it'll be just color orange. When the Simon's reagent 3 was dropped, the tawas was just color orange, but the substance changed to color blue which indicates the presence of shabu.
Marquiz Reagent can also be used to determine the presence of shabu. But it will take about 30 mins. for the substance to change from orange to yellowish green which indicates the presence of shabu.

Testing Methamphetamine HCL

Friday April 27, 2007, together with Ma'am Vicky and Isabelle we test the presence of Methamphetamine HCL (Shabu) in an unknown substance. First of all, we weight the unknown substance. Then, we apply the Simon's Reagent Method to the unknown substance and we also apply it to Tawas to compare the two results. If the unknown substance is a shabu or does contain shabu the result would be a color blue. The expected result afterThere are three Simon's reagents, the R1 which contains Sodium Carbonate, the R2 that contains alcohol and R3. When we apply the first reagent, the unknown substance was dissolve by the reagent while the Tawas was not dissolved. When we apply the second reagent, there was no change in the unknown substance while there were bubbles seen in the Tawas. And when we apply the third reagent the unknown substance was change to color blue while the Tawas did not change its color. Thus we conclude that the unknown substance contain Methamphetamine HCL.

Ma'am Vicky told us that there are many method of testing Shabu, Simon's Reagent Method is only one. She also told us that we may use Marquiz Reagent Method. But Marquiz Reagent Method is slower than the Simon's Reagent Method.

Posted By: Faye

8th day of SSIP

Wednesday, April 25, 2007, Sir Andres taught us the proper way of getting fingerprints. He told us the parts of a fingerprint kit. Some of the parts are namely ink, ink roller, fingerprint card, impressing plate and glass plate. Sir Andres lectured us on how to get fingerprints and after his lecture, we ourselves tried. Both left and right thumb would be rolled outside to inner side of the thumb. It would be easier to move the wrist joint if doing so. While the other four fingers would be rolled inside to outside which is easier and makes less mistakes. He also told us that fingerprints has patterns/types. Two of those are the Ulnar loop and the plain whorl. He also told us the uses of fingerprints, they are use as confirmation of the suspect's identity and criminal history, for disclosure of the identity of the unidentified persons and the deduce criminal's identity from fingerprints gathered from the crime scene.

Now that we have modern technology, there is a building in Camp Crame in Manila that would have Automated Fingerprint Identification System. that would match fingerprints using computers.

fingerprints

We were taught on how to get fingerprints. You will be using a kit that contains a fingerprint roller, fingerprint ink, fingerprint card, the place where you'll put then card and a flat, smooth surface. You will use only a small amount of ink because the fingerprint might not be clear to see if it's too dark. If you are the one taking the fingerprint, the finger should be rolled from nail to nail. The two thumbs must be rolled inward or facing the person while the other fingers must be rolled outward.
If fingerprints are found in a crime scene, there's already an Automated Fingerprint Identification System(AFIS) that will identify to whom the fingerprints belong. They are now gathering fingerprint records of the criminals first before they gather that of the civilians. Last Monday, they started gathering fingerprints of the prisoners, but they didn't allow me to come because it's still dangerous for me.

I attended a court hearing this morning. It was about drug trafficking. Our supervisor being the head of the crimelab was an expert witness. Unlike ordinary witnesses, expert witness are witnesses who uses science to present evidences of the case against the accused. She testified in the case that the crystalline substance presented to her to be tested was a Metamphetamine Hydrochloride(C10H15N) or commonly known as shabu. In her qualitative test, she used three processes.
Yesterday, she lectured us about how to differentiate shabu from tawas. She told us that some people would mix tawas to shabu but the presence of shabu will still be determined. Because Metamphetamine Hydrochloride or shabu doesn't contain oxygen that's why when it is exposed to air, it will melt. As we see in the news, shabu is always sealed in a plastic because of that reason.
Metamphetamine Hydrochloride, as we all know is a dangerous drug. Some people, would try it because of family problems, depression, peer pressure, curiosity and other reasons. But we should know and always remember that this illegal drug can never help us so never dare to try.

Our fourth day of SSIP

On our fourth day, ma'am Vicky lectured us about Methamphetamine HCL or commonly known as Shabu (C10H15N). She also let us read books about dangerous drugs and toxicology. She differentiated Shabu from Tawas(Potassium _______ Sulfate). Ma'am Vicky showed us a specimen and it is very much alike to a Tawas. But ma'am told us that if a Shabu is removed from its plastic it would be dissolved since it does not have a oxygen, while a Tawas if exposed to the environment would not be dissolved since it has a oxygen component. We asked her if how people used drugs, and ma'am said, "it could be inhaled, it could be eaten, or it could be burned/smoked and they will just inhale the smoke".

Methamphetamine is dangerous to our body. It could make us crazy and out of our mind. Now that we are still young, let us start refraining ourselves from harmful drugs.

First Day of SSIP

April 16, 2007, is our first day of ssip. We went to the Camp Dagohoy where crime laboratory is located. Our supervisor ma'am Vicky arrived only in the afternoon since she has a court duty in the morning. However, ma'am Aurelia, sir Jayger and sir Andres was there to entertain and welcome us. In the afternoon when ma'am Vicky already arrived, she had showed us how drug testing is done. She explained to us how to know if a person is a positive or negative drug user.

It was a nice experience to observed a drug testing. It was my first time to observed such thing. I have also realized that if a person is a positive drug user, he/she has a great possibility to be fired in his/her job. That is why we should not use harmful and dangerous drugs.

First Update

Everything is fine here in our agency. On our first day, our supervisor had a court duty in the morning, so met her only in the afternoon. Our supervisor and the other officers in our agency explained to us about the things they do in the crime laboratory. They are still busy investigating about a crime scene so they just let us observed their laboratory procedures like drug testing and inspecting the engines of vehicle.

Mark hasn't reported yet since the first day because of some reasons. As of now, no one has been late.