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Crime Inc.
Named after forensics star Henry Lee, UNH spawns one of the first forensic science institutes in the world
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Business New Haven
4/28/2003
By: Melissa Nicefaro
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There is no such thing as a perfect crime - especially when top forensic scientists are on the case.
1Several of those top cop docs can be found right in West Haven at the University of New Haven's (UNH) Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science. The institute is a central hub in the world of forensic science, linking scholars, students, forensic scientists, the legal community and professional practitioners in addressing the scientific and
social issues confronting forensic science and the criminal justice system throughout the world.
UNH's forensic science institute opened in 1998, but the idea dates all the way back to the 1970s. “Because of lack of resources, it was a loose type of organization,” Lee recalls. In 1998 the institute was formally organized through monetary and consultation contributions from Lee and others.
Even now, Lee acknowledges, the institute is still in its infancy.
“We only have a few people working there and hopefully in the future, with public support, we'll become a world training center,” Lee says.
The institute is home to a training center that provides advanced post-graduate training in forensic science and criminal justice through workshops and symposia for law enforcement, fire and public safety professionals, the legal community and the general public.
One highlight of the training curriculum is the Arnold Markle Symposium, held annually in honor of the late state's attorney who was a vigorous advocate for law enforcement education. This year's symposium took place earlier this month at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard.
“We had people there from South America, Asia and Europe to attend this,” explains Lee. “This put Connecticut on the map because in every town we conduct a workshop or help with cases, we are really helping the local economy with people staying in hotels, eating in restaurants near the workshop.
“Next, we want to put Connecticut on the world map, where everybody knows about our forensic institute at the University of New Haven,” he adds. “Today in solving cases, you really need good crime-scene work, good physical evidence, good teamwork - and we have that.”
A large focus of the symposium was terrorism, both international and domestic. Though forensic science has made major strides, it is not a significant deterrent measure. Yet.
After a tragedy, forensic scientists and law enforcement conduct post-incident investigation. A forensic scientist will typically assist in such an investigation, which focuses on four principal aspects: 1) identify the victim's remains; 2) conduct an autopsy to determine manner and cause of death; 3) identify weapon used in the incident; and 4) identifying the suspect based on physical evidence.
“Law enforcement also looks into quite a bit of domestic terrorism,” Lee says. “International terrorism does grab a lot of media attention, but domestic terrorism happens every day across the country. Even in Connecticut, we have numerous incidents.
“These are important services, not only for Connecticut people, or New Haven area people, but for the whole country,” he adds.
The director of the Lee Institute, Albert Harper, describes how criminal investigations may cross from post-incident to a preventative measure.
“We've got this fantastic speaker from Dallas, Dan Korem,” Harper explains.
“He is a behavior expert and he's built methods to identify persons who are apt to perform random acts of violence just by talking to them for a few minutes. It's really a neat thing.”
The institute is in the process of training about 15 police officers in the method - talking to a suspicious person to make a decision whether this person might be a potential threat or not.
“It's really incredible,” Harper notes. “There are very specific questions that help law enforcement agents to understand something about the person and as they tell you about themselves, you start figuring it out.”
Harper became involved with forensics because of his interest in anthropology. Along the way he's discovered that the living can be every bit as revealing as the dead in crime investigations.
“Basically a person who is about to commit a random act of violence is a person who is afraid, and has a high paranoia index, and is a person who is a non-conformist of some sort,” Harper explains.
These people often think “outside of the box” - representing opposite of the institutions they sometimes attack.
“The institutions are highly confident, highly structured structures, governments and businesses - the IBMs, the McDonald's,” says Harper. “It could be against somebody in an authority position, someone who is an extreme conformist, somebody who is extremely confident, the opposite type of person [from a perpetrator].
“It's really neat stuff,” Harper adds.
This training applies generically across the board from law enforcement to corporations during hiring interviews.
Harper has been the state's forensic anthropologist for about 30 years, but it wasn't the forensic science that drew him in.
“I did it because I was interested in the science of identifying people. The legal application of the science is something that came secondly. To put the forensic in the science, I'm also a lawyer. It ties it all together,” says Harper.
Forensic science encompasses chemistry, biology, physics, psychology, computer science and criminal justice, to name a few areas of expertise. As Harper says, “There's very little [scientific arena of] evidence we don't have some significant expertise on at the institute.”
The institute is prepared to work on one-on-one crimes like homicides and even arson fires, both at a crime scene and in the laboratories. But it is also prepared to take on investigations into several different kinds of mass attacks.
“The worst and most obvious would be a nuclear explosion, but we may see attacks with gases, biological agents,” says Harper. “Some of these are extremely dangerous because we don't realize or know that it has happened until after the fact.
“There are protocols that have been developed and at the symposium, we had a number of speakers talking about the hazards involved and how a police officer needs to be ready to respond to these very unusual challenges given the fact that these challenges are often invisible. I hope this is the type of knowledge we won't ever have to use.”
The most common and insidious brand of terrorism has nothing to do with Al Qaeda and the like. Domestic terrorists far exceed international terrorists both in numbers and in their potential to wreak havoc.
“They're right here,” Harper explains. “They're the extreme right wing neo-Nazi organizations, Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. These people are busy burning down houses. It's what they do. It's terrorism. There are a large number of very small home-grown groups that are bent on causing destruction either for a political or an idealogical end.”
Adds Harper: “What the institute tries to do is two things: provide high-quality post-graduate education for law enforcement, forensic scientists, nurses, physicians, etc. We also do consultation work for attorneys and police departments all over the country.”
The institute's panel of fellows provides expert case consultation to law enforcement agencies and attorneys on a wide variety of scientific questions and legal issues presented in the forensic world.
The activities of the research laboratories include crime scene investigation, human biometric identification, DNA and other biological evidence, teleforensic communications and cybercrime detection.
The public learning center, one of the first of its kind in the world, draws its visitors into a world of intrigue and discovery of famous forensic cases and is be an important, interesting resource for adults and students of all ages. It is also a unique repository of forensic evidentiary artifacts and documentation.
Institute staff work with attorneys at all phases of case development ranging from initial investigation, reconstruction, trial preparation and expert testimony at trial. Forensic science services include crime scene reconstructions, shooting reconstructions, homicide/suicide investigation, arson investigation, forensic pathology, forensic anthropology, forensic dentistry, fingerprint and other imprint issues, trace evidence including hair and fiber, forensic chemistry and toxicology. BNH
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