"Catching Shooters Blue-Handed"- gunpowder detector

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Betty

New member
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/CuttingEdge/cuttingedge020301.html
Sniffing Out Shooting Suspects Researchers Create a Portable Gunpowder Detector

Soon, officers may be able to separate "trigger men" from mere accomplices by using a simple patch of fiberglass to detect invisible traces of gunpowder on suspects.

Chemical researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., have developed the technology based on their work at sniffing out trace explosives in lab settings. And how it works is fairly simple.

When a gun is fired, the shooter is sprayed with an
invisible blast of chemicals such as lead particles, barium, antimony, and nitrates from the ignited gunpowder. The fiberglass patch is designed by the Sandia researchers to pick up those trace elements.

(rest of the story.....)
 
B

Betty

New member
(the rest of the story...)

Follow the Blue Dots

The idea, says Sandia researchers, is thatinvestigating officers at the scene of the crime
could swab a suspect with these fiberglass patches. Each patch would then be placed in a tiny
vial and soaked with a chemical specifically tuned to detect the organic chemicals of gunpowder. If tiny blue dots will appear on the patches, the officers would know that the suspect had actually pulled the trigger.

Phil Rodacy, one of the chemical engineers who worked on the detector project at Sandia, says that lab research has shown the detectors are quite promising. In tests at their labs and at an Albuquerque gun range, the detectors can pick up traces of gunpowder from suspects about 75 percent to 90 percent of the time.

Rodacy admits that it's far from fool-proof and it's unlikely to provide evidence that would be admissible in a court of law. But, it would give detectives a better idea of which suspects should receive more attention.

"It could be used as a field screening test, much like a field sobriety test given to weed out drunk drivers," he says. "It could help narrow down [homicide] investigations to specific people."

Sparking Interest

Greg MacAleese, a 14-year veteran officer of the Albuquerque Police Department, agrees with Sandia's assessment that this technology has potential to aid police officers in their investigations. And his company, Law Enforcement Technology Inc. in Colorado Springs, Colo., has already licensed the technology for further tests and evaluations among police departments.

"We've been running tests all around the country," says MacAcleese. And in tests involving police departments in Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and the FBI, he says: "There's a lot of excitement among field officers to get this kind of test in their hands."

And although the tests might not be accurate enough to be used as evidence in court, he says a prototype detector may have already helped solve a crime in Arizona.

According to MacAleese, police officers in Glendale, Ariz., were able to get a gang-member to agree to be swabbed with one of these prototype detectors to determine his involvement in a recent drive-by shooting. When the patch showed the positive presence of gunpowder, he eventually confessed to committing the crime.

MacAleese says that his company plans to have a commercial product for sale to law enforcement agencies and private investigative companies by the end of the year.
 
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pdmoderator

New member
Not really news. There's a cruder version of this called a "paraffin test," which can tell whether you've fired a gun within the last week.

- pdmoderator
 
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Master Blaster

New member
Wht if you were the guy standing infront of the gun and the shooter missed? You would also be covered with that spray of gunpowder residue right?

This test only proves you were near the gun when fired.:rolleyes:
 
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Dfariswheel

New member
In the famous case where the Mafia Don was killed at an Italian rally, the shooter was immediately swarmed by a crowd of bodyguards, and someone in the pile shot the killer dead. The police knew the killer was killed to make sure he wouldn't tell who hired him, since the police suspected the Don's own guards were in on the hit.

The police tested all 5, and all 5 tested positive for gunshot residue. Strangely, all 5 claimed to have spent the morning working in their gardens and yards, putting in fertilizer. Fertilizer, as you may remember is composed of nitrates simular to gunpowder.

The police couldn't prove anything and the case is still unsolved.
Said one witty NYPD captain, "I guess all the Goomba's will now have a bag of fertilizer handy in the car, in case they need to wack somebody".
 
R

RAY WOODROW 3RD

New member
It goes like this.......

Honest Officer. I just came from my private range.:rolleyes:

Shut up and get in the car!
He has an N.R.A. sticker and the constitution in the glove box. It has to be him.:eek:

Another way to stop people from target shooting? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
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Ed Brunner

New member
Don't know if it's true or not, but a state crime lab type told me that the shooter and those within a few feet will have mercuric primer residue, while someone more than a few feet away could only have powder residue.
 
L

LawDog

Staff Emeritus
Pre-1940's GSR tests detected the presence of nitrates, but as one poster pointed out, nitrates occur in many substances, not the least of which are fertilizer, matches and urine.

In the 1940's, the Walker GSR test was developed, which detects the presence of nitrites, less common in everyday substances. The Walker GSR test is still used in some areas.

In the 1960's, the GSR tests abandoned nitrites and went to the detection of barium salts, antimony and lead. The tests not only detect the presence of these substances, but also the amount present and the percentage in comparison to each other.

Modern GSR tests involve what is called energy dispersive X-ray. This process details three-dimensional pictures of the various GSR particles, along with highly specific ratios of the GSR elements.

LawDog
 
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