Forensic News Archive

NIST and Dutch Agency Team to Improve Science
December 12, 2012
NIST Tech Beat
NIST and the Netherlands Forensic Institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding on November 29, 2012, as part of the recent Forensics@NIST 2012 symposium held at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md.

Forensics@NIST 2012 Offers a Look Inside
December 6, 2012
The Town Courier
The Forensics@NIST symposium offered an inside look at the scientific work that NIST does to support forensics.

Bond's New Crime-Fighting Device Launched: 'Bullet Fingerprint' Visualization Technique
November 14, 2012
Science Daily
A 'bullet fingerprint' visualization technique pioneered by a University of Leicester scientist has been commercialized in the U.S.

FTC Recommends Best Practices for Companies that Use Facial Recognition Technologies
October 22, 2012
Federal Trade Commission News Release
The Federal Trade Commission released a report offering best practices for the use of facial recognition technology to encourage the protection of citizen privacy.

Symposium Focuses on Forensics at NIST
October 2, 2012
ForensicMagazine.com
To showcase how NIST currently serves the forensic community, the agency is hosting "Forensics@NIST 2012" on Nov. 28-30, 2012, at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md.

NIST Issues a Brand New Reference Material that Helps in Toxicological Study
September 7, 2012
Azonano.com
NIST has introduced a new nanoscale reference material that is actually a commercial titanium oxide popularly known as "P25."

NIST Standard Reference Material 2461 Standard Cartridge Case
September 5, 2012
ForensicMagazine.com
Standard Reference Material 2461, developed in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will help crime laboratories to verify that automated optical equipment for cartridge case image acquisition and correlation is operating properly.  It will also help them to establish ballistics measurement traceability and achieve accreditation from standards organizations.

New NIST Strategic Roadmap Aims to Reduce Preventable Fire Burden by a Third
September 5, 2012
FireEngineering.com
Fire researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) believe that the devastating annual toll of fire fatalities can be significantly reduced over the next two decades. The plan prioritizes and details the research and other work needed to enable that goal.

Taking the Edge off a Pipe Bomb -- Literally
August 16, 2012
ScienceDaily
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate's (S&T) new low-cost device for dismantling dangerous pipe bombs may look like a tinkerer's project, but that's no accident. The Semi-Autonomous Pipe Bomb End-cap Remover (SAPBER) is unassuming in appearance, but sophisticated enough to preserve the forensic evidence needed to track down the perpetrator.

Defining AFIS Requirements
August 10, 2012
ForensicMagazine.com
Knowledge of NIST standards and recommendations as well as a definition of workflow and system requirements can help ensure that an agency gets the new AFIS or AFIS upgrade that it needs.

NIST Ballistic Standard Ties Guns to Criminals and Crime Scenes
August 10, 2012
HomelandSecurityNewsWire.com
Law enforcement agencies will have an easier time linking cartridge cases to specific firearms due to a new reference standard developed by NIST.  The empty shells, cartridge cases, left behind after a gun is fired, are routinely sent to forensic laboratories for analysis when they are found at a shooting scene. Using a specialized microscope called an Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS), lab technicians acquire digital images of three markings, or "signatures," impressed on the cartridge case by the gun that fired it.

Shelling Out Evidence: NIST Ballistic Standard Helps Tie Guns to Criminals
August 8, 2012
NIST Tech Beat
Thanks to a new reference standard developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), law enforcement agencies will have an easier time linking the nearly 200,000 cartridge cases recovered annually at U.S. crime scenes specific to firearms. (Page consists of text and video).