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RCMP FORENSICS
North Van special unit uses science to solve crimes
in blood on a doorframe to a man present at a violent beating at a drug house.
JANE SEYD
jseyd@nsnews.com
When he was 12 years old, Robert Otto woke up on a New Year’s Day and knew something wasn’t right. It was cold in the house, colder than it should have been, even for an Ontario winter.
He crept downstairs and saw the sliding glass window to the family room had been smashed. In the living room, things were missing. His parents called the police and soon the forensics team showed up. Otto followed them around as they dusted for fingerprints and took photographs of shoe impressions in the snow. He found their methodical presence calming. He also knew their work was what he wanted to do when he was old enough. Today, Cpl. Otto is a member of the six-member forensics unit (including one apprentice) working out of the North Vancouver RCMP detachment, one of five specialized units that work out of larger police detachments in Metro Vancouver. Their unit
North Vancouver RCMP Cpl. Robert Otto demonstrates fingerprint dusting techniques on a vehicle window. PAUL MCGRATH / NSN
covers a wide area, including both the North Shore, Sea-to-Sky corridor, Bowen Island and Sunshine Coast. As forensic specialists, their
job is to collect and analyze physical evidence from crime scenes, using science to assist in investigations that can range from homicides to stolen bikes.
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On the North Shore, forensics have matched DNA on a bottle of Sprite to an arsonist who set a fire in a university library. They have also matched fingerprints found
Crucial team works behind the scenes It’s about a two-year undertaking for a police officer to become a forensic specialist, a process that involves training with the Canadian Police College and apprenticing within the unit. There are also a series of increasingly difficult identification tests and a dissertation-like defence of an identification case that officers must successfully complete before becoming certified as a forensic specialist. Work of the forensics team can be crucially important to police work, but apart from the appearance in hazmat suits at major crime scenes, most of it takes place out of public view. Collection or analysis of bloodstains, footprints, fingerprints, ballistics, hair and fibres, video analysis and crime scene overviews are all done by the forensics unit. Depending on the crime scene, Continued on page 14
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