Crime wave fuels forensics boom in Mexico
Enrique Ramos slipped a long piece of packing tape into a bowl of purple dye, swished it around and then held it up to a light, looking for fingerprints.”They use this tape for packaging drugs or for tying you up before they put a bullet in your head,” he told a group of forensic science students clustered around him. “You get great fingerprints off it.” As Mexico struggles to stem a wave of drug-related crime, forensic science classes such as Ramos’ are multiplying, trying to meet the booming demand for fingerprint collectors, crime scene photographers and ballistics experts to keep up with the body count.
“Forensic science is seeing a boom in Mexico,” said Rafael Ruíz Mena, secretary-general for professional training at Mexico’s National Institute of Criminal Science. “More and more young people are seeing this as a career opportunity.” The growth in forensic science comes as Mexico tries to professionalize its police with U.S. aid and as the country embarks on a major overhaul of its court system, creating a need for investigators.
Since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderón first ordered troops into smuggling hot spots, the number of drug-related murders has soared, from 2,275 in 2007 to 6,587 in 2009, according to a tally conducted by Reforma newspaper. To combat the violence, the Mexican government has created the Federal Police and pushes officers to improve their investigative skills. The change, which began in 2008 and is to be completed by 2016, expands the role of defense lawyers and increases the standards judges must meet to convict suspects.
In a darkened classroom, Ramos, an investigator with the Federal Attorney General’s office, cheerfully explained how to cut decomposing skin off a corpse to take its fingerprints. ”You just slip it over your latex gloves, like a second glove,” he said as the students cringed.
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Categories: Forensics
Tags: Autopsy, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, DNA, Evidence, Forensics, Mexico, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Victim, Witnesses