2000-11-27 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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La Porte Police Department Memorandum To: John Joerns, Assistant City Manager From: Richard Reff, Police Chief Date: 08/01/00 Subject: CIP Project — Police Department CIP Project: Fluorescein Evidence Enhancement Kit Description: In the past number of years, crime scene investigators have been using a process called Luminol to locate trace evidence, particularly blood evidence at crime scenes. Luminol would help the investigator to locate blood evidence even though the blood had been washed away and even painted over. The problem with the technique was the clean up problems after using the reagent Luminol. Recently it has been determined to be carcinogenic and considered a bio-hazard which further complicates the clean up issue after use. Researchers have found another process that has been used in the medical and food processing field that will render the same results as Luminol, but completely safe. They determined that by using Fluorescein as the reagent and then using a intense light sources with specific wave lengths they can locate the same trace elements that Luminol could find and additional evidence by utilizing different wave length frequencies. This new process utilizing the proper light source can locate old bruises or wounds that have healed and not visible to the naked eye and is safe to apply to the skin of a victim to obtain this evidence. This project contains two basic components, the first being the Master Kit which provides the necessary equipment to apply the reagent, the reagent chemicals, the necessary filter to photograph and record the evidence, and the filters to convert our labs current light source to the proper frequencies. The cost for this portion will be $2770.00 and contains the following components: • One portable air compressor • One sprayer model number 1985 with extension wand • One high pressure canister sprayer • One sprayer model number 1998 for the hydrogen peroxide • Bottles of hydrogen peroxide • Two leak proof Nalgene bottles for distilled water • One Chemical reagent kit consisting of five separate batches of chemical reagents • Four filter goggles for technicians to see the trace evidence • Camera and video camera filters to record the evidence for normal viewing