Three years ago, I spent the week of my birthday studying Crime Scene Analysis at the SIRCHIE Finger Print Laboratories in North Carolina. My birthday is coming up (and it’s a biggie)…so to celebrate, for the next five days, I will re-post my blogs from my time at SIRCHIE. Enjoy!
Originally posted July 9, 2012:
This summer, I am trying to expand my horizons in hopes of taking my writing in some new directions. I’ve seen some great theatre in NYC (something I do all the time, but I always find good theatre to be inspirational.) I’ve been white water rafting on the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania. (Nothing like a day spent soaring down a river to make one feel connected with the universe.) And I managed to get myself lost hiking somewhere near Bear Mountain, only to be forced to hitchhike for the very first time in my life before I passed out from heatstroke. (Apparently some hiking trails only go in one direction. Who knew?)
White water rafting in Pennsylvania.
Hiking in Bear Mountain State Park. This was before we realized we were lost.
This week, I am exploring one of my passions: Crime Scene Analysis. Today was the first day of the Evidence Collection Course specially adapted for writers at the SIRCHIE Finger Print Laboratories in Youngsville, North Carolina. I learned about SIRCHIE while attending last year’s Writer’s Police Academy, an annual event I highly recommend for any mystery writer. When I found out that SIRCHIE had arranged this training for writers, I signed up right away. Most of the mysteries I write tend to be written either from the perspective of an amateur sleuth (like my short story “Summer Reading”), or an apparently innocent bystander (like my story “A Fellow of Infinite Jest”.)* In this way, I’ve avoided having to know anything about how crimes are actually solved in real life. But I would like to change all of that.
I learned all sorts of things today. I could not possibly share them all. For one thing, I have some other writing I need to get done tonight. Plus, I have to keep a few things to myself. But here are a few things that I think everyone should know:
1) Finger print powder is really hard to wash off your hands (the non-magnetic kind that is.) In fact, if you aren’t careful with it, you will get it all over yourself, and it will most likely stay under your finger nails for several days, despite repeated scrubbing.
That's me, studying a fingerprint.
2) Finger print powder is actually quite hard to remove from most surfaces. If, say, you spill it on a counter top, DO NOT try to wipe it up with a damp cloth. It will just get everywhere because it reacts to moisture. Moisture is what makes it work. The best thing for cleaning up finger print powder is Scrubbing Bubbles (perhaps used in conjunction with a shop vac.)
3) It is possible to lift finger prints off of paper, wood, skin, cheese, and even rocks. We didn’t try all of these today. But if you are sneaking into my house and helping yourself to my Parmigiano-Reggiano, BEWARE!
4) If you plan to get yourself murdered, try wearing tanning lotion. It will be much easier to lift the prints off of your skin.
5) North Carolina BBQ has a vinegary taste. This bothers some people. I happened to like it.
Some traditional North Carolina BBQ at Holden's Barbecue.
Great place for lunch!
You may be asking yourself, how will all of these amazing facts help me with my writing? I am not entirely sure, but I did come up with quite a few new story ideas today. Maybe I will even start writing one now…
*Incidentally, my upcoming novel Swimming Alone also features an amateur sleuth. Thanks for reading. I will post my day 2 blog tomorrow, in which I discuss lifting fingerprints off of paper.
