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DNA and Property Crime
Scene Investigation
DNA and Property Crime
Scene Investigation
Forensic Evidence and
Law Enforcement
David A. Makin
Foreword by
Larry S. Miller
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON

NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Anderson Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier
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Designer: Matthew Limbert
Anderson Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier
225 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02451, USA
Copyright r 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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www.elsevier.com/permissions.
This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the
Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience
broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment
may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating
and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such
information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including
parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume
any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability,
negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas
contained in the material herein.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Makin, David Alan.
DNA and property crime scene investigation / David Alan Makin.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-4557-7553-8
1. Crime scene searches. 2. DNA fingerprinting. 3. Evidence, Criminal.
4. Forensic sciences. I. Title.
HV8073.5.M155 2015
363.250 2—dc23
2014014252
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-4557-7553-8
For information on all Anderson publications

visit our website at http://store.elsevier.com
FOREWORD
Many years ago my first job in law enforcement was as an evidence

technician for a small sheriff ’s office. We called it R&I (Records and
Identifications) back then—before CSI or crime scene investigation
was a household term. I was given an old 4 3 5 Speed Graphic camera,
a flashlight, and a fingerprint kit. I had a few shopping bags and plas-
tic sandwich bags in which to put any evidence I located. My only for-
mal training was reading an FBI monograph on Collecting and
Preserving Physical Evidence and working with an experienced crimi-
nal investigator. I learned a lot working with that investigator. We
took great pains in documenting the scene, and locating and collecting
physical evidence on those “serious” cases involving death or bodily
injuries. But when it came to burglaries, larcenies, and vandalism we
normally just made a report and, if any latent fingerprints were easily
located, took a few dustings and a couple of photographs for the
homeowner’s insurance company and to pacify the victim. Those latent
images were normally stapled to the report and filed away with no
more time spent on the case. It was only if the perpetrator was caught
doing another property crime that we could “talk him” into fessing up
to the other unsolved property crimes.
Times sure have changed, but not by much. Yes, we have more
knowledgeable and properly trained investigators. And we have more
readily available and affordable technology in our crime scene investi-
gation arsenal. The emergence of the Integrated Automated
Fingerprint Information System (IAFIS) has greatly increased our abil-
ity to match latent prints at the scene with known prints in a national
database. Digital cameras have replaced the old press cameras and
35 mm SLRs. The Alternate Light Source (ALS) and other forensic
lights have supplanted the old three-cell flashlights we kept in our back
pockets. Even the public is more aware of the advanced technology
from watching crime scene television shows and motion pictures where
evidence is located and tested in a laboratory within a matter of min-
utes. And, with increased public knowledge of crime scene investiga-
tion technology, there is increased accountability and expectation of
viii Foreword
police response and action at crime scenes. As many prosecuting attor-

neys will attest, if the jury feels the police did not do a proper job at
the crime scene based on their advanced knowledge from watching
crime television shows, it could lead to an acquittal. We have come to
call this “the CSI effect.”
Perhaps the most advanced crime scene investigation technology
that has come about in the last few decades is DNA analysis. The pub-
lic first saw the potential benefits and liabilities of DNA watching the
O.J. Simpson murder trial on TV in 1995. Now, hardly a day goes by
when someone is not either convicted on DNA evidence or exonerated
by it. The technology for DNA analysis is constantly evolving and has
become faster and cheaper. One could predict that within a few years
DNA analysis will be as commonplace for CSI investigators as that
old fingerprint kit I used to carry. It will be a portable, on-scene test.
This book contends that DNA evidence collection should be in

commonplace use for property crimes and not just for personal crimes.
Yes, there are backlogs of testing for serious personal crimes at many
crime laboratories. And, yes, many crime laboratories restrict the testing
to serious personal crimes due to cost and time. But that is not to say that
collection at the scene should not be performed. When IAFIS went
online, many a cold case was solved due to the collection of a latent print
at a crime scene years ago by some conscientious R&I officer. Already
we have seen nonviolent and property crime cases solved using DNA
technology in cases such as illegal tree harvesting, narcotics manufactur-
ing, stolen livestock, counterfeiting, and game poaching. To not collect
DNA evidence at the scene of even nonserious property crimes may now
be seen as negligence, even if the crime lab doesn’t do an analysis.
Perhaps we may just staple the swabs to the report like we did with those
latent prints until the day when DNA analysis will be commonplace,
cheap, and fast. Yes, times sure have changed—but not by much.
Larry S. Miller, PhD

Professor & Chair
Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology
East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, TN, USA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have been working on this book, or more specifically the broader

connections between technology and criminal justice, since I started
pursuing criminal justice research nearly 15 years ago. Specific to this
book, it is a culmination of 3 years’ worth of research. As typical, I
should work through the exhaustive list of people and institutions sup-
porting and enabling me to dedicate time to this book. While I will do
that, I want to highlight specifically the patrol officers, detectives, com-
mand staff, forensic technicians and experts, and prosecutors who
allowed me to step into their word and view forensic technology
through their eyes. Thanking them for the participation seems routine.
However, I do not merely value their participation. Rather, each
shared their frustration, hopes, and even questionable ethical behavior
involving forensic evidence. Their openness to this study introduced
new concepts and valuable insight into the challenges, successes, and
opportunities to refine our forensic practice. The trust they placed with
me is something that I will never forget and truly, without them, this
book would not exist and its contribution to the field would be mini-
mal. I also want to thank the individual officers that completed the
survey providing remarkable insight in their responses to the open-
ended questions on the survey. Anyone who conducts survey research is
aware of how rare are these questions completed and many of the offi-
cers took considerable time to share policy, procedure, and again their
frustrations. To continue highlighting the practitioners involved, I want
to highlight Chief Gary Jenkins for his contributions to this book, specif-
ically the two chapters he wrote speaking to the challenges and opportu-
nities of expanded genetic processing. I have been fortunate to
collaborate with Gary on multiple projects over the years and his insight
on police practice is immensely beneficial. I have worked with many
police officers over my career, but Gary is one of the most research-
oriented, which speaks to his eagerness to learn more about practices
around the nation and even the world adapting them into his agency.
I am indebted to those mentors who helped me refine my research

skills and supported me throughout my academic career. Not forgotten
x Acknowledgments
were their support, contribution, and confidence in me, and that of my

research agenda. In no specific order, I want to thank, Otwin “Otto”
Marenin, Toni Dupont-Morales, Thomas “Tad” Hughes, William
“Bill” Walsh, Faith Lutze, David Brody, and Jennifer Marchand-
Reilly. While it is difficult to measure the influence of a person, I want
to highlight specifically a few of those who have been instrumental in
my career. I have known Toni for the last 15 years, starting at
Pennsylvania State University, and she has provided me with countless
advice, support, and criticism over these last years to see me develop
from an uncertain undergraduate to a confident academic. While I will
always consider her a mentor, I am proud to be able to call her both a
colleague and friend. Without her advice early in my career and her
belief in my ability, I would not be writing this section, nor would
there be a book. Otto provided invaluable guidance and his honest,
albeit brutal questions and comments, taught me the value of an
inquisitive research question, one where the answer is important but
the value of the question progresses the entire field. Faith has been my
“book writing” compatriot. We both worked on writing our books
over the course of the last few years and our conversations truly helped
push through those periods of writers block. I also want to thank both
Tad Hughes and Bill Walsh of the Southern Police Institute. Their
mentorship early in my career came to influence the direction of my
research. Critical thinking, analytical reasoning, statistical analysis are
vital core attributes of a scholar, but to do so with no practical appli-
cation is to fail to step outside of the ivory tower. In part to them, I
learned how to work with agencies, to collaborate with agencies, and
specific to this research, speak to cops, and more importantly get them
to talk back.
I also wish to acknowledge Washington State University and the

Washington State Institute for Criminal Justice Research, where I
serve as faculty and research fellow. Additionally, I want to highlight
the entire team at Anderson Publishing, including Marisa LaFleur my
Editorial Project Manager, and the Acquisition Editor Sara Scott. I
also want to acknowledge Larry Miller for his introduction, which
speaks to the importance of this work.
I owe immeasurable gratitude to my family. Long were the hours,

the discussions, and even the missed opportunities of interaction with
my wife and children. In what has been an intense 3 years of research,
Acknowledgments xi
writing, interviews, and focus groups, I have missed much of them.

Holding a full-time job, completing my doctoral degree, and finishing
this book has meant that my time with them has been brief and while
what time we spent was valuable, I realize that it should have been
more. It is with deep gratitude that I thank them for all the support,
patience, and love. To my wife Danielle, I offer the deepest of recogni-
tions. In over 13 years of marriage, and three universities, you have
always been the person in most support of me. To my son Ryleigh, my
fishing partner, whose equal love of fishing forced me out of my office
and onto the shore, without you, I would have never taken a moment
to enjoy those summers. To Esabella, my inquisitive daughter, I cannot
begin to thank you for all the questions on what I was writing. You do
get the first signed copy as you asked. I also want to thank my closest
of friends who listened to me express my frustrations with the process
and who provided support, encouragement, and always a source of
inspiration. Thank you.
CHAPTER
A Series of Questions
1
A BRIEF HISTORY........................................................................................2
WHERE IT STARTED....................................................................................4
THE BROADER AIM.....................................................................................5
WHY PROPERTY CRIME SCENES?.............................................................6
THE STUDY ..................................................................................................6
Interviews ....................................................................................................7
National Survey ..........................................................................................7
STRUCTURING A THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ANALYSIS ..............7
The costs are there, really you can never really get away from the costs but
I believe it is important and if there is evidence, our task is to collect it.
Police Chief
While unorthodox, I start this book with a series of questions. What

if B250,000 criminal cases existed where forensic evidence was present
but remained uncollected? The cost of this crime nationally exceeded
14 billion dollars. However, what if processing evidence could improve,
on average, an agency’s identification rates, arrest rates, and conviction
rates by twofold? What reasons, rationalizations, or, potentially,
excuses would be offered? What if the costs could be offset? What rea-
sons exist for ignoring evidence? What if the costs still presented an
issue, but still some agencies vigorously aimed for high volume proces-
sing? What explanations and what insight would those stakeholders
offer for continuing to analyze this evidence?
The key to this puzzle of questions is to narrow the unit of focus,

and transition the historical lens on forensic technology to the individual
officer level. To understand the connection between officer and forensic
technology is to gain an accurate understanding of the current state
of forensic technology. A skeptical reader has likely remarked, “Those
2 DNA and Property Crime Scene Investigation
cases receive the lowest priority,” and this book does not challenge that
claim. Instead, we must reflect on why, despite knowledge of the benefits
of expanded processing, these cases still receive limited forensic treatment.
Why, despite three decades of research within forensic technology, have
few peered into the black box of forensic evidence practice?
This book is about social, organizational, and individual change.
Specifically, how technology through a forensic evidence lens, has come
to influence the police service. It highlights the experiences of patrol
officers, command staff, detectives, and chiefs who navigate the expecta-
tions of forensics and the forensic technicians who support them. As the
investigative continuum exceeds police officers and forensic technicians,
I include interviews with prosecutors to understand the influence this
technological innovation has had on criminal investigations. The objec-
tive of this book introduces the relationship between the investigative
process and forensic technology, using property crime scene evidence
as a narrowing frame. An analysis of forensic technology offers insight
into the social construction of this technology that has placed high value
on the use of forensic technology—if only in limited application (that is
high-level crime).
The broader objective of this book is to explore how technology has
come to shape organizations and individuals. As a book on forensic
technology, this book addresses many similar topics covered within other
books. However, this book departs from the norm by examining technol-
ogy beyond the abstract. Technology influences people and therefore it is
important to highlight the experiences of those who use this technology,
to place them at the center of the analysis. Exploring the forensic experi-
ences, attitudes, and views of those involved in the investigative process
allows for both a practical and theoretical analysis into the current state
of forensic technology within modern police services.
A BRIEF HISTORY
The history of forensic technology has long been a core feature of
modern policing, institutionalized just over a century ago in American
policing by August Vollmer. However, it was not until the Crime
Commission met that a systematic examination into technology and
policing would occur. In 1967, the Crime Commission would offer sev-
eral commonsense recommendations that would introduce technology
A Series of Questions 3
to address the most routine of police practices. Formed as a response

to the likely criticism that President Johnson would have received for
the increase in crime, this science and technology commission sought
to understand how technology could aid police. While the commission
accepted that technology was not a cure to crime, it was the first foray
into the study of technology and its influence on the criminal justice
system, specifically police organizations.
Since this report, scholars have tried to understand the role of

technology within the criminal justice system. Early research by
Anderson (1967) and Wolfe (1967) explored the inner workings of the
Crime Commission offering unique perspectives for understanding
technology within the organizational context and not merely applied
to solve crime. As each warned, we must not forget how advanced
technology may not overcome low-tech determination (in referencing
the Vietnam War). Technology in this capacity is not the solution;
rather it is but a part of the solution.
With each decade, new research explored emerging technology but
still largely unexamined was the influence technology had on the organi-
zation, the officers, or society. In the 1990s, research emerged examining
information technology; specifically the work of Postman (1992) and
Manning (1992), offering that information technology had come to
alter the structural, symbolic, and social organization of police. Nearly a
decade later, Chan (2001) would offer insight into this area, research
that has influenced this work and has come to benefit both academic
and practitioner.
The research in the 1990s introduced researchers and practitioners

to the complex relationship between technology and the police organi-
zation. While a small subunit of focus within the field of criminal justice
research, scholars have tried to understand how technology has shaped
police practice. Early research was theoretical, highlighting the likely
benefits of recent technology developments. As technology integrated
into the police organization, researchers focused on key measurements
(effectiveness and efficiency). This research proved valuable, but only
across the theoretical and the quantitative measures of effectiveness that
developed. Something was missing. Specifically, missing from this
conversation was ethnographic and strong mixed-method research
approaches introducing the practitioners to add their experiences to the
history that is police technology.
While the state of forensic technology has been a focus of research,

largely missing was the influence on the individual officer. Despite
improvements in our overall knowledge on forensic technology and
practice, details on the evidence backlog, and the current state of
technology developments, largely unexamined has been the individual
officer level. Without this perspective, it is difficult to provide answers
to the complex questions involving forensic technology. For example,
how and in what ways have police practices changed in the last
decade? What role do first responders or detectives have in forensic
collection? What knowledge do they have, what training have they
received, what influences their decision to collect? Now, we have
answers to some of the questions. However, many answers concern
only the collection and analysis for compulsory processing of sexual
assault incidents and homicides, crimes with clearly described protocol.
What we lack is an understanding of decision-making at the lowest
forensic level, specifically property crime scenes. This book provides
answers to these questions. Sharing officer experiences affords the
unique opportunity to understand how forensic technology has come
to influence the daily tasking of officers and how these taskings have
come to influence the use of forensic technology.
WHERE IT STARTED
As with any intellectual effort, some pinnacle experience captivates
an interest, fostering the pursuit of understanding the complexity and
nuances for a given topic. My fascination with technology, specifically
police technology, emerged one fateful morning when walking to my
car to drive to my university; I discovered my car was missing the
stereo. I called the police to report the incident, something I had never
previously needed to do, and in what could not have been an hour
later, a patrol car arrived. Having spent a decade studying policing,
I realize how uncommon was my experience but more importantly, that
event and what occurred influenced my primary field of study.
When the officer arrived, he began writing down the model of the
car and details of the stereo; he inquired if I had locked the doors and
what other valuables I noted as missing. There were several valuable
items, mostly reflecting various criminal justice and statistics books,
but they remained untouched, the only missing item being the stereo in
the empty dash of a Dodge Neon. As the officer walked around the
car writing down the details, I inquired into how likely it was that they
would recover my stereo. Having some familiarity with the criminal
justice system, I knew the answer, but the victim in me wanted my stereo
back. The answer came quickly and the response “Rather unlikely.”
In what was nearly 30 minutes, the officer provided suggestions on
how I could prevent this in the future. He expressed that because of the
neighborhood, I needed to be more cautious. In addition, he provided
tips that I should park closer to my home and should install a car alarm
(something I did that first weekend). However, when I inquired about
potential fingerprints on the windows, the potential for genetic evidence
in the car, the officer’s response was “We don’t do that.” I never asked
why, something I deeply regret. However, that statement came to influ-
ence and foster a research agenda including a national study on the
influence of technology on police practice, the focus of this book.
Thinking back on the statement from the officer, the theoretical

interpretation would reflect the following:
1. The officer could have lacked the specific knowledge (training).

2. The agency lacked the technological capacity (resources) or the officer
was unable to perform the collection (a combination of the former).
3. The officer was unwilling to use the resource, with the latter an
expression of apathy.
In one of the first explorations into police technology, Manning
(1992) came to offer that technology rarely transforms an agency;
technology is merely adapted to reproduce traditional police practice.
Technology did not have the capacity to transform police practice; it
was a tool, one reserved to solve specific crime problems and its ability
to aid all levels of the organization were rarely achieved.
THE BROADER AIM

Human history contains examples of how technology has come to shape
the world around us. Technology has the capacity, and the proven
ability, to alter the social world in which we live. Technology intertwines
the way we interact and the methods by which we gain knowledge.
The continued integration of technology into the fabric of life has had a
deep impact on culture, politics, economics, and communication.
Technology growth across all sectors of society, from manufacturing,
to media, from communications to organizations, alters the world.

However, this marked statement on technology does not reduce or ignore
the potential effects that this integration has had on, society or, by exten-
sion, organizations. Emerging new crime, new costs, and new ways to
control, for all the benefits there are unintended results.
Within the police service, we have witnessed a “technological arms
race,” one reflecting technology gain to display technological moder-
nity. The increasing organizational and personal pressure to display
technological modernity is ever-present. At a forensic level, gaining
the personnel and resources necessary to collect and process forensic
evidence displays achieving a threshold of technology professionalism,
a threshold easily achieved. However difficult is the effective and effi-
cient use of that technological professionalism, which is to say, gaining
the technology is but a matter of costs, making use of that technology
involves a different set of issues.
WHY PROPERTY CRIME SCENES?

The decision to use property crime scenes as a framing lens reflected
the lack of knowledge at this level. Clear protocol exists for violent
crimes, including sexual assault and homicides. However, understand-
ing influences on those within the investigative continuum needs focus
on crime scenes that contain forensic evidence but lack standard oper-
ating procedure (SOP). The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study
on property crime scene evidence detailed clear benefits expansion pro-
vided. However, limited research existed explaining the personal, orga-
nizational, and external influences on the decision to collect.
As property crime scenes have historically received lower priority,
it was an apt moment to explore this level. To understand the reasons
associated and the best practices within agencies that process property
crime scene forensic evidence is to transition the police force into one
more forensically oriented.
THE STUDY
To conduct an analysis of these parts needed an extensive method.
A survey of officers alone would not be enough. Moreover, a qualitative
research design of interviews and focus groups would provide insight into
collection practices but research would merely provide microlevel signs.
Fortunately, I could use a mixed-method research design, a design

incorporating a national survey of police officers, interviews, and focus
groups to provide a macro- and microlevel trends analysis. This design
would enable me to exceed much of the research available by highlighting
the experiences of those stakeholders within the investigative continuum.
The cumulative effect of this design would prove valuable to practitioners
and academics.
Interviews
With over a decade of experience researching police and valuable
contacts across the investigative continuum, I could interview partici-
pants who reflected the entire range of stakeholders, including police
officers, detectives, police executives, forensic technicians and forensic
experts, and prosecutors. While a reader is likely to be cautious about the
use of 12 interviews for an ambitious study, it is important to remember
that this is a mixed-method research design. Therefore, the results of the
national survey and focus groups are used in unison. The qualitative and
quantitative parts all seek to answer the same question, so when they all
reveal the same information, the confidence in the results is improved.
This becomes known as triangulation—to answer the same question
through several different research approaches. The duration of the focus
group interviews ranged from an hour to several hours. The transcrip-
tions were analyzed within the qualitative method of Interpretative
Phenomenological Analysis (discussed in a later chapter).
National Survey
The sample for the survey stemmed from a training database. The survey
contained 37 questions sectioned into four category items: Agency
Information (12 Close-Ended Questions), Lab Information (3 Close-
Ended Questions), Officer Perspective (10 Close-Ended Questions and
1 Open-Ended Question), and General Information (11 Closed-Ended
Questions). Four hundred and sixty surveys were completed.
STRUCTURING A THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ANALYSIS

The book structure should appeal to both practitioner and academic.
Therefore, the arrangement of chapters combines prior works in a
way to provide the foundation for the present analysis within the treat-
ment of forensic evidence and the influence on the police organization.
Considering the financial reality, the practical orientation toward
property crime scene evidence, the skepticism levied at expansion

recommendations, the first several chapters disclose the importance
of this unit of focus, why a lens is vital, providing a foundation for
the research study. Chapter 3 examines the current state of genetic
evidence in the police service, highlighting the current use and the
associated issues in forensic evidence. As technology use is a social,
organizational, and individual construction, Chapter 4 explores the his-
tory of forensic evidence and technology, specific to the police service.
These chapters frame the genealogy of forensic evidence and technol-
ogy implementation, providing a detailed summary of the history
through the investigative lens. Chapter 4 also includes a comparative
synthesis of the current state of research within property crime scene
genetic evidence. It includes the National Institute of Justice study on
the efficacy of expanded property crime scene evidence, analysis of
studies conducted by the Home Office in the United Kingdom, and
research from New Zealand.
Chapter 5 discusses collection of genetic forensic evidence, a brief

how-to. Chapter 6 includes the methodology of the research study.
Chapter 7 provides the results of the national survey of police officers
across the nation, including excerpts from interviews with police officers,
police executives, forensic technicians and experts, and prosecutors.
I close with a comprehensive analysis, an analysis written in the prospec-
tive of “future thinking” about genetic evidence and police practice. This
chapter has two aims. First, to examine whether the past and present
state of forensic practice does a disservice by not offering the reader
the potential for expansion. Vital remains the point that the recommen-
dations provided within are not a cure, there is no formula, no silver bul-
let provided to practitioners or academics. The implementation strategies
present challenges, challenges that need dedication and commitment to
transitioning the organization into one that is more technology-oriented.
However, a transition should not promote adoption of a philosophy
within the organization that is technology-focused. The philosophical
alignment of oriented versus focused becomes the secondary focus of the
chapter. To be technology-oriented is to align the agency within the
problem-solving model while upholding the community-oriented policing
process. Recognizing that this work is aimed at both academics and prac-
titioners and that this work owes a debt to those practitioners and experts
who have allowed me access to their world, Chapter 9 is a reflection on
this book by a Chief of Police, Gary Jenkins of the Pullman Police
Department.
CHAPTER
Transition the Lens
2
PHILOSOPHICAL JUSTIFICATION .......................................................... 10
PRACTICAL JUSTIFICATION.................................................................... 13
Public Safety ............................................................................................ 17
Transitioning the Police Organization ................................................ 18
Public Confidence in the Police............................................................ 20
Justice to Victims .................................................................................... 23
CONCLUSION............................................................................................ 24
Being honest, a large issue for us is prioritization, we devote forensic resources

to serious personal crime, and then there is the issue that we have no one to
go out and collect and process—budget is an issue, there’s no money to inves-
tigate the case or send out an evidence tech. In some instances, we take prop-
erty calls over the phone.
Detective
To argue that property crime scene forensics is worthwhile to the criminal

justice system is to take on deeply rooted and engrained attitudes on the
realized worthiness of these crimes. This attitude is pervasive across
the criminal justice process, credited in part to the war on crime—a war
represented and dominated by an extreme focus on violent interpersonal
crime both in the prevention of crimes through criminalization of
precursors (opinions of dangerousness, drug use, etc.) and the increase in
penalties associated with precursors (possession offenses). The dominant
policy and features within this war are the identification and neutraliza-
tion of sources of danger. So dogmatic is this focus that all resources
come to highlight this keen focus on the identification and neutralization
of sources of danger, and with forensic science as a narrowing lens, the
sole purpose of forensic evidence is to lessen the threat to society, threats
specific to violent interpersonal crime.
Property crime scenes receive some of the fewest resources within

the crime hierarchy. This determination is not solely borne out of the
perception of worth (property vs. violent); rather it is compounded by
the realization that these crimes often lack witnesses and evidence,
making finding suspects much more difficult. Also, there often exists
a third party (insurance providers) able to address the loss of property.
This effect has produced a current state in which some agencies have
stopped responding to automobile thefts, have resorted to a report
practice communicated over the phone, and in a change of practices,
have used point systems in which certain characteristics must be met to
send an officer to the scene.
To introduce the war on crime may seem out of place, but it is a

core feature displaying the importance of narrowing focus on property
crime scenes, or specifically, why this focus is necessary and timely.
The last decade has witnessed agencies seeing reduced budgets but the
requirement and evaluation mechanism of clearance rates pressured
to increase and subsequently the expectation that crime rates must
decrease were preserved. Command staff and officers are required to do
more with less, to adopt, implement, and uphold their professional
status (technological modernity), while seeking out grants, technology,
and training, often with no assessment of the relative worth. This has
promoted a technology arms race, in which the myopic implementation
of forensics focuses on violent interpersonal crime.
The resulting response is rather expected. Violent victimizations

produce an immediate visceral reaction; they are crimes anyone can
experience. These cases create media inquiry, notoriety for the offender,
and the responding agency when using forensics displays professionalism.
There is worth, clear benefits, and a guarantee on the return on invest-
ment when violent interpersonal crime becomes the inherent beneficiary
of forensic practice. However, explaining the limiting use of forensics
may reflect the fiscal reality within the organization, but it fails to
understand the criminology of crime and also why the decisions of the
state limiting forensic expansion undermine the social contract between
citizens and the state.
PHILOSOPHICAL JUSTIFICATION
To argue for increased focus on property crime scenes, a high volume
crime, is problematic. First, to argue for forensics is to argue for
Transition the Lens 11
increased resources, in which the expense inevitably requires a decrease in

resources within other areas of the agency. These discussions have tradi-
tionally focused only on the practical explanations, undertaken within a
pragmatic reality. However, brought to the forefront of this discussion
must be the philosophical connections. To argue for expanded processing
is to offer that this expansion is the duty of the state and by extension the
agency. An agency that ignores evidence violates the social contract.
A Kantian interpretation of the state proposes the purpose of the

state is to “Do no one injustice.” Therefore, it is the responsibility,
the sole purpose of the state to mediate conflict, promote a successful
resolution to conflict, to intervene, and use resources to create justice.
While justice is relative and normative to each individual, injustice is
created when the state ceases to intervene and rightfully ignores
(directly or indirectly) evidence that potentially holds the key to resolv-
ing that specific conflict and preventing later conflicts. When the state
fails to intervene, there is injustice (Weinrib, 1992). Holding a state
accountable is the only way to ensure that justice occurs (Garland,
1990). To offer forensic expansion is to offer a modified interpretation,
one critical of a state that fails to protect a citizen from victimization
when the state holds the necessary means. The state violates “Do no
one injustice” when it willfully ignores property crime scene forensic
evidence.
To provide a figure to the injustice, consider the research of Strom

and Hickman (2010), which noted that between the years of 2003 and
2007 potentially, 5,126,719 unsolved property crime cases, 27,595
unsolved rape cases, and 3,975 homicides containing forensic evidence
went unrequested for forensic analysis (p. 391). While the research
explored unrequested analysis comprising all forensic types, it shows a
notable issue. A later analysis by Goulka, Matthies, Disley, and
Steinberg (Goulka et al., 2010) calculated roughly 563,939 property crime
cases containing forensic evidence but remaining unanalyzed, using the
11% DNA recovery rate reported by the Home Office (2005).
Tragic is any victimization, be it property or personal. However,

more tragic is the unfortunate reality to read of incidents in which a
victimization could have been preventable, had evidence recovered
in a property crime scene been tested. In some cases victims endured
horrific experiences, trauma they will carry with them forever, and evi-
dence identifying the offender was not recovered or analyzed. Policy
limiting collection and analysis must change to see equal treatment in

the collection and analysis of forensic evidence.
The philosophical connection reflects the narrow vision of forensic

evidence. Despite the glorified, misunderstood, and often scientifically
inaccurate portrayal of forensic science within popularized crime
dramas, there remains a keen interest to see forensic science evolve.
However, it has seemingly evolved with a dualistic role, as an investi-
gative tool and as a preventive mechanism. This dualistic role has
produced a philosophical and practical disconnect. This narrow vision
has again been co-opted by the war on crime to create a system that is
unbalanced; one in which the benefits granted to forensic collection
are limited.
Consider the NDIS system, containing B10 million offender samples
and continuing to expand as states have continued to pass laws requir-
ing DNA samples be collected and cataloged across the entire crime
continuum (arrests and convictions from misdemeanor to felony). The
resulting focus has sought to maximize offender collection at the expense
of scene samples (a topic of Chapter 3). To return to the philosophical
connection, treatment of forensic evidence can take two paths: (1) foren-
sic evidence tries to link individuals to scenes or (2) forensic evidence
tries to link scenes to individuals. The fundamental difference in the
treatment of forensic evidence has an influence in success rates. To high-
light how the co-opting of the forensic database for political purposes
promoted a narrowing use of forensic evidence, and limited property
crime scene utilization, consider the following. In 2006 there were
3,977,433 offender profiles in the system and 160,582 forensic profiles
from crime scenes (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011), myopic
at best, and an unbalanced approach that would perpetuate. In 2008,
the offender profile submission rates exceeded 6,500,000 and forensic
profiles within the system increased to only 249,000, a paltry increase
in comparison to the offender profile submission rate (Federal Bureau
of Investigation, 2011). The present reality is a current strategy designed
to maximize offender processing with a narrow focus on violent interper-
sonal crimes.
Despite a clear determination to increase offender collection, this

clear demarcation is convenient. Also, familial DNA typing introduced
the ability to search for markers indicative of family members (a topic
within Chapter 4) and continued development reveals the emerging use
for DNA, including generating phenotypical expression of a person’s

characteristics (eye color, hair color, etc.). Transitioning into high vol-
ume processing advantages the existing unbalanced system to provide
increased clearances and over time the potential for general deterrence.
Forensics within property crime scenes becomes not the goal but
the standard, to maximize what has been a tremendous expenditure of
resources. From a philosophical perspective, equal treatment in the pro-
cessing of forensic evidence ensures that even those crimes that some may
offer are insignificant (i.e., property crime) are analyzed and processed to
improve the likelihood there is an arrest and that resulting victimizations
are prevented or unsolved cases see a successful resolution. It is not the
intent to argue that one is any more worthy of processing but rather, that
understanding the reasons associated with the decision to collect and
analyze property crime scene evidence is necessary to transition the police
agency into one more forensically oriented, producing improvement
across the forensic evidence process.
PRACTICAL JUSTIFICATION
To offer for the expansion into property crime scene processing is to
balance the philosophical with the practical, which is to say, philosophi-
cally it is the responsibility of the state to use all evidence. However,
to offer that a practical justification exists, it is important to exceed
the philosophical. To inject the practical importance to this expansion is
to revisit a prior point, specifically President Johnson and the Crime
Commission. In 1965, then President Johnson issued a special message.
He appealed to the American people, criminal justice institutions, and
Congress to identify ways to reduce what was a significant increase
in crime. Specific to the police service, he called on agencies to become
more efficient and effective across issues of training and investigations.
Noting with great precision how the “average citizen” is concerned
with “street crimes” the police would need to adapt to the changing
environment. The landscape had changed, the population marked
by an increasing transient nature, rising crime and associated fear, and
the burden on the police to adapt practice vital to the success of the
nation. To provide agencies with specific recommendations, he formed
the Commission on Law Enforcement. While the recommendations
were many, at the core, President Johnson and the Commission put
forth that the police service had to adapt technology to the organization.
As not the best of mechanisms to reform practices, the Commission
heavily criticized the police, specifically within the use of technology
to address the organization’s primary problems. Most critical was the
finding that while police practice had successfully integrated science
(technology) into the investigative process, the resulting integration
had stopped diffusing throughout the organization. The outcome of the
integration was an organizational apparatus specific to violent crime
investigations that enjoyed marked success to resolve crime. However,
those adaptations were so specific to violent crime problems that at a
general level, it was offered the organization had avoided implementation
of technology across the entire organization; rather the use of technology
(science) was marred by a narrow use, which should be a familiar
statement on the application of technology.
Continuing an examination into the practical benefits is to intro-

duce not only the historical but also the future of the police service.
Mirroring many of the key points from the Commission on Law
Enforcement, police scholar David Bayley (1994) in his work Police
for the Future offered that police organizations could not merely
reproduce their tasks using old practices. To improve, police organi-
zations must adapt to an ever-changing environment. To ignore this
requirement, to continue a predetermined path, to rely on the same
processes, ignoring recent developments was to remain antiquated.
In what was a scathing critique, Bayley (1994) argues that agencies
must seek new ways and adapt old practices to solve crime and create
order. While an equally important work within policing literature,
the point relevant to this line of thought is the promising benefits
awaiting agencies that sought the expanded use of forensic evidence,
that to meet the demands of an ever-changing environment was to
seek out and incorporate one of the fastest evolving investigative
tools, forensic science.
The resulting literature has produced an impressive and growing

body of work by police scholars and practitioners expressing how vital
is this transition. A transition must diffuse technology across the orga-
nization to encompass all activities, embracing technology to prevent
crime, adapting existing approaches to use, when suitable, the most
current and effective technologies, to see a marked improvement in the
successful resolution of crime incidents. However, while diffusion is
vital to the future of policing, and the alignment of the organization
to adapt to a changing environment, diffusion must assimilate into the

organizational culture (Chan, 2001; Manning, 1992).
The historical and modern resistance to technology implementation

and thus a lack of focus on property crime scene evidence is also credited
to its innovatory capacity, which is to say that, while an innovative prac-
tice, its implementation when undertaken is often sporadic, resulting
from a lack of training and resources, promoting an implementation that
rarely meets the expectations as imagined. In addition, the expectations
often narrowly attribute success within those specific cases, lacking the
typical recognition that comes from higher crime incidents, and lacking is
an understanding of how the practice provides clear benefits across the
police mission (Manning, 1992).
Therefore, to offer that a narrowing lens is important, which is to
say this work is important, is to convince police officers and academi-
cians that clear benefits exist, benefits that have far-reaching impact
on society, culture, criminal justice institutions, communities, and
individuals. David Lazer (2004), in a remarkable book on the history
of forensic technology, specifically DNA, and the criminal justice sys-
tem, offered that no other scientific advancement held the potential
for benefits to the criminal justice system and society. A nation that
approaches the diffusion, continued development and refinement,
and targeted use of forensic science is one that maximizes justice.
A nation that ceases to adapt, to improve practices, to seek out and
effectively and efficiently use new tools to address its primary mission
is one relegated to the delivery of poor services, which specific to the
police service is lessening public trust, confidence, and support, all of
which are necessary to improve police practice.
While it is easy to state that agencies should position their organiza-
tion to be more forensically oriented, it is not forgotten how important
the budget is, and how complicated it is to try to undertake what is an
expensive practice. Now police agencies are experiencing budgetary
shortfalls, in part due to the economic decline, forcing cities to make
spending cuts, and unfortunately partly a result of a crime policy
focusing on addressing crime through increased staffing. The resulting
reality is one in which agencies are forced to make difficult decisions
on how best to assign resources and as discussed previously, some
agencies have made the unfortunate, but practical, decision to reduce
shares to property crime scenes.
From a resource perspective, I offer the National Institute of

Justice study, one of several case studies discussed in a later chapter.
Roman et al. (2008), in a pilot study examining the benefits of high
volume processing, identified a return on investment that was
unanticipated for agencies undertaking this routine practice. In fact,
in the Denver study, Ashikhmin (n.d.) identified a cost saving of
more than $5 million in police costs and $36.8 million in property
loss prevented by the expansion in processing of forensic evidence
within property crime scenes. Identification of these cost savings
is also reflected in studies from the United Kingdom and
New Zealand.
To exceed the financial is to connect to a deeply rooted and widely

held belief in the police service; specifically, that the police exist to
fight crime. While some have used this belief despairingly, crime fight-
ing is a marked feature driving officers to solve crimes, to identify sus-
pects, and to prevent victimization. While this belief has aligned
forensics to focus on violent crime, consider the resulting victimizations
that could have been prevented for Joseph Cave, also known as the
“flashlight rapist.” Cave was convicted in 1991 for burglary, and went
on to commit several more crimes including five rapes. In part due to
the dedication of a detective, Cave’s DNA was submitted and resulted
in a “hit” with the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), leading to
his conviction on eight counts of burglary, five counts of rape, four
counts of sodomy, three counts of sexual abuse, and one count of
attempted rape (Lovrich et al., 2004). Cave is not an isolated case.
Numerous examples exist in which evidence testing at property crime
scenes could have prevented later victimizations at the property and
violent interpersonal crime levels.
It is important to note that not all scenes will have forensic evidence
suitable for collection. The current estimate is that 11% of property crime
cases will yield evidence suitable for processing (Home Office, 2005).
To put this into perspective, there were 2,199,125 burglaries as reported
by the UCR in 2009 (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009). This would
suggest there exists potentially 241,904 property crime cases with forensic
evidence suitable for collection and processing, evidence with the
potential to aid in early identification, arrest, and conviction preventing
additional crimes and resulting victimizations and clearing potentially
unsolved cases.
While the sections above have addressed the philosophical and

practical reasons for expanding the role of forensics within property
crimes scenes, there is potential skepticism present in any work
proposing a realignment of what is standard practice specific to violent
crime. Therefore, in support of such an expansion in forensic evidence,
I introduce four key reasons as to why agencies should adapt their
policy and states should expand their funding: (1) public safety, (2) tran-
sitioning the police organization into a more technology-oriented organi-
zation, (3) public confidence in the police, and (4) justice for victims.
Public Safety
Property crime cases suffer from one of the lowest clearance rates. From
a public safety perspective, expansion of forensics within property crime
cases can aid in improving clearance rates, incapacitating those responsi-
ble for these invasions, and preventing more victimizations experienced
by the community. In 2009, the clearance rate for burglary was 12.5%
(Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009). While this is appallingly low,
it is important to remember that this is partially a result of prioritization
of violent crime, which has more resource allocation, coupled with the
lack of eyewitnesses. Because of low clearance rates, these offenders
have some of the longest and most pervasive criminal careers before
incarceration. Moreover, this population experiences higher recidivism
rates and many of the offenders reflect criminal nonspecialization,
meaning they transition between violent and property crimes across
their careers and some may escalate from property to violent offenses
(McCue, 2007; DeLisi, 2006).
To expand on the offender point, and to inject some empirical
evidence, consider the life course criminology literature on career crim-
inals. Specifically, the literature indicating that a small percentage of indi-
viduals commit more than half of all crimes (DeLisi, 2005; Shannon,
1980; Peterson et al., 1980; Collins, 1977). Routine forensics within prop-
erty crime scenes provides an early evidentiary source for linking an
offender to a scene intervening in their subsequent offending cycles.
Moreover, consider the lengthy offending cycles for career burglars. A
series of research projects conducted in the 1980s revealed astonishingly
high rates of offending, research that is still held to be valid. Visher
(1986) uncovered an average of 98.8 burglaries per year among inmates
arriving at a penitentiary. Chaiken and Rolph (1985) discovered slightly
more elevated rates with an average of 114.6 burglaries, and Chaiken

and Chaiken (1982) uncovered a range of between 116 and 204 burglaries
among prison inmates. Offending cycles have a considerable impact on
the tangible and intangible costs of crime. The resulting low clearance
rates facilitate these offending cycles, maintaining on average 100 burglary
offenses. Improving forensic study of these crimes will improve public
safety by identifying offenders early and linking them to prior unsolved
cases. Current research suggests that identification, arrest, and conviction
rates often double when agencies undertake forensic practice.
While the empirical evidence is important, it is useful to look at
case studies, as often a myopic focus on the numbers undermines the
personal experience of being a victim of crime. In a section dedicated
to case studies, Lovrich et al. (2004) identified a substantial incidence
of preventable crime including thirteen rapes that likely could have
been prevented had the forensic evidence from earlier incidents been
processed. In addition to the sexual assault cases, the importance of
scene and offender sample processing is obvious in a robbery incident.
In this case, a further seven robberies and five rapes could have been
prevented had the sample been processed. At a property crime level, the
researchers identified multiple cases where further sexual assaults and
property crimes need not have occurred had the property crime forensic
evidence been processed. While these cases are a brief introduction
into the public safety benefits, there is no denying that expanding foren-
sic collection and analysis practices within agencies will improve public
safety both in the short and long term.
A comparative perspective offers that of all the tasks of police officers,

the two most prominent, which is to say those universal tasks that all
police officers undertake, are law enforcement and order maintenance.
To minimize forensic expansion is to reduce public safety through the
inability to effectively identify and efficiently arrest criminals. While the
above section is but a brief review of a later detailed analysis, it is impor-
tant to state that improved processing can only improve public safety.
Transitioning the Police Organization

While easy to misinterpret as a philosophical benefit, transitioning the
police organization into one more forensically oriented is, at a practi-
cal level, clearly valuable. The future of policing will be marked by a
continued alignment of technology to the police mission. Proliferation
of on-officer video recording, the slow diffusion of unmanned aerial

vehicles, the increase in crimes involving digital evidence, and the
“technification” of policing in which policing tasks become increasing
connected and dependent on technology (i.e., issuing citations, verifying
identity, etc.) warrant an agency organizationally able to adapt.
To transition the police organization is to overcome its most daunting
barrier to change, that of the organizational culture. As both Chan
(2001) and Manning (1992) suggest, the police organizational culture
is resistant to change and variation or alteration of traditional police
practice is increasingly difficult. Crank (2004) echoes this point, noting
how changes to organizational culture or by proxy police practice are not
done easily or trivially.
To reform police practice at an organizational level is to appeal to
the organizational traditions. As presented earlier, technology is often
seen as a threat to traditional police practice (Chan, 2001; Manning,
1992). When organizations implement technology, they do so in a
manner that both produces and reproduces traditional police practice
(Manning, 1992). With the increasing role of forensic evidence collec-
tion and thus responsibility placed on the police agency, there is likely
going to be resistance. Expansion warrants skepticism as it is clearly
an added responsibility on what is an already task heavy profession.
However, expanding the police role in evidence collection simply
reproduces traditional police practice and only further aligns to the
organizational goal of being a “crime fighter” (Crank, 2004).
The reason for resistance is understandable; in undertaking the

research for this book, the frustrations were clear, the explanations
offered, rather justifiable, but a clear point within the interviews was
officers and technicians will make use of any tool that will enable
them to solve a crime. A common expression surfacing was “if there is
evidence, we collect the evidence,” but whether it was processed was
an entirely different discussion. Originally, the assumption was that
individual officers were skeptical of expanded technology use, and
that the evidence lacked benefit specifically for property crime scenes.
However, as discussed here, that is simply not the reality. The reality
is that officers are not in need of convincing. Rather, the organization
must transition to positioning technology as an important addition to
the individual officers’ investigative toolkit and a valuable resource to
aid the organization.
As a final point, transitioning the organization aligns the entire

organization, all roles and responsibilities, to one not just forensically
but technology oriented. Gaining the technical skills, the necessary
knowledge, and the ability to improve protocol, policy, and technol-
ogy use produces a more efficient and effective organization and
forensic process. The current costs of processing have remained high
and for some agencies prohibitively high. Agencies that lack the
equipment, personnel, training, and capacity will undoubtedly experi-
ence similar outcomes as technology diffuses across the criminal jus-
tice system.
Public Confidence in the Police

Producing trust and confidence in the public has become increasing
important within the police service as a means of addressing crime and
disorder. Some have gone as far as to argue that in the absence of some
level of public support an organization cannot be effective (Loader and
Walker, 2007). When the community lacks confidence in the police they
are less willing to participate, more likely to be skeptical of police
action, and in the absence of trust, more likely to contribute to a grow-
ing divide between the police and community. All of these promote
lower clearance rates, more expanded resources, and can foster increas-
ing resentment, reproducing the cycle.
As Warr (1980) discovered in surveying the public about crime,
while the view of crime is distorted, more often than not a community
member’s outlook on crime reflected the actual conditions. The reality
is that unsuccessful resolutions to crime incidents have a negative
impact on police image. To experience an unsuccessful resolution has
the propensity to influence a negative view, particularly if the precur-
sors for a negative view exist. As opinions of the police often develop
vicariously (Rosenbaum et al., 2005) each unsuccessful case can
have an overall detriment to public confidence. In addition, when the
expectations exist that all cases should experience forensic treatment,
a perspective perpetuated via popularized crime dramas, this inability
to explain why evidence is not present (training) or why collection
is not undertaken when evidence exists (again, training) can promote a
decreased state of public confidence.
Improving clearance rates is the most obvious benefit. However,

it should be added that confidence in the police and thus the criminal
justice process is also about accountability. An unfortunate reality is

the criminal justice system, at the local, state, and federal levels, has
a long history of distrust, a distrust borne from policing practice, court
proceedings, and correctional policy and practice, which in many ways
was misguided and in some unfortunate instances unjust. In fact,
in 1996, then Attorney General Janet Reno declared, “Our system
of criminal justice is best described as a search for the truth” (Pyrek,
2007). To search for the truth was to use all available means to treat
everyone fairly and equally, and to make the criminal justice process
accountable, specifically when mistakes occur.
Current research suggests that between 0.5 and 2% of the imprisoned

population is innocent (Clear and Cole, 2000; Scheck et al., 2000;
Radelet et al., 1992; Huff and Rattner, 1988; Radin, 1964). While some
would argue that is an acceptable error level for a nation processing
millions of cases a year, to be one of those thousands incarcerated but
innocent would certainly change that perspective. When incidents arise,
it undermines public confidence and at the policing level, the reality is
that both individual officers and organizational culture have helped in
the false arrest and conviction of individuals. As Sherman (1978) and
Manning and Van Maanen (1978) identified, officers may resort to
unethical means to see a case closed. These unethical means, though
rare, have fostered a view of distrust in the police and in some areas
have undermined the word of the officer and by extension the agency.
Expanding forensic collection and analysis affords an extra layer

of accountability to ensure the individual suspected of a crime is the
person responsible. Forensic science has long existed as an account-
ability mechanism for the police (Miller, 2003) and via expansion, it
affords a scientific means of establishing a connection beyond that of
the officer’s word, which is of importance within communities that
lack confidence in the police. However, the current state of forensic
sciences within the system is such that there are continued criticisms
levied against agencies for manufacturing evidence or not voicing
concern when evidence is improperly handled. While some instances
of criticism are unwarranted, there are clear cases in which officers,
agencies, and forensic labs have made mistakes, undermining the
trust in the agency and the forensic process. Using forensic evidence
is not merely an action one-sidedly imposed. Rather, successful use
of forensic evidence, necessities accountability and transparency,
predicated on trust.
Often trust is the measurement by which the police are evaluated in

terms of the community perception, which is to say, the value of trust
is how positive the attitude of the community is towards the police.
However, it should be added that increased levels of forensic proces-
sing have the potential to improve the working conditions, relation-
ships, and most importantly foster more trust between the officer and
the community. The degree to which an officer responds can be dic-
tated by the personal, organizational, and external influences they
experience. While police scholars have often described cold and callous
interactions between the police and the community, the reality can be
quite different (White, 2007; Crank, 2004; Manning and Van Maanen,
1978). Most often officers want to help but cannot do so because they
are constrained, constrained by a lack of resources (time constraints,
personnel, and other budgetary issues), evidence, or community partic-
ipation. While improving public trust is multifaceted, improving an
officer’s toolkit in their ability to do their job effectively can not only
improve the personal successes but also the officer’s reputation.
Last, to improve public trust is to display both efficiency and
effectiveness through not only improved clearance rates, but through
an improvement in the investigative process. There is an opportunity
to help reduce processing times, decrease processing costs, promote
better interagency collaborations, and improve the overall image of the
police agency as a professional and modern police force. While clear-
ance rates and accountability are key to improving public confidence,
the reality is that members of the community are concerned with the
allocation of their money, which is an important perspective that
administrators are conscious of.
The National Institute of Justice Field Experiment which looked at

high volume processing of DNA for property crimes found that it cost
an extra $1,400 to collect and analyze DNA evidence, $4,502 to identify
a suspect, and $14,169 to arrest a suspect (Roman et al., 2008). It should
be added that the latter two figures represent identification and arrest of
a suspect who would not have been identified otherwise (Roman et al.,
2008). In addition, in the Denver study, Ashikhmin et al. (n.d.) noted
a saving of more than $5 million in police costs and $36.8 million in
property loss prevented by an increase in forensic processing. In what is
the most astute statement on processing of forensic evidence recovered
from property scenes in a “best case” scenario, Roman et al. (2009)
states “it is probably fair to characterize spending $3,679 to arrest a
burglary suspect who would otherwise never have been caught, and who
averages three prior felony convictions, as a small cost” (p. 365). While
this experience is identified as a “best case” scenario, research suggests
similar benefits across the studies conducted. From a community
perspective, there would certainly be a willingness to assign funding,
should this type of return be achievable.
Justice to Victims
Despite being relative, normative, and individualistic, justice is an
all-encompassing reason to adjust any criminal justice process. While
academics and practitioners may argue if the institutions of the criminal
justice system (police, courts, and corrects) reflect a system or a
non-system—an argument typified by working towards common goals
or individual goals,—the fundamental principle to any democratic sys-
tem is justice—or at the most basic level fairness. Ignoring evidence or
avoiding standardization of forensic practice is an injustice.
It is suggested that the collection and analysis of forensic evidence

from property crimes scenes will increase the successful resolution of
cases of victimization and offer the possibility that future victimizations
will be less likely to occur, a result of police officers having the necessary
resources needed to link crime scenes to offenders ensuring that victims
receive proper closure from the police. In over a decade of study of
police services, both domestic and international, a common theme in my
discussions, interviews, and other interactions with officers was the drive
to help. While scholars may argue over the variations and the fact that
these are isolated incidents, the practical reality remains that officers
want to see a successful resolution to the crimes to which they respond,
and while the mechanisms by which they respond are shaped by their
interactions, perceptions, and the organizational culture, to equip them
with new tools is to positively shape these mechanisms. This statement
should not in any way be taken as fact, as there are considerable
influences on the police and rarely is the technology adaptation able to
transform an organization and by association its officers. However,
if the fundamental activity of what it means to police is to solve crime,
equipping officers with the necessary conditions to use new tools
undoubtedly creates justice for victims.
Greater collection and analysis of forensic evidence from property

crime scenes potentially increases the chances of successful resolution
of the crime and offers the possibility that future victimizations are
less likely to occur. This is the result of police officers having the nec-
essary resources needed to link crime scenes to offenders ensuring
that victims receive proper closure from the police. In fact, the
Denver DNA Burglary Project determined that when DNA evidence
was analyzed in burglary cases, the average prison term of those
found guilty increased from 1.4 years to 14 years. In addition, DNA
evidence coupled with the investigative process helped increase prose-
cution filing rates to roughly 42%, which was more than eight times
the rate of filings in cases without DNA evidence (Denver DNA
Burglary Project, 2004). The presence of DNA evidence ensured that
significantly more cases made it to trial. Moreover, in many of those
cases, the resulting sentence was significantly higher, maximizing
justice for victims who would have seen their case dismissed or
a reduced sentence applied and reaffirming the importance of such
evidence collection.
Expanding on the justice perspective, I would add that improved

analysis might aid those wrongly convicted, whose victimization is
a by-product of the criminal processing system. The last decade has
experienced an increasing number of exonerated individuals who
have been released from prison, including death row, with the assis-
tance of DNA testing (Leo, 2008; Pyrek, 2007; Lazer, 2004). Greater
collection of forensic evidence could help to identify those wrongly
imprisoned, prompting their exoneration, and bring those responsible
to justice.
It is important to include the enormous number of unsolved cases that

continue to amass across the United States, spanning all crime types, and
compounded with each passing year. Increasing evidence processing has
the potential to improve the likelihood of getting a “cold hit,” i.e., the
successful identification of an arrestee or offender in a “cold case,” a case
that has exhausted all possible investigative leads.
CONCLUSION
In sum, to argue for expansion within forensics recovered from
property crime scenes, there must be clear identification that at a prac-
tical level changing and expanding the police role in forensics is both
worthwhile and warranted. Current literature suggests that increasing
such analysis is worthwhile (Dunsmuir et al., 2008; Roman et al., 2008;

Briody, 2004; Lovrich et al., 2004; Walsh et al., 2002). However, today
a large evidence backlog has emerged from property crime scenes and
what remains unclear is what influences forensic analysis in these cases
and under what situations. I wrote this book with the belief that a
more forensically oriented police force is capable of being more effec-
tive and efficient and also more accountable to the communities that
it serves.
CHAPTER 3
Forensic Science and the Criminal
Justice System
EARLY HISTORY OF FORENSICS WITHIN THE POLICE SERVICE ....... 28
From ABO Typing to DNA ..................................................................... 31
THE SCIENCE OF DNA............................................................................. 33
HISTORY OF DNA IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE ............................................. 36
Creation of CODIS ................................................................................... 37
DNA Statutes............................................................................................ 39
Initialization of CODIS............................................................................ 42
Backlog Research .................................................................................... 44
Reducing the Backlog ............................................................................ 46
DNA Backlog Reduction Program ......................................................46
DNA Backlog Reduction Program Abstracts.......................................47
FORENSIC TECHNOLOGY: GENERATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS ........... 51
FORENSIC TECHNOLOGY: THE COSTS OF PROCESSING ................... 52
FORENSIC TECHNOLOGY: FROM TECHNICIAN TO ROBOT ............... 53
FORENSIC TECHNOLOGY: ISSUES OF ACCOUNTABILITY .................. 54
CONCLUSION............................................................................................ 56
The more tools, the more effective, the better at it and the quicker we get at
using this evidence type, the more we are able to obtain justice. The office will
just have to adapt and how we adapt will matter for the community.
Prosecutor
Before detailing the current state of forensics and the associated litera-
ture on high volume processing, it is important to shift the lens to the
historical, which is to understand the important role forensic science
(technology) has held in developing professional policing. To offer here
that forensic orientation and thus technology orientation will transition
police agencies and by extension individual officers and their respective

organizations into a more efficient and effective organization is to
provide a genealogy of forensic science within the investigative process.
Scholars agree that this alignment and use promoted the advancement
of police science; an alignment fostering the creation and manifestation
of a modern and professional policing organization, equipped to address
crime and disorder. If we can agree that alignment produces positive
benefits then we may overcome one of the barriers to implementation
toward high volume processing.
EARLY HISTORY OF FORENSICS WITHIN THE POLICE SERVICE

The application of genetic-based forensics within the criminal justice
system began more than a century ago, with the discovery of the human
ABO blood type by Karl Landsteiner in 1900 (Rudin and Inman,
2002). This groundbreaking discovery created the opportunity for inves-
tigators to collect and compare scene samples and blood collected from
suspects to aid in linking them to crime scenes or providing exculpatory
evidence. In fact, it can be said that genetic-based forensics entered the
investigative process at a mainstream level in a rather short period of
time, when Lattes developed a portable antibody test for blood groups
around 1915 (Rudin and Inman, 2002). While these kits were seldom
used within the police service, these developments are important to
understanding the history of forensics within the police service, which
would seek out new scientific technologies to solve crime. In fact,
groundbreaking scientific discoveries and technologies originated within
the creation of the first crime laboratories and resulting development of
the Locard Exchange Principle. In concert, they established the founda-
tional link between science and criminal investigations.
Examining these developments shows that while the forensic science
existed, there was no mechanism, no organizational framework to
include the science within police practice. In fact, while fingerprinting
had been around for centuries, it would not enter the police service until
the early 1900s (Rudin and Inman, 2002). The forensic science existed
but there was no mechanic, no drive to incorporate the science into the
investigations (Evans, 2007; Lazer, 2004; Rudin and Inman, 2002;
Soullière, 1999). As Rudin and Inman (2002) note, development of
forensic science and its inclusion into the police service is built on a
Forensic Science and the Criminal Justice System 29
scientific means to connect suspects to crime scenes but needed a

catalyst, which had to exceed simply solving crime.
In many regards, if it were not for Edmond Locard and August

Vollmer, it may have taken decades for forensic sciences to enter polic-
ing (Rudin and Inman, 2002). This emphasis on using forensic science
marked an era similar to that of criminology that would look to
science and its seemingly objective evidence as a means of discovering
guilt or innocence. It was a decision to move beyond the subjective
interpretations of crime scenes and suspect behavior. Edmond Locard,
whose theoretical principle has guided development of all forensic
sciences, would introduce forensic science to the police service. The
principle states that:
. . . whenever two objects come into contact, a mutual exchange of matter
will take place between them. Linking suspects to victims is the most impor-
tant and common type of linkage accomplished by physical evidence in crimi-
nal investigations. Linking victims and suspects to objects and scenes can also
be accomplished by use of the physical evidence.
(Miller, 2003, p. 116)
On this seemingly simple observation, Locard would come to

influence forensic science within police services around the globe. In
addition, to this principle, Locard is responsible for creating the first
crime laboratory, in Lyon, France, that would bring forensic science
and that of the scientific method to the investigation process. Locard,
like Landsteiner, believed that forensics had the capacity of not only
aiding in identification of suspects, but also had the ability of clearing
individuals at a scientific level in which reproducibility, objectivity,
and validation would mark this investigation tool (Rudin and Inman,
2002; Soullière, 1999).
Using science to identify criminals is not a new phenomenon.
In the early 20th century, criminologists tried to identify with “scien-
tific methods” those predisposed toward criminal leanings. While
Lombroso and those of his ilk were later discredited as scientific meth-
ods improved (Rafter, 1997), there is no discounting the role of science
in identifying criminals. It was the merging of the objective science
with that of the subjective process of criminal investigations that
caught the eye of August Vollmer. To Vollmer forensic science, and by
extension technology, was but one of the many changes the police ser-
vice needed to become more professional.
August Vollmer, held as the “Father of Modern Policing” and by

extension the “Father of Technology Implementation within Policing”
(Soullière, 1999), was heavily influenced by the work of Lombroso and
the accounts of science aiding in apprehending criminals reported by
Locard. Vollmer, inspired by the early work of those criminology
pioneers, and with Sylvester and Wilson, brought forth the modern
professionalism movement within policing. Vollmer was ambitious in
his decisions to advantage science and technology within the police
force. He recognized that education and professional training alone could
not create the skilled professionals he envisioned; rather higher education
coupled with the inclusion of “science” would create a modern police
force ready to perform duties and accomplish tasks as skilled professionals
(White, 2007; Soullière, 1999). Note the following key points within
Vollmer’s tenure as chief of police in Berkeley (White, 2007):
• 1909: Vollmer, named the chief of police in Berkeley, institutes a

Bertillon expert and purchases fingerprinting equipment, and creates
the first modus operandi file system.
• 1919: Vollmer begins testing delinquents and using psychology
to predict delinquent behavior; he implements a juvenile program to
reduce delinquency.
• 1921: Vollmer guides the development of the first “lie detector”
and begins developing radio communications between patrol cars;
he also initiates handwriting analysis.
During his tenure, Vollmer introduced fingerprinting, evidence

collection, graphology, and rudimentary database design, within file
system storage (hard files). He petitioned Congress to create a
national fingerprinting bureau and implemented a crime laboratory
similar to what Locard had designed (White, 2007). Today, research
has discredited graphology, and the state of lie detectors is severely
questioned (Alder, 2007). However, there is no discounting the vision
that Vollmer had to create a truly modern police force by leveraging
technology across all levels of the police organization and that of its
tasks.
Today, numerous police agencies around the world have come to
collect and analyze forensic evidence across fingerprints, blood typing,
ballistics, and DNA. The acquisition of the technical skills and required
budget have come to mark agencies as being highly professionalized and
often highlighted as the “gold standard” in modern agency capabilities

(Lazer, 2004; Soullière, 1999). To be able to process forensic evidence,
including the latest technology developments, is to exceed the standards
and represent the “best” of what police agencies are capable (Lazer,
2004). To offer a comparative perspective, consider the work of
Saxena (1997), who in describing the state of policing in India, noted
how the inclusion of forensics marked an agency as truly “modern”
and indicated a state of professional police service. While the “gold
standard” in forensic evidence has transitioned over the years as new
tools and techniques evolve, there is no discounting the importance of
forensics to the investigative process and that of the agency.
From ABO Typing to DNA

For nearly a century, ABO blood typing had remained the primary
genetic based forensic evidence, which had widespread use within the
investigative process (Rudin and Inman, 2002). Serology, as it would
become known, used the unique markers present within blood to
identify the presence of antigen and antibody systems. These markers
would represent the blood types type A, type B, type AB, type O
and in addition had the capacity to indicate the presence of rhesus
(RH) factors (positive or negative). The identification of these markers
had the potential to link individuals, but not unequivocally identify
an individual. The first known criminal case using the ABO genetic
marker system occurred in 1902, a relatively brief period following the
discovery by Landsteiner in 1900 (Bell, 2008).
As a source of genetic evidence, blood was relatively easy to

identify and in many of the cases in which it was collected was in
ample supply (i.e., violent crimes). However, the tests of the time
required fresh samples and considerable volume, which limited its
utilization. Recognizing this limitation, Leone Lattes developed a
procedure for ABO testing of bloodstains on cloth using a saline solu-
tion, which was capable of restoring the dried blood (Bell, 2008).
However, there were still issues within the procedure and it was not
until the late 1920s that Franz Joseph Holzer developed an improved
typing system that was capable of yielding results within smaller, older,
and dried samples (Bell, 2008).
As police specialization evolved within investigations, subsequent cases

took on a more specific focus. In some instances, investigators
encountered cleaned crime scenes, cleaned to mask the presence of the

crime. Forensic science would evolve its techniques and tools to deliver to
investigators a means of identifying the presence of blood. In 1937, Walter
Specht would suggest that agencies utilize Luminol as a preliminary test
to identify the presence of blood (Bell, 2008). Over the next several
decades, the tools and techniques expanded to provide investigators with
the means of linking individuals to crimes, such as cases of sexual assault
via the ability to conduct a serology assessment on semen stains and
saliva. As challenges emerged within investigations, the scientific commu-
nity would develop techniques and tools that would prove instrumental to
clearing what were horrible cases and often in circumstances in which the
forensic evidence provided was key to the prosecution’s case.
However, ABO typing was not without its faults. While seemingly
highly beneficial to investigators of violent crime, it required additional
resources and adaptations within the agencies’ standard operating
procedures (SOPs), and in some regards many officers found its inclu-
sion provided no additional benefit to the investigative process for the
vast majority of crimes the agency was involved in (Stevens, 2011). It
should be added that one particular point of reluctance in its applica-
tion was its conclusive power. As Garrett (2011) notes in discussing the
case of Gary Dotson, while it was true that only 11% of the Caucasian
population shared the type B blood type and that Dotson in fact pos-
sessed this blood type, it in no way should have provided evidence of
his guilt (p. 87). Nevertheless, the evidence was used to convict Dotson
in 1979. It was not until DNA analysis was conducted that Dotson
was exonerated and released in 1989 (Garrett, 2008).
Scholars have argued that it was the expansion in the investigative

utilization and the subsequent inclusion by prosecutors of ABO typing
that would bring about its demise as a forensic tool (Stevens, 2011;
Garrett, 2011). During the peak of its use throughout the 1970s and
1980s, primarily within cases of sexual assault, issues within evidence
collection, improper testing protocol, and expert testimony that was
misguided and in some instances false, undermined the forensic evidence
as a tool (Garrett, 2011; Lazer, 2004; Radelet et al., 1992). As more
incidents of misconduct and falsehoods became associated with the
forensic practice, prosecutors and agencies became much less inclined
to incorporate ABO blood typing into their standard operating
procedures (Garrett, 2011; Lazer, 2004). In fact, the documentation of
misuse of forensic science is vast (see Garrett, 2011; Baumgartner
et al., 2008; Gould, 2007; Lee and Tirnady, 2003) and few offer an
in-depth work as conducted by Garrett (2011). In fact, Garrett (2011)
uncovered numerous examples of individuals falsely incarcerated
because of ABO typing and with police policy in the 1980s often not
retaining evidence after a conviction, an untold number of individuals
remained incarcerated with no mechanism to overturn their conviction.
Police practice, coupled with incidents of prosecutorial misuse, facili-
tated a negative perception of blood typing as a means of identification.
Criminal cases require a high standard of proof and while blood
typing provided a means of linking individuals to incidents, there needed
to be a more powerful method. As such, there would come to exist a
forensic gap within investigations wherein forensic science would again
evolve to offer to the investigative practice a more reliable tool 2
deoxyribonucleic acid or, as it is more commonly known, DNA.
THE SCIENCE OF DNA

As Derksen (2010) states, DNA is a universally accepted scientific
means of identification. It is universally accepted because DNA is con-
tained in nearly every human cell and unique markers present within
the genetic code allow identification to occur. From an investigative
perspective, DNA is contained most readably within samples recovered
from scenes. It can be found within blood, bone, mucus, tissue, skin
cells, teeth, saliva, semen, sweat, and human excrement: feces and
urine (Lazer, 2004). Most people possess within each cell 23 pairs of
chromosomes (46 in total), half from the paternal source and half from
the maternal, which, when examined at a genetic level, reveal a
sequence of nucleotides that represent DNA. The DNA structure is
aligned in a double-helix configuration, which contains four base types
(adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine) that in concert make up the DNA
molecule. As the pairing of the bases are specific, adenine (A) may only
bond with thymine (T) and cytosine (C) may only bond to guanine (G).
Understanding the base pairings and the sequences within segments of
the DNA molecule allows for a means of distinguishing one individual
from another (Calladine, 2004; Lazer, 2004).
While the above description of DNA is rather simplistic, it is important
to stress that the human genome contains billions of base pairs, which
are nearly identical (Calladine, 2004). The ability for DNA to uniquely
identify a person relies upon key differences as contained within a

segment of DNA known as “junk” DNA (Calladine, 2004). “Junk”
DNA contains short tandem repeats (STRs), which are short repeating
segments of DNA that differ among people (Calladine, 2004).
Analyzing these segments across the chromosomal regions (loci) allows
a sequence to be completed to determine the alleles present in the
sample. These short sequences vary in length but because they repeat in
tandem at different intervals from person to person, it is possible to
identify a particular person based on this unique pattern with extreme
precision. For example, when matching across 5 or 6 loci, the probabil-
ity of a random person’s profiling matching a suspect is said to be 1 in
100 billion (US Department of Justice, 2000).
Most beneficial within the STRs is that the short sequence can be
replicated, meaning that a smaller sample can be amplified to produce
a desired amount for comparison purposes (US Department of Justice,
2000). Because DNA degrades at a significantly slower rate and is con-
stantly discarded as a natural process (i.e., skin shedding) it provides a
scientific means to link an individual to a scene by the presence
of DNA. However, it must be noted that DNA does not provide a
timeframe, nor does it explain how DNA arrived at the scene. As the
body easily discards DNA, it is quite possible to leave DNA at a scene
and not to have committed the crime.
While the Locard Exchange Principle is vital to the investigative

process, this fundamental principle also works against investigators as
DNA can be discarded even via fingerprints. Subsequently, it should
be noted that also of importance is the issue of sample contamination.
The greatest weakness of this investigative tool is that of its sensitivity
(Calladine, 2004). Improper handling of a sample could potentially
transfer DNA between samples, effectively matching the scene sample
to the scene sample and not the offender’s sample. While processes
have been developed to limit this potential error (discussed later in the
literature review), nevertheless there are opportunities for contamination
and deception via DNA to occur.
Equally beneficial, but controversial, is the ability for DNA profiles

using the STR sequencing to identify siblings or close relatives. The pro-
cess, termed familial DNA typing, affords police officers the ability to
compile searches that are close, but not identical to the DNA evidence
to identify potential suspects. At present, familial DNA is capable of
revealing parents, children, and full siblings of the person matched

within the system. In fact, the use of this technique made national news
when the serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” was discovered via
the technique (Rubin, 2010).
The “Grim Sleeper” was responsible for the deaths of at least
10 women in Los Angeles since 1985 (Rubin, 2010). The LAPD working
with the Department of Justice had been conducting ongoing analysis on
the samples hoping to find a match within the Combined DNA Index
System (CODIS), but throughout the years there had been no such luck.
It was not until the Department of Justice undertook a familial DNA
search that there came a break in the case. The police had arrested a
young man who matched the samples recovered from the crime scenes
but who was also too young to be the killer. Further testing revealed
that the partial DNA match reflected a parental relationship and the
allele match was that of a paternal source (Rubin, 2010). While legal
and privacy issues were being addressed, investigators undertook surveil-
lance and evidence collection from recovered pizza crust and on July 7,
2010, the LAPD arrested 57-year-old Lonnie Franklin Jr. This marked
one of its first uses within the United States, but is not the world’s first
as the United Kingdom utilized the technique in 2004 to identify a killer
(Bhattacharya, 2004). It should be added that the use of the technique
is not limited to violent crime. Denver became the first state to utilize
the technique for property crime, when detectives linked Luis Jaimes-
Tinajero to two car thefts based on familial DNA (Griffin, 2009).
With increasing use of this technique and both investigative successes
and exonerations based on this technique, the inherent benefits are being
recognized and implemented. For example, in 2011, Virginia Governor
Bob McDonnell indicated that agencies in the state would begin using
familial DNA typing.
The discriminatory power of DNA to link individuals to crime scenes
is clearly one of the most important forensic tools to investigators.
There is no other universally accepted means of identification than
DNA and its investigative benefits continue to expand. Most recently,
even the most “unsolvable” case (that of identical twins) has now
become solvable. Prior to the discovery that there are genetic variations
within identical twins, a case involving twins could not rely upon DNA
evidence. Bruder et al. (2008) discovered that there was in fact variation.
With this discovery, a technique was developed to determine which
twin’s DNA matched the scene sample. While such a case would be
extremely rare and often reserved for the fictional stories of crime televi-
sion programming, there is no denying that the science of DNA is an
asset to the criminal investigative process.
HISTORY OF DNA IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE

In many respects, the history of DNA in the investigation process has
sought to aid in the identification of criminals for violent offenses.
In fact, the very case that resulted in its widespread adoption was that
of a rape and subsequent homicide of two young girls on November 21,
1983, and July 31, 1986, in Leicestershire, England. The case involved
Colin Pitchfork, a husband, father of two, and local baker who subse-
quently raped and then killed via strangulation Lynda Mann and Dawn
Ashworth both at the young age of 15. The first victim, Lynda Mann,
was abducted while walking on a footpath and was raped and then
strangled by Pitchfork. The investigation yielded valuable evidence via
semen recovered from the victim. However, with no investigative leads,
the case stalled. It is important to note that during this period Pitchfork
was arrested for indecent exposure and sentenced to probation.
Several years later, Pitchfork would assault, rape, and murder Dawn
Ashworth. The investigation discovered that the cases had identical
modus operandi and blood typing matched the semen recovered from
the scenes, but blood typing alone could not provide any additional help
in the investigation. The investigation uncovered a lead to a local man,
Richard Buckland, who was subsequently arrested and confessed to the
second murder. Seeking to link Buckland to the first murder, the agency
sought out the assistance of Alec Jeffreys, a Leicester University pro-
fessor. Peter Gill, Alec Jeffreys, and Dave Werett had recently devel-
oped a technique capable of extracting DNA from samples containing
human cells, which could be analyzed to produce a profile capable of
identifying individuals at a unique level (Gill et al., 1985). Using this
new technique, Jeffreys revealed that there was one person responsible
for the rapes and murder of those young girls and that Buckland could
not have been that person (leading to the first exoneration because of
DNA profiling).
With this new forensic technique, the agency undertook a mass
screening of all of the men in the area, some 5,000, which yielded, after
6 months of analysis, no profile matches. It was not until the agency
received a report from a woman who overheard a man bragging about

providing a DNA sample for a friend that the agency had their lead.
Pitchfork was arrested. His DNA profile matched the semen samples
recovered from the two rapes and murders and he was subsequently
convicted on both charges.
The importance of the Pitchfork case within the history of DNA in
Criminal Justice is how the inclusion of this new forensic technique resulted
in several of the world’s firsts. This new forensic technique resulted in
the exoneration of Buckland for a crime he did not commit, mass
DNA screening, a preventable rape and homicide (if there had been
DNA collection for low-level offenses), and the introduction of DNA
profiling into the criminal justice system. The discovery by Jeffreys and
his colleagues and its use by the police agency would come to mark a
new era within the investigative process with a forensic tool that was
capable of identifying individuals at a genetic (unique) level from mate-
rial easily discarded as a natural human process (skin, saliva, blood, and
semen). With this forensic investigative tool, skin underneath a victim’s
nails, saliva on a cigarette found outside a home, saliva left on a soda
can discarded within the house, the presence of pubic hair when semen
was no longer present, and countless other examples, now yielded valu-
able forensic data that became capable of identifying and linking a per-
son to the scene. However, there were no standards, no mechanism for
collection, retention, or comparison. As such, within the United States,
the CODIS was created to allow for the comparison of DNA samples at
the national, state, and local levels.
Creation of CODIS
The CODIS is a hierarchical, combined system of three interlinking
systems: the Local DNA Index System (LDIS), State DNA Index System
(SDIS), and National DNA Index System (NDIS). It was authorized by
the DNA Identification Act of 1994. In creating CODIS, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation selected 13 STR loci as the forensic standard
for comparison of samples. The decision to employ the 13 loci as the
forensic standard relied upon the current forensic knowledge and capacity
of laboratories to participate and cooperate based on current technical
standards (US Department of Justice, 2000). As noted prior, the discrimi-
natory power of the 13 loci is extremely high. As DNA variations differ
across racial background types, the probability of a match between two
unrelated persons that are Caucasian American is 1 in 575 trillion
Table 3.1 CODIS

Local Laboratories (LDIS) State Laboratories (SDIS) National Laboratories (NDIS)
The Local DNA Index System Each state has a designated The National DNA Index
(LDIS) installed at crime laboratory that operates the State System (NDIS), the highest level
laboratories is operated by police DNA Index System (SDIS). SDIS of the CODIS hierarchy, enables
departments or sheriffs’ offices. allows local laboratories within qualified state laboratories that
DNA profiles originated at the that state to compare DNA actively participate in CODIS
local level can be transmitted to profiles. SDIS is also the to compare DNA profiles.
the state and national levels. communication path between the
local and national tiers. SDIS is
typically operated by the agency
responsible for implementing and
monitoring compliance with the
state’s convicted offender statute.
Source: DNA Initiative, May 2011: http://www.dna.gov/solving-crimes/cold-cases/howdatabasesaid/ldisndissdis/
(US Department of Justice, 2000). To offer a more common scenario as

to a match between two unrelated persons from a highly heterogeneous
population, such as the United States, the probability match for the
13 core loci would be 1 in 10 billion (US Department of Justice, 2000).
Offered another way, DNA recovered at a crime scene and matched
to an individual has a 1 in 10 billion chance of being that of another
person.
Using 13 STR loci as the forensic standard, the Federal Bureau of

Investigation created a computer software system capable of comparing
DNA samples across the national, state, and local levels. To date, the
system has assisted in more than 137,000 investigations, producing over
142,700 “hits” (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011). As Table 3.1
displays, the CODIS system was designed to be hierarchical with three
separate systems comprising the overall CODIS system. While the
system is capable of comparing samples across all levels, the database
reflects local (i.e., city or county) and state submission rules, which is to
say there is great variation in what is submitted and available for com-
parison with the CODIS system based on eligible qualifying offenses.1
This was an intended characteristic designed to meet minimum legal
thresholds, most specifically that of privacy concerns (Goulka et al.,
2010). The system, housed at the FBI Laboratory, allows agencies
across the nation to compare samples across four levels: Convicted
Offender Profiles, Forensic Profiles, Arrestee Profiles, Suspect Profiles,
1
See Table 3.2 for an overview of the current statutory requirements for qualifying offenses.
Unidentified Human Remains, Missing Person, and Relatives of

Missing Person Profiles.
Convicted offender profiles constitute the most common profile

submitted to the system. As of April 2011, the National DNA Index
(NDIS) contained over 9,635,757 offender profiles (Federal Bureau
of Investigation, 2011). As of March 2011, when the Idaho legisla-
ture passed a bill to expand DNA analysis for “all convicted felons”
(Associated Press, 2011), all states now include statutory provisions
to allow for the collection and retention of DNA samples from
convicted offenders. Forensic profiles (also known as scene samples)
refer to collected DNA evidence obtained from unsolved cases.
Evidence profiles are submitted to the system in hopes of obtaining
a “hit” to match a known offender or to generate investigative
leads; as of April 2011, the CODIS system contained 370,875
forensic profiles (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011). Arrestee
profiles are the most recent addition to the NDIS system, as arrestee
samples were ineligible for comparisons at the NDIS level until a
revision to the federal law in 2006. These profiles reflect individuals
arrested for offenses and differ greatly across state statutes.
Currently, 12 states allow for the collection and retention of DNA
for all felony arrests. Suspect profiles reflect DNA samples collected
from suspects in criminals cases and the policy differs greatly from
state to state. The current legal and privacy concerns have limited
its inclusion into the NDIS system. The last profile within the
system that agencies may compare against is that of Unidentified
Human Remains, Missing Person, and Relatives of Missing Person
Profiles.
DNA Statutes
All federal and state laws permit DNA collection for individuals
convicted of a felony. In addition, several states have expanded their
collection to misdemeanor convictions and those arrested for certain
criminal offenses, including all felony arrests (Gordon Thomas
Honeywell Governmental Affairs, 2010). According to the latest collation
of statutes provided by Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental
Affairs (2010) and noted in Table 3.2, Alabama, Alaska, California,
Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, and
South Dakota have the most inclusive laws in the country. These states
Table 3.2 State Statutes

State Statutory Inclusion
Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, All felony convictions, juvenile adjudications, jail
Kansas, Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, and probation, sex crime misdemeanors, all felony
South Dakota (10) arrests (including murder, sex crimes, and
burglary arrests)
Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, All felony arrests (including murder, sex crimes,
Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, South and burglary)
Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont (12)
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Burglary arrests
Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota,
Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia (22)
New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Utah, Misdemeanor convictions (exceeding sex crime
Washington (4) misdemeanors)
Source: DNA Resource (2010), http://www.dnaresource.com/documents/statequalifyingoffenses2010.pdf
permit DNA sampling for any individual who meets any of the condi-
tions noted below:
1. Convicted of a felony
2. A juvenile adjudicated delinquent (including provisions for certain
violent and nonviolent crimes) or adjudicated not delinquent by rea-
sons of insanity
3. A probationer or parolee2
4. Convicted of sex crime misdemeanors (i.e., indecent exposure or
solicitation of a prostitute)
5. Persons arrested for any felony (Gordon Thomas Honeywell
Governmental Affairs, 2010)
Of importance to this discussion is that of arrestee samples, originating
in the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, which authorized collection of
DNA samples from persons arrested or detained under federal authority
(Biancamano, 2009). With the passage of the act, many states passed
2
Requires DNA samples from offenders placed on probation or parole. Variations as noted in
survey research undertaken by the Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision (2005)
includes Alabama, which requires DNA samples from all offenders placed on probation or
parole; Missouri requires DNA samples from every probationer or parolee convicted of a felony
and under supervision by the Board in Missouri; New Hampshire includes a retroactive provision
of anyone incarcerated or under probation or parole for sexual assault; Nebraska requires any
person convicted of a sex offense, including those adjudicated via probation to submit DNA sam-
ples; and New Mexico allows for DNA samples if stated in the conditions of probation
(Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision, 2005).
similar legislation authorizing DNA collection within the arrestee desig-

nation (Biancamano, 2009). Currently, 12 states include conditions
requiring samples be collected from a person arrested for any felony.
Interestingly, while only 12 states have included the designation for
“any felony” arrest, 22 states have expanded collection from individuals
arrested for the crime of burglary. As Biancamano (2009) noted, there
has been an increasing focus at the legislative level to expand DNA
collection to the arrestee level for all felony offenses and some states have
even gone as far as expanding their collection to misdemeanor convic-
tions, though not arrests (extending beyond misdemeanor sex crimes). As
for 2010, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Utah, and Washington include
provisions for the collection of DNA samples from individuals convicted
of certain, but not all, misdemeanors (i.e., gross misdemeanors).
As noted above, there has been a clear trend within states to expand
their statutory requirements (Biancamano, 2009; Fender, 2007) and there
is little reason to believe that states will slow down their expansion and
refinement of existing laws (Biancamano, 2009). There is also clear evi-
dence that DNA bills have continued to mark legislative sessions. In fact,
in 2007, there were 42 bills put forth in relation to DNA samples from
arrestees and 57 proposed in 2008 (Biancamano, 2009). As of March
2011, 86 bills have been put forth concerning DNA, often expanding
DNA collection, refining costs, or clarifying processes for expungement
(Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs, 2011). Despite
many of the bills and amendments failing to pass committee or failing a
vote, DNA testing bills continue to occupy a prominent place within
police policy during legislative sessions. Consider the 2011 legislative
session in Georgia, which put forth the following proposed amendment
to Code Section 17-6-1 of the Official Code of Georgia. The amendment
reads as follows:
(k)(1) A person charged with any offense which is bailable only before a judge of
a superior court as provided in subsection (a) of this Code section shall be
required, as a condition of bond, to have an oral swab or a sample obtained
from a noninvasive procedure taken for DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) analysis to
determine identification characteristics specific to the person. Prior to the person’s
release from custody on bond or recognizance, the law enforcement entity
responsible for releasing such person on bond or recognizance shall be responsi-
ble for collecting a DNA sample in accordance with rules and regulations estab-
lished by the Division of Forensic Sciences of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
and notifying the person of his or her right to petition to exclude his or her DNA
from the data bank in accordance with paragraph (4) of this subsection.
Under this amendment, persons charged with any offense that is

eligible for bail would be required to submit to a DNA sample. Similar
amendments have been proposed across the nation and while as of yet,
no clear scholarship has revealed a considerable movement, anecdotal
evidence suggests that the movement to expand collection into arrestee
sampling is occurring. Most recently, New Mexico approved a bill
(A-2594) expanding DNA arrestee sampling within the state by requiring
DNA samples from anyone arrested on suspicion of a violent crime. The
2011 2012 legislative sessions in Washington State witnessed the intro-
duction of the Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2011,
which looks to expand DNA samples from arrestees. However, while
there has been a movement to expand collection, there are examples of
bills failing to pass committee or failing to pass either a senate or a house
vote. Recently, a bill expanding DNA collection to arrest offenses failed
to move out of committee in Nevada (Ryan, 2011).
While, no state has yet passed legislation to expand DNA collection

and retention across all felony, misdemeanor, and arrest categories,
it is important to recognize the financial burden that states endure as
they expand DNA collection statutes. As one clear factor associated
with the decision to process property crime scene evidence relates to
the budget, it is vital to examine the current funding initiatives and
associated costs of testing. It is the intent of the following section to
highlight the initialization of CODIS and examine the current funding
initiatives and the relevant backlog research to provide the reader with
a more comprehensive background into those financial factors.
Initialization of CODIS
The initialization and subsequent utilization of CODIS, while autho-
rized in the DNA Identification Act of 1994, would not see a signifi-
cant increase in utilization until 2004. It was not until the passage of
the Justice for All Act of 2004 that there existed a legislative goal and
more specifically a substantive funding source to ensure efficient and
effective processing of DNA evidence. Scholars and practitioners have
long marked the passage of this act as a commendable and indispens-
able source of legislation. It was perhaps Rago (2005) who offered one
of the most succinct statements on the act, “The Justice for All Act
and its treatment of the information science of DNA represents the most
significant piece of criminal justice reform legislation, perhaps in our
lifetime” (p. 47).
The act was designed across seven key points (Rago, 2005):
1. Eliminate the backlog of DNA samples collected from crime scenes

and convicted offenders
2. Expand the Combined DNA Index System
3. Improve and expand the DNA testing capacity of federal, state,
and local crime laboratories
4. Increase research and development of new DNA testing technologies
5. Develop new training programs for the collection and use of DNA
evidence
6. Extend the statute of limitations for crimes where the suspect is
linked to the crime through DNA evidence
7. Provide post-conviction DNA testing and the preservation of bio-
logical evidence
While the application of DNA forensics into the criminal justice

process originated within the case of Andrews v. State (1988), up until
the passage of the act, there existed limited utilization of DNA foren-
sics within the police service. Much of the limitations originated out
of needs to refine and evaluate the scientific methods and procedures
within forensic testing (Peterson and Leggett, 2007), inclusion of foren-
sic protocol within the investigative standard operating procedures
(Lovrich et al., 2004), alignment of the laboratory and agency, and
effective resource sharing to distribute the costs of processing, which
arguably has still not occurred (Williams and Hammond, 2009).
By many accounts, the generous funding allocations that are

available to states has greatly facilitated the use of the CODIS system.
As would be expected, providing a funding source facilitates greatly
the adoption of technology. Consider the example of the in-car camera
and its significant adoption by the police service. To address increasing
complaints and allegations of racial profiling, the Department of
Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
created the In-Car Camera Incentive Program (IACP, 2004). This
program created funds for agencies to deploy the in-car camera within
patrol vehicles. A 2000 National Institute of Justice report noted that,
prior to the COP funding initiative, 3,400 (11%) of state police and
highway patrol vehicles were equipped with in-car cameras (IACP,
2004). The IACP (2004) found that in the 3-year period following the
funding, there was a considerable increase in implementation of the
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CHAPTER XVI.
Captain Morgan takes the Castle of Chagre, with four hundred men sent to this
purpose from St Catherine’s.
C aptain Morgan sending this little fleet to Chagre, chose for vice-
admiral thereof one Captain Brodely, who had been long in those
quarters, and committed many robberies on the Spaniards, when
Mansvelt took the isle of St. Catherine, as was before related; and
therefore was thought a fit person for this exploit, his actions
likewise having rendered him famous among the pirates, and their
enemies the Spaniards. Captain Brodely being made commander, in
three days after his departure arrived in sight of the said castle of
Chagre, by the Spaniards called St. Lawrence. This castle is built on
a high mountain, at the entry of the river, surrounded by strong
palisades, or wooden walls, filled with earth, which secures them as
well as the best wall of stone or brick. The top of this mountain is, in
a manner, divided into two parts, between which is a ditch thirty feet
deep. The castle hath but one entry, and that by a drawbridge over
this ditch. To the land it has four bastions, and to the sea two more.
The south part is totally inaccessible, through the cragginess of the
mountain. The north is surrounded by the river, which here is very
broad. At the foot of the castle, or rather mountain, is a strong fort,
with eight great guns, commanding the entry of the river. Not much
lower are two other batteries, each of six pieces, to defend likewise
the mouth of the river. At one side of the castle are two great
storehouses of all sorts of warlike ammunition and merchandise,
brought thither from the island country. Near these houses is a high
pair of stairs hewn out of the rock, to mount to the top of the castle.
On the west is a small port, not above seven or eight fathoms deep,
fit for small vessels, and of very good anchorage; besides, before
the castle, at the entry of the river, is a great rock, scarce to be
descried but at low tides.
No sooner had the Spaniards perceived the pirates, but they fired
incessantly at them with the biggest of their guns. They came to an
anchor in a small port, about a league from the castle. Next
morning, very early, they went ashore, and marched through the
woods, to attack the castle on that side. This march lasted till two of
the clock in the afternoon, before they could reach the castle, by
reason of the difficulties of the way, and its mire and dirt; and
though their guides served them very exactly, yet they came so nigh
the castle at first, that they lost many of their men by its shot, they
being in an open place without covert. This much perplexed the
pirates, not knowing what course to take; for on that side, of
necessity, they must make the assault: and being uncovered from
head to foot, they could not advance one step without danger:
besides that, the castle, both for its situation and strength, made
them much doubt of success. But to give it over they dared not, lest
they should be reproached by their companions.
At last, after many doubts and disputes, resolving to hazard the
assault and their lives desperately, they advanced towards the castle
with their swords in one hand, and fireballs in the other. The
Spaniards defended themselves very briskly, ceasing not to fire at
them continually; crying withal, “Come on, ye English dogs! enemies
to God and our king; and let your other companions that are behind
come on too, ye shall not go to Panama this bout.” The pirates
making some trial to climb the walls, were forced to retreat, resting
themselves till night. This being come, they returned to the assault,
to try, by the help of their fire-balls, to destroy the pales before the
wall; and while they were about it, there happened a very
remarkable accident, which occasioned their victory. One of the
pirates being wounded with an arrow in his back, which pierced his
body through, he pulled it out boldly at the side of his breast, and
winding a little cotton about it, he put it into his musket, and shot it
back to the castle; but the cotton being kindled by the powder, fired
two or three houses in the castle, being thatched with palm-leaves,
which the Spaniards perceived not so soon as was necessary: for
this fire meeting with a parcel of powder, blew it up, thereby causing
great ruin, and no less consternation to the Spaniards, who were not
able to put a stop to it, not having seen it time enough.
The pirates perceiving the effect of the arrow, and the
misfortunes of the Spaniards, were infinitely glad; and while they
were busied in quenching the fire, which caused a great confusion
for want of water, the pirates took this opportunity, setting fire
likewise to the palisades. The fire thus seen at once in several parts
about the castle, gave them great advantage against the Spaniards,
many breaches being made by the fire among the pales, great heaps
of earth falling into the ditch. Then the pirates climbing up, got over
into the castle, though those Spaniards, who were not busy about
the fire, cast down many flaming pots full of combustible matter, and
odious smells, which destroyed many of the English.
The Spaniards, with all their resistance, could not hinder the
palisades from being burnt down before midnight. Meanwhile the
pirates continued in their intention of taking the castle; and though
the fire was very great, they would creep on the ground, as near as
they could, and shoot amidst the flames against the Spaniards on
the other side, and thus killed many from the walls. When day was
come, they observed all the movable earth, that lay betwixt the
pales, to be fallen into the ditch; so that now those within the castle
lay equally exposed to them without, as had been on the contrary
before; whereupon the pirates continued shooting very furiously, and
killed many Spaniards; for the governor had charged them to make
good those posts, answering to the heaps of earth fallen into the
ditch, and caused the artillery to be transported to the breaches.
The fire within the castle still continuing, the pirates from abroad
did what they could to hinder its progress, by shooting incessantly
against it; one party of them was employed only for this, while
another watched all the motions of the Spaniards. About noon the
English gained a breach, which the governor himself defended with
twenty-five soldiers. Here was made a very courageous resistance by
the Spaniards, with muskets, pikes, stones, and swords; but through
all these the pirates fought their way, till they gained the castle. The
Spaniards, who remained alive, cast themselves down from the
castle into the sea, choosing rather to die thus (few or none
surviving the fall) than to ask quarter for their lives. The governor
himself retreated to the corps du gard, before which were placed
two pieces of cannon: here he still defended himself, not demanding
any quarter, till he was killed with a musket-shot in the head.
The governor being dead, and the corps du gard surrendering,
they found remaining in it alive thirty men, whereof scarce ten were
not wounded: these informed the pirates that eight or nine of their
soldiers had deserted, and were gone to Panama, to carry news of
their arrival and invasion. These thirty men alone remained of three
hundred and fourteen wherewith the castle was garrisoned, among
which not one officer was found alive. These were all made
prisoners, and compelled to tell whatever they knew of their designs
and enterprises. Among other things, that the governor of Panama
had notice sent him three weeks ago from Carthagena, that the
English were equipping a fleet at Hispaniola, with a design to take
Panama; and, beside, that this had been discovered by a deserter
from the pirates at the river De la Hacha, where they had victualled.
That upon this, the governor had sent one hundred and sixty-four
men to strengthen the garrison of that castle, with much provision
and ammunition; the ordinary garrison whereof was only one
hundred and fifty men, but these made up two hundred and
fourteen men, very well armed. Besides this, they declared that the
governor of Panama had placed several ambuscades along the river
of Chagre; and that he waited for them in the open fields of Panama
with three thousand six hundred men.
The taking of this castle cost the pirates excessively dear, in
comparison to what they were wont to lose, and their toil and labour
was greater than at the conquest of the isle of St. Catherine; for,
numbering their men, they had lost above a hundred, beside seventy
wounded. They commanded the Spanish prisoners to cast the dead
bodies of their own men from the top of the mountain to the sea-
side, and to bury them. The wounded were carried to the church, of
which they made an hospital, and where also they shut up the
women. Thus it was likewise turned into a place of prostitution, the
pirates ceasing not to defile the bodies of those afflicted widows with
all manner of insolent actions and threats.
Captain Morgan remained not long behind at St. Catherine’s, after
taking the castle of Chagre, of which he had notice presently; but
before he departed, he embarked all the provisions that could be
found, with much maize, or Indian wheat, and cazave, whereof also
is made bread in those parts. He transported great store of
provisions to the garrison of Chagre, whencesoever they could be
got. At a certain place they cast into the sea all the guns belonging
thereto, designing to return, and leave that island well garrisoned, to
the perpetual possession of the pirates; but he ordered all the
houses and forts to be fired, except the castle of St. Teresa, which
he judged to be the strongest and securest wherein to fortify himself
at his return from Panama.
Having completed his arrangements, he took with him all the
prisoners of the island, and then sailed for Chagre, where he arrived
in eight days. Here the joy of the whole fleet was so great, when
they spied the English colours on the castle, that they minded not
their way into the river, so that they lost four ships at the entry
thereof, Captain Morgan’s being one; yet they saved all the men and
goods. The ships, too, had been preserved, if a strong northerly
wind had not risen, which cast them on the rock at the entry of the
river.
Captain Morgan was brought into the castle with great
acclamations of all the pirates, both of those within, and those newly
come. Having heard the manner of the conquest, he commanded all
the prisoners to work, and repair what was necessary, especially to
set up new palisades round the forts of the castle. There were still in
the river some Spanish vessels, called chatten, serving for
transportation of merchandise up and down the river, and to go to
Puerto Bello and Nicaragua. These commonly carry two great guns
of iron, and four small ones of brass. These vessels they seized, with
four little ships they found there, and all the canoes. In the castle
they left a garrison of five hundred men, and in the ships in the river
one hundred and fifty more. This done, Captain Morgan departed for
Panama at the head of twelve hundred men. He carried little
provisions with him, hoping to provide himself sufficiently among the
Spaniards, whom he knew to lie in ambuscade by the way.
CHAPTER XVII.
Captain Morgan departs from Chagre, at the head of twelve hundred men, to take
the city of Panama.
C aptain Morgan set forth from the castle of Chagre, towards

Panama, August 18, 1670. He had with him twelve hundred
men, five boats laden with artillery, and thirty-two canoes. The first
day they sailed only six leagues, and came to a place called De los
Bracos. Here a party of his men went ashore, only to sleep and
stretch their limbs, being almost crippled with lying too much
crowded in the boats. Having rested awhile, they went abroad to
seek victuals in the neighbouring plantations; but they could find
none, the Spaniards being fled, and carrying with them all they had.
This day, being the first of their journey, they had such scarcity of
victuals, as the greatest part were forced to pass with only a pipe of
tobacco, without any other refreshment.
Next day, about evening, they came to a place called Cruz de
Juan Gallego. Here they were compelled to leave their boats and
canoes, the river being very dry for want of rain, and many trees
having fallen into it.
The guides told them, that, about two leagues farther, the
country would be very good to continue the journey by land.
Hereupon they left one hundred and sixty men on board the boats,
to defend them, that they might serve for a refuge in necessity.
Next morning, being the third day, they all went ashore, except
those who were to keep the boats. To these Captain Morgan gave
order, under great penalties, that no man, on any pretext whatever,
should dare to leave the boats, and go ashore; fearing lest they
should be surprised by an ambuscade of Spaniards in the
neighbouring woods, which appeared so thick as to seem almost
impenetrable. This morning beginning their march, the ways proved
so bad, that Captain Morgan thought it more convenient to transport
some of the men in canoes (though with great labour) to a place
farther up the river, called Cedro Bueno. Thus they re-embarked,
and the canoes returned for the rest; so that about night they got
altogether at the said place. The pirates much desired to meet some
Spaniards or Indians, hoping to fill their bellies with their provisions,
being reduced to extremity and hunger.
The fourth day the greatest part of the pirates marched by land,
being led by one of the guides; the rest went by water farther up,
being conducted by another guide, who always went before them, to
discover, on both sides of the river, the ambuscades. These had also
spies, who were very dextrous to give notice of all accidents, or of
the arrival of the pirates, six hours, at least, before they came. This
day, about noon, they came near a post called Torna Cavallos: here
the guide of the canoes cried out, that he perceived an ambuscade.
His voice caused infinite joy to all the pirates, hoping to find some
provisions to satiate their extreme hunger. Being come to the place,
they found nobody in it, the Spaniards being fled, and leaving
nothing behind but a few leathern bags, all empty, and a few crumbs
of bread scattered on the ground where they had eaten. Being angry
at this, they pulled down a few little huts which the Spaniards had
made, and fell to eating the leathern bags, to allay the ferment of
their stomachs, which was now so sharp as to gnaw their very
bowels. Thus they made a huge banquet upon these bags of leather,
divers quarrels arising concerning the greatest shares. By the
bigness of the place, they conjectured about five hundred Spaniards
had been there, whom, finding no victuals, they were now infinitely
desirous to meet, intending to devour some of them rather than
perish.
Having feasted themselves with those pieces of leather, they
marched on, till they came about night to another post, called Torna
Munni. Here they found another ambuscade, but as barren as the
former. They searched the neighbouring woods, but could not find
anything to eat, the Spaniards having been so provident, as not to
leave anywhere the least crumb of sustenance, whereby the pirates
were now brought to this extremity. Here again he was happy that
had reserved since noon any bit of leather to make his supper of,
drinking after it a good draught of water for his comfort. Some, who
never were out of their mothers’ kitchens, may ask, how these
pirates could eat and digest those pieces of leather, so hard and dry?
Whom I answer, that, could they once experiment what hunger, or
rather famine, is, they would find the way as the pirates did. For
these first sliced it in pieces, then they beat it between two stones,
and rubbed it, often dipping it in water, to make it supple and tender.
Lastly, they scraped off the hair, and broiled it. Being thus cooked,
they cut it into small morsels, and ate it, helping it down with
frequent gulps of water, which, by good fortune, they had at hand.
The fifth day, about noon, they came to a place called Barbacoa.
Here they found traces of another ambuscade, but the place totally
as unprovided as the former. At a small distance were several
plantations, which they searched very narrowly, but could not find
any person animal, or other thing, to relieve their extreme hunger.
Finally, having ranged about, and searched a long time, they found a
grot, which seemed to be but lately hewn out of a rock, where were
two sacks of meal, wheat, and like things, with two great jars of
wine, and certain fruits called platanoes. Captain Morgan, knowing
some of his men were now almost dead with hunger, and fearing the
same of the rest, caused what was found to be distributed among
them who were in greatest necessity. Having refreshed themselves
with these victuals, they marched anew with greater courage than
ever. Such as were weak were put into the canoes, and those
commanded to land that were in them before. Thus they prosecuted
their journey till late at night; when coming to a plantation, they
took up their rest, but without eating anything; for the Spaniards, as
before, had swept away all manner of provisions.
The sixth day they continued their march, part by land and part
by water. Howbeit, they were constrained to rest very frequently,
both for the ruggedness of the way, and their extreme weakness,
which they endeavoured to relieve by eating leaves of trees and
green herbs, or grass; such was their miserable condition. This day
at noon they arrived at a plantation, where was a barn full of maize.
Immediately they beat down the doors and ate it dry, as much as
they could devour; then they distributed a great quantity, giving
every man a good allowance. Thus provided, and prosecuting their
journey for about an hour, they came to another ambuscade. This
they no sooner discovered, but they threw away their maize, with
the sudden hopes of finding all things in abundance. But they were
much deceived, meeting neither Indians nor victuals, nor anything
else: but they saw, on the other side of the river, about a hundred
Indians, who, all fleeing, escaped. Some few pirates leaped into the
river to cross it, and try to take any of the Indians, but in vain: for,
being much more nimble than the pirates, they not only baffled
them, but killed two or three with their arrows; hooting at them, and
crying, “Ha, perrros! a la savana, a la savana.”—“Ha, ye dogs! go to
the plain, go to the plain.”
This day they could advance no farther, being necessitated to
pass the river, to continue their march on the other side. Hereupon
they reposed for that night, though their sleep was not profound; for
great murmurings were made at Captain Morgan, and his conduct;
some being desirous to return home, while others would rather die
there than go back a step from their undertaking: others, who had
greater courage, laughed and joked at their discourses. Meanwhile,
they had a guide who much comforted them, saying, “It would not
now be long before they met with people from whom they should
reap some considerable advantage.”
The seventh day, in the morning, they made clean their arms, and
every one discharged his pistol, or musket, without bullet, to try
their firelocks. This done, they crossed the river, leaving the post
where they had rested, called Santa Cruz, and at noon they arrived
at a village called Cruz. Being yet far from the place, they perceived
much smoke from the chimneys: the sight hereof gave them great
joy, and hopes of finding people and plenty of good cheer. Thus they
went on as fast as they could, encouraging one another, saying,
“There is smoke comes out of every house: they are making good
fires, to roast and boil what we are to eat;” and the like.
At length they arrived there, all sweating and panting, but found
no person in the town, nor anything eatable to refresh themselves,
except good fires, which they wanted not; for the Spaniards, before
their departure, had every one set fire to his own house, except the
king’s storehouses and stables.
They had not left behind them any beast, alive or dead, which
much troubled their minds, not finding anything but a few cats and
dogs, which they immediately killed and devoured. At last, in the
king’s stables, they found, by good fortune, fifteen or sixteen jars of
Peru wine, and a leathern sack full of bread. No sooner had they
drank of this wine, when they fell sick, almost every man: this made
them think the wine was poisoned, which caused a new
consternation in the whole camp, judging themselves now to be
irrecoverably lost. But the true reason was, their want of sustenance,
and the manifold sorts of trash they had eaten. Their sickness was
so great, as caused them to remain there till the next morning,
without being able to prosecute their journey in the afternoon. This
village is seated in 9 deg. 2 min. north latitude, distant from the
river Chagre twenty-six Spanish leagues, and eight from Panama.
This is the last place to which boats or canoes can come; for which
reason they built here storehouses for all sorts of merchandise,
which to and from Panama are transported on the backs of mules.
Here Captain Morgan was forced to leave his canoes, and land all
his men, though never so weak; but lest the canoes should be
surprised, or take up too many men for their defence, he sent them
all back to the place where the boats were, except one, which he
hid, that it might serve to carry intelligence. Many of the Spaniards
and Indians of this village having fled to the near plantations,
Captain Morgan ordered that none should go out of the village,
except companies of one hundred together, fearing lest the enemy
should take an advantage upon his men. Notwithstanding, one party
contravened these orders, being tempted with the desire of victuals:
but they were soon glad to fly into the town again, being assaulted
with great fury by some Spaniards and Indians, who carried one of
them away prisoner. Thus the vigilancy and care of Captain Morgan
was not sufficient to prevent every accident.
The eighth day in the morning Captain Morgan sent two hundred
men before the body of his army, to discover the way to Panama,
and any ambuscades therein: the path being so narrow, that only
ten or twelve persons could march abreast, and often not so many.
After ten hours’ march they came to a place called Quebrada
Obscura: here, all on a sudden, three or four thousand arrows were
shot at them, they not perceiving whence they came, or who shot
them: though they presumed it was from a high rocky mountain,
from one side to the other, whereon was a grot, capable of but one
horse or other beast laded. This multitude of arrows much alarmed
the pirates, especially because they could not discover whence they
were discharged. At last, seeing no more arrows, they marched a
little farther, and entered a wood: here they perceived some Indians
to fly as fast as they could, to take the advantage of another post,
thence to observe their march; yet there remained one troop of
Indians on the place, resolved to fight and defend themselves, which
they did with great courage till their captain fell down wounded;
who, though he despaired of life, yet his valour being greater than
his strength, would ask no quarter, but, endeavouring to raise
himself, with undaunted mind laid hold of his azagayo, or javelin,
and struck at one of the pirates; but before he could second the
blow, he was shot to death. This was also the fate of many of his
companions, who, like good soldiers, lost their lives with their
captain, for the defence of their country.
The pirates endeavoured to take some of the Indians prisoners,
but they being swifter than the pirates, every one escaped, leaving
eight pirates dead, and ten wounded: yea, had the Indians been
more dextrous in military affairs, they might have defended that
passage, and not let one man pass. A little while after they came to
a large champaign, open, and full of fine meadows; hence they
could perceive at a distance before them some Indians, on the top
of a mountain, near the way by which they were to pass: they sent
fifty men, the nimblest they had, to try to catch any of them, and
force them to discover their companions: but all in vain; for they
escaped by their nimbleness, and presently showed themselves in
another place, hallooing to the English, and crying, “A la savana, a la
savana, cornudos, perros Ingleses!” that is, “To the plain, to the
plain, ye cuckolds, ye English dogs!” Meanwhile the ten pirates that
were wounded were dressed, and plastered up.
Here was a wood, and on each side a mountain. The Indians
possessed themselves of one, and the pirates of the other. Captain
Morgan was persuaded the Spaniards had placed an ambuscade
there, it lying so conveniently: hereupon, he sent two hundred men
to search it. The Spaniards and Indians perceiving the pirates
descend the mountain, did so too, as if they designed to attack
them; but being got into the wood, out of sight of the pirates, they
were seen no more, leaving the passage open.
About night fell a great rain, which caused the pirates to march
the faster, and seek for houses to preserve their arms from being
wet; but the Indians had set fire to every one, and driven away all
their cattle, that the pirates, finding neither houses nor victuals,
might be constrained to return: but, after diligent search, they found
a few shepherds’ huts, but in them nothing to eat. These not holding
many men, they placed in them, out of every company, a small
number, who kept the arms of the rest: those who remained in the
open field endured much hardship that night, the rain not ceasing till
morning.
Next morning, about break of day, being the ninth of that tedious
journey, Captain Morgan marched on while the fresh air of the
morning lasted; for the clouds hanging yet over their heads, were
much more favourable than the scorching rays of the sun, the way
being now more difficult than before. After two hours’ march, they
discovered about twenty Spaniards, who observed their motions:
they endeavoured to catch some of them, but could not, they
suddenly disappearing, and absconding themselves in caves among
the rocks, unknown to the pirates. At last, ascending a high
mountain, they discovered the South Sea. This happy sight, as if it
were the end of their labours, caused infinite joy among them:
hence they could descry also one ship, and six boats, which were set
forth from Panama, and sailed towards the islands of Tavoga and
Tavogilla: then they came to a vale where they found much cattle,
whereof they killed good store: here, while some killed and flayed
cows, horses, bulls, and chiefly asses, of which there were most;
others kindled fires, and got wood to roast them: then cutting the
flesh into convenient pieces, or gobbets, they threw them into the
fire, and, half carbonaded or roasted, they devoured them, with
incredible haste and appetite; such was their hunger, as they more
resembled cannibals than Europeans; the blood many times running
down from their beards to their waists.
Having satisfied their hunger, Captain Morgan ordered them to
continue the march. Here, again, he sent before the main body fifty
men to take some prisoners, if they could; for he was much
concerned, that in nine days he could not meet one person to inform
him of the condition and forces of the Spaniards. About evening they
discovered about two hundred Spaniards, who hallooed to the
pirates, but they understood not what they said. A little while after
they came in sight of the highest steeple of Panama: this they no
sooner discovered but they showed signs of extreme joy, casting up
their hats into the air, leaping and shouting, just as if they had
already obtained the victory, and accomplished their designs. All
their trumpets sounded, and drums beat, in token of this alacrity of
their minds: thus they pitched their camp for that night, with general
content of the whole army, waiting with impatience for the morning,
when they intended to attack the city. This evening appeared fifty
horse, who came out of the city, on the noise of the drums and
trumpets, to observe, as it was thought, their motions: they came
almost within musket-shot of the army, with a trumpet that sounded
marvellously well. Those on horseback hallooed aloud to the pirates,
and threatened them, saying, “Perros! nos veremos,” that is, “Ye
dogs! we shall meet ye.” Having made this menace, they returned to
the city, except only seven or eight horsemen, who hovered
thereabouts to watch their motions. Immediately after the city fired,
and ceased not to play their biggest guns all night long against the
camp, but with little or no harm to the pirates, whom they could not
easily reach. Now also the two hundred Spaniards, whom the pirates
had seen in the afternoon, appeared again, making a show of
blocking up the passages, that no pirates might escape their hands:
but the pirates, though in a manner besieged, instead of fearing
their blockades, as soon as they had placed sentinels about their
camp, opened their satchels, and, without any napkins or plates, fell
to eating, very heartily, the pieces of bulls’ and horses’ flesh which
they had reserved since noon. This done, they laid themselves down
to sleep on the grass, with great repose and satisfaction, expecting
only, with impatience, the dawning of the next day.
The tenth day, betimes in the morning, they put all their men in
order, and, with drums and trumpets sounding, marched directly
towards the city; but one of the guides desired Captain Morgan not
to take the common highway, lest they should find in it many
ambuscades. He took his advice, and chose another way through the
wood, though very irksome and difficult. The Spaniards perceiving
the pirates had taken another way they scarce had thought on, were
compelled to leave their stops and batteries, and come out to meet
them. The governor of Panama put his forces in order, consisting of
two squadrons, four regiments of foot, and a huge number of wild
bulls, which were driven by a great number of Indians, with some
negroes, and others, to help them.
The pirates, now upon their march, came to the top of a little hill,
whence they had a large prospect of the city and champaign country
underneath. Here they discovered the forces of the people of
Panama, in battle array, to be so numerous, that they were surprised
with fear, much doubting the fortune of the day: yea, few or none
there were but wished themselves at home, or at least free from the
obligation of that engagement, it so nearly concerning their lives.
Having been some time wavering in their minds, they at last
reflected on the straits they had brought themselves into, and that
now they must either fight resolutely, or die; for no quarter could be
expected from an enemy on whom they had committed so many
cruelties. Hereupon they encouraged one another, resolving to
conquer, or spend the last drop of blood. Then they divided
themselves into three battalions, sending before two hundred
bucaniers, who were very dextrous at their guns. Then descending
the hill, they marched directly towards the Spaniards, who in a
spacious field waited for their coming. As soon as they drew nigh,
the Spaniards began to shout and cry, “Viva el rey!” “God save the
king!” and immediately their horse moved against the pirates: but
the fields being full of quags, and soft underfoot, they could not
wheel about as they desired. The two hundred bucaniers, who went
before, each putting one knee to the ground, began the battle
briskly, with a full volley of shot: the Spaniards defended themselves
courageously, doing all they could to disorder the pirates. Their foot
endeavoured to second the horse, but were constrained by the
pirates to leave them. Finding themselves baffled, they attempted to
drive the bulls against them behind, to put them into disorder; but
the wild cattle ran away, frighted with the noise of the battle; only
some few broke through the English companies, and only tore the
colours in pieces, while the bucaniers shot every one of them dead.
The battle having continued two hours, the greatest part of the
Spanish horse was ruined, and almost all killed: the rest fled, which
the foot seeing, and that they could not possibly prevail, they
discharged the shot they had in their muskets, and throwing them
down, fled away, every one as he could. The pirates could not follow
them, being too much harassed and wearied with their long journey.
Many, not being able to fly whither they desired, hid themselves, for
that present, among the shrubs of the sea-side, but very
unfortunately; for most of them being found by the pirates, were
instantly killed, without any quarter. Some religious men were
brought prisoners before Captain Morgan; but he, being deaf to their
cries, commanded them all to be pistolled, which was done. Soon
after they brought a captain to him, whom he examined very strictly;
particularly, wherein consisted the forces of those of Panama? He
answered, their whole strength consisted in four hundred horse,
twenty-four companies of foot, each of one hundred men complete;
sixty Indians, and some negroes, who were to drive two thousand
wild bulls upon the English, and thus, by breaking their files, put
them into a total disorder: beside, that in the city they had made
trenches, and raised batteries in several places, in all which they had
placed many guns; and that at the entry of the highway, leading to
the city, they had built a fort mounted with eight great brass guns,
defended by fifty men.
Captain Morgan having heard this, gave orders instantly to march
another way; but first he made a review of his men, whereof he
found both killed and wounded a considerable number, and much
greater than had been believed. Of the Spaniards were found six
hundred dead on the place, besides the wounded and prisoners. The
pirates, nothing discouraged, seeing their number so diminished, but
rather filled with greater pride, perceiving what huge advantage they
had obtained against their enemies, having rested some time,
prepared to march courageously towards the city, plighting their
oaths to one another, that they would fight till not a man was left
alive. With this courage they recommenced their march, either to
conquer or be conquered; carrying with them all the prisoners.
They found much difficulty in their approach to the city, for within
the town the Spaniards had placed many great guns, at several
quarters, some charged with small pieces of iron, and others with
musket bullets; with all these they saluted the pirates at their
approaching, and gave them full and frequent broadsides, firing at
them incessantly; so that unavoidably they lost at every step great
numbers of men. But neither these manifest dangers of their lives,
nor the sight of so many as dropped continually at their sides, could
deter them from advancing, and gaining ground every moment on
the enemy; and though the Spaniards never ceased to fire, and act
the best they could for their defence, yet they were forced to yield,
after three hours’ combat. And the pirates having possessed
themselves, killed and destroyed all that attempted in the least to
oppose them. The inhabitants had transported the best of their
goods to more remote and occult places; howbeit, they found in the
city several warehouses well stocked with merchandise, as well silks
and cloths, as linen and other things of value. As soon as the first
fury of their entrance was over, Captain Morgan assembled his men,
and commanded them, under great penalties, not to drink or taste
any wine; and the reason he gave for it was, because he had
intelligence that it was all poisoned by the Spaniards. Howbeit, it
was thought he gave these prudent orders to prevent the
debauchery of his people, which he foresaw would be very great at
the first, after so much hunger sustained by the way; fearing, withal,
lest the Spaniards, seeing them in wine, should rally, and, falling on
the city, use them as inhumanly as they had used the inhabitants
before.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Captain Morgan sends canoes and boats to the South Sea—He fires the city of
Panama—Robberies and cruelties committed there by the pirates, till their
return to the Castle of Chagre.
C aptain Morgan, as soon as he had placed necessary guards at

several quarters within and without the city, commanded twenty-
five men to seize a great boat, which had stuck in the mud of the
port, for want of water, at a low tide. The same day about noon, he
caused fire privately to be set to several great edifices of the city,
nobody knowing who were the authors thereof, much less on what
motives Captain Morgan did it, which are unknown to this day: the
fire increased so, that before night the greatest part of the city was
in a flame. Captain Morgan pretended the Spaniards has done it,
perceiving that his own people reflected on him for that action. Many
of the Spaniards, and some of the pirates, did what they could,
either to quench the flame, or, by blowing up houses with
gunpowder, and pulling down others, to stop it, but in vain: for in
less than half an hour it consumed a whole street. All the houses of
the city were built with cedar, very curious and magnificent, and
richly adorned, especially with hangings and paintings, whereof part
were before removed, and another great part were consumed by
fire.
There were in this city (which is the see of a bishop) eight
monasteries, seven for men, and one for women; two stately
churches, and one hospital. The churches and monasteries were all
richly adorned with altar-pieces and paintings, much gold and silver,
and other precious things, all which the ecclesiastics had hidden.
Besides which, here were two thousand houses of magnificent
building, the greatest part inhabited by merchants vastly rich. For
the rest of less quality, and tradesmen, this city contained five
thousand more. Here were also many stables for the horses and
mules that carry the plate of the king of Spain, as well as private
men, towards the North Sea. The neighbouring fields are full of
fertile plantations and pleasant gardens, affording delicious
prospects to the inhabitants all the year.
The Genoese had in this city a stately house for their trade of
negroes. This likewise was by Captain Morgan burnt to the very
ground. Besides which building, there were consumed two hundred
warehouses, and many slaves, who had hid themselves therein, with
innumerable sacks of meal; the fire of which continued four weeks
after it had begun. The greatest part of the pirates still encamped
without the city, fearing and expecting the Spaniards would come
and fight them anew, it being known they much outnumbered the
pirates. This made them keep the field, to preserve their forces
united, now much diminished by their losses. Their wounded, which
were many, they put into one church, which remained standing, the
rest being consumed by the fire. Besides these decreases of their
men, Captain Morgan had sent a convoy of one hundred and fifty
men to the castle of Chagre, to carry the news of his victory at
Panama.
They saw often whole troops of Spaniards run to and fro in the
fields, which made them suspect their rallying, which they never had
the courage to do. In the afternoon Captain Morgan re-entered the
city with his troops, that every one might take up their lodgings,
which now they could hardly find, few houses having escaped the
fire. Then they sought very carefully among the ruins and ashes, for
utensils of plate or gold, that were not quite wasted by the flames:
and of such they found no small number, especially in wells and
cisterns, where the Spaniards had hid them.
Next day Captain Morgan dispatched away two troops, of one
hundred and fifty men each, stout and well armed, to seek for the
inhabitants who were escaped. These having made several
excursions up and down the fields, woods, and mountains adjacent,
returned after two days, bringing above two hundred prisoners,
men, women, and slaves. The same day returned also the boat
which Captain Morgan had sent to the South Sea, bringing three
other boats which they had taken. But all these prizes they could
willingly have given, and greater labour into the bargain, for one
galleon, which miraculously escaped, richly laden with all the king’s
plate, jewels, and other precious goods of the best and richest
merchants of Panama: on board which were also the religious
women of the nunnery, who had embarked with them all the
ornaments of their church, consisting in much gold, plate, and other
things of great value.
The strength of this galleon was inconsiderable, having only
seven guns, and ten or twelve muskets, and very ill provided with
victuals, necessaries, and fresh water, having no more sails than the
uppermost of the mainmast. This account the pirates received from
some who had spoken with seven mariners belonging to the galleon,
who came ashore in the cockboat for fresh water. Hence they
concluded they might easily have taken it, had they given her chase,
as they should have done; but they were impeded from following
this vastly rich prize, by their lascivious exercises with women, which
they had carried and forced on board their boat. To this vice were
also joined those of gluttony and drunkenness, having plentifully
debauched themselves with several rich wines they found ready,
choosing rather to satiate their lusts and appetites than to lay hold
on such huge advantage; since this only prize would have been of
far greater value than all they got at Panama, and the places
thereabout. Next day, repenting of their negligence, being weary of
their vices and debaucheries, they set forth another boat, well
armed, to pursue with all speed the said galleon; but in vain, the
Spaniards who were on board having had intelligence of their own
danger one or two days before, while the pirates were cruising so
near them; whereupon they fled to places more remote and
unknown.
The pirates found, in the ports of the island of Tavoga and
Tavogilla, several boats laden with very good merchandise; all which
they took, and brought to Panama, where they made an exact
relation of all that had passed to Captain Morgan. The prisoners
confirmed what the pirates said, adding, that they undoubtedly knew
where the galleon might then be, but that it was very probable they
had been relieved before now from other places. This stirred up
Captain Morgan anew, to send forth all the boats in the port of
Panama to seek the said galleon till they could find her. These boats,
being in all four, after eight days’ cruising to and fro, and searching
several ports and creeks, lost all hopes of finding her: hereupon they
returned to Tavoga and Tavogilla; here they found a reasonable
good ship newly come from Payta, laden with cloth, soap, sugar, and
biscuit, with 20,000 pieces of eight; this they instantly seized,
without the least resistance; as also a boat which was not far off, on
which they laded great part of the merchandises from the ship, with
some slaves. With this purchase they returned to Panama,
somewhat better satisfied: yet, withal, much discontented that they
could not meet with the galleon.
The convoy which Captain Morgan had sent to the castle of
Chagre returned much about the same time, bringing with them very
good news; for while Captain Morgan was on his journey to Panama,
those he had left in the castle of Chagre had sent forth two boats to
cruise. These met with a Spanish ship, which they chased within
sight of the castle. This being perceived by the pirates in the castle,
they put forth Spanish colours, to deceive the ship that fled before
the boats; and the poor Spaniards, thinking to take refuge under the
castle, were caught in a snare, and made prisoners. The cargo on
board the said vessel consisted in victuals and provisions, than which
nothing could be more opportune for the castle, where they began
already to want things of this kind.
This good luck of those of Chagre caused Captain Morgan to stay
longer at Panama, ordering several new excursions into the country
round about; and while the pirates at Panama were upon these
expeditions, those at Chagre was busy in piracies on the North Sea.
Captain Morgan sent forth, daily, parties of two hundred men, to
make inroads into all the country round about; and when one party
came back, another went forth, who soon gathered much riches,
and many prisoners. These being brought into the city, were put to
the most exquisite tortures, to make them confess both other
people’s goods and their own. Here it happened that one poor
wretch was found in the house of a person of quality, who had put
on, amidst the confusion, a pair of taffety breeches of his master’s,
with a little silver key hanging out; perceiving which, they asked him
for the cabinet of the said key. His answer was, he knew not what
was become of it, but that finding those breeches in his master’s
house, he had made bold to wear them. Not being able to get any
other answer, they put him on the rack, and inhumanly disjointed his
arms; then they twisted a cord about his forehead, which they
wrung so hard that his eyes appeared as big as eggs, and were
ready to fall out. But with these torments not obtaining any positive
answer, they hung him up by the testicles, giving him many blows
and stripes under that intolerable pain and posture of body.
Afterwards they cut off his nose and ears, and singed his face with
burning straw, till he could not speak, nor lament his misery any
longer: then, losing all hopes of any confession, they bade a negro
run him through, which put an end to his life, and to their inhuman
tortures. Thus did many others of those miserable prisoners finish
their days, the common sport and recreation of these pirates being
such tragedies.
They spared in these their cruelties no sex nor condition: for as to
religious persons, and priests, they granted them less quarter than
others, unless they could produce a considerable sum, sufficient for
a ransom. Women were no better used, except they submitted to
their filthy lusts; for such as would not consent were treated with all
the rigour imaginable. Captain Morgan gave them no good example
in this point: for when any beautiful woman was brought prisoner to
his presence, he used all means, both of rigour and mildness, to
bend them to his lascivious pleasure. For confirmation of which, I
shall give a short history of a lady, whose virtue and constancy
ought to be transmitted to posterity.
Among the prisoners brought by the pirates from Tavoga and
Tavogilla was a gentlewoman of good quality, and no less virtue and
chastity, wife to one of the richest merchants there. She was young,
and so beautiful, as perhaps few in all Europe surpassed her, either
in comeliness or honesty. Her husband then was from home, being
gone as far as Peru, about his commerce and trade. This virtuous
lady, hearing of the pirates’ coming, had fled, with other friends and
relations, to preserve her life from the cruelties and tyrannies of
those hard-hearted enemies: but no sooner did she appear before
Captain Morgan, but she was designed for his pleasure. Hereupon,
he lodged her in an apartment by herself, giving her a negro, or
black woman, to wait on her, and treated her with all the respect
due to her quality. The poor afflicted lady begged, with many sobs
and tears, to lodge among the other prisoners; her relations fearing
that unexpected kindness of the commander might be a design on
her chastity. But Captain Morgan would by no means hearken to her;
but commanded she should be treated with more particular care
than before, and have her victuals from his own table.
This lady had formerly heard very strange reports concerning the
pirates, as if they were not men, but, as they said, heretics, who did
neither invoke the blessed Trinity, nor believe in Jesus Christ. But
now she began to have better thoughts of them, upon these civilities
of Captain Morgan; especially hearing him many times swear by
God, and Jesus Christ, in whom, she thought, they did not believe.
Nor did she think them to be so bad, or to have the shapes of
beasts, as had been related. As to the name of robbers, or thieves,
commonly given them, she wondered not much at it, seeing, among
all nations of the universe, there were wicked men, covetous to
possess the goods of others. Like this was the opinion of another
woman of weak understanding at Panama, who used to say, before
the pirates came thither, she had a great curiosity to see a pirate,
her husband having often told her that they were not like other men,
but rather irrational beasts. This silly woman happening to see the
first of them, cried out aloud, “Jesus bless me! these thieves are like
us Spaniards.”
This false civility of Captain Morgan towards this lady, as is usual
to such as pretend, and cannot obtain, was soon changed into
barbarous cruelty; for after three or four days he came to see her,
and entertained her with lascivious discourses, desiring the
accomplishment of his lust. The virtuous lady constantly denied him,
with much civility, and many humble and modest expressions; but
Captain Morgan still persisted in his base request, presenting to her
much pearl, gold, and whatever he had that was precious and
valuable: but the lady, not willing to consent, or accept his presents,
showing herself like Susannah for constancy, he presently changed
his note, and addressed her in another tone, threatening a thousand
cruelties and hard usages. To all which she gave only this resolute
and positive answer: “Sir, my life is in your hands: but as to my
body, in relation to that which you would persuade me to, my soul
shall sooner be separated from it, through the violence of your arms,
than I shall condescend to your request.” Captain Morgan
understanding this her heroic resolution, commanded her to be
stripped of the best of her apparel, and imprisoned in a darksome
stinking cellar; here she was allowed a small quantity of meat and
drink, wherewith she had much ado to sustain her life.
Under this hardship the virtuous lady prayed daily to God
Almighty for constancy and patience; but Captain Morgan, now
thoroughly convinced of her chaste resolutions, as also desirous to
conceal the cause of her hard usage—since many of his companions
compassionated her condition—pretended she held intelligence with
the Spaniards, and corresponded with them, abusing his lenity and
kindness. I myself was an eye-witness thereof, and could never have
judged such constancy and chastity to be found in the world, if my
own eyes and ears had not assured me thereof. But of this
incomparable lady I shall say something more hereafter.
Captain Morgan having now been at Panama full three weeks,
commanded all things to be prepared for his departure. He ordered
every company of men to seek so many beasts of carriage as might
convey the spoil to the river where his canoes lay. About this time
there was a great rumour, that a considerable number of pirates
intended to leave Captain Morgan; and that, taking a ship then in
the port, they determined to go and rob on the South Sea, till they
had got as much as they thought fit, and then return homewards, by
way of the East Indies. For which purpose they had gathered much
provisions, which they had hid in private places, with sufficient
powder, bullets, and all other ammunition: likewise some great guns
belonging to the town, muskets, and other things, wherewith they
designed not only to equip their vessel, but to fortify themselves in
some island which might serve them for a place of refuge.
This design had certainly taken effect, had not Captain Morgan
had timely advice of it from one of their comrades: hereupon he
commanded the mainmast of the said ship to be cut down and
burnt, with all the other boats in the port: hereby the intentions of
all or most of his companions were totally frustrated. Then Captain
Morgan sent many of the Spaniards into the adjoining fields and
country to seek for money, to ransom not only themselves, but the
rest of the prisoners, as likewise the ecclesiastics. Moreover, he
commanded all the artillery of the town to be nailed and stopped up.
At the same time he sent out a strong company of men to seek for
the governor of Panama, of whom intelligence was brought, that he
had laid several ambuscades in the way by which he ought to
return: but they returned soon after, saying they had not found any
sign of any such ambuscades. For confirmation whereof, they
brought some prisoners, who declared that the said governor had
had an intention of making some opposition by the way, but that the
men designed to effect it were unwilling to undertake it: so that for
want of means he could not put his design in execution.
February 24, 1671, Captain Morgan departed from Panama, or
rather from the place where the city of Panama stood; of the spoils
whereof he carried with him one hundred and seventy-five beasts of
carriage, laden with silver, gold, and other precious things, beside
about six hundred prisoners, men, women, children and slaves. That
day they came to a river that passes through a delicious plain, a
league from Panama: here Captain Morgan put all his forces into
good order, so as that the prisoners were in the middle, surrounded
on all sides with pirates, where nothing else was to be heard but
lamentations, cries, shrieks, and doleful sighs of so many women
and children, who feared Captain Morgan designed to transport
them all into his own country for slaves. Besides, all those miserable
prisoners endured extreme hunger and thirst at that time, which
misery Captain Morgan designedly caused them to sustain, to excite
them to seek for money to ransom themselves, according to the tax
he had set upon every one. Many of the women begged Captain
Morgan, on their knees, with infinite sighs and tears, to let them
return to Panama, there to live with their dear husbands and
children, in little huts of straw, which they would erect, seeing they
had no houses till the rebuilding of the city. But his answer was, “He
came not thither to hear lamentations and cries, but to seek money:
therefore they ought first to seek out that, wherever it was to be
had, and bring it to him; otherwise he would assuredly transport
them all to such places whither they cared not to go.”
Next day, when the march began, those lamentable cries and
shrieks were renewed, so as it would have caused compassion in the
hardest heart: but Captain Morgan, as a man little given to mercy,
was not moved in the least. They marched in the same order as
before, one party of the pirates in the van, the prisoners in the
middle, and the rest of the pirates in the rear; by whom the
miserable Spaniards were at every step punched and thrust in their
backs and sides, with the blunt ends of their arms, to make them
march faster.
That beautiful and virtuous lady, mentioned before for her
unparalleled constancy and chastity, was led prisoner by herself,
between two pirates. Her lamentations now pierced the skies, seeing
herself carried away into captivity often crying to the pirates, and
telling them, “That she had given orders to two religious persons, in
whom she had relied, to go to a certain place, and fetch so much
money as her ransom did amount to; that they had promised
faithfully to do it, but having obtained the money, instead of bringing
it to her, they had employed it another way, to ransom some of their
own, and particular friends.” This ill action of theirs was discovered
by a slave, who brought a letter to the said lady. Her complaints,
and the cause thereof, being brought to Captain Morgan, he thought
fit to inquire thereinto. Having found it to be true—especially hearing
it confirmed by the confession of the said religious men, though
under some frivolous excuses of having diverted the money but for a
day or two, in which time they expected more sums to repay it—he
gave liberty to the said lady, whom otherwise he designed to
transport to Jamaica. But he detained the said religious men as
prisoners in her place, using them according to their deserts.
Captain Morgan arriving at the town called Cruz, on the banks of
the river Chagre, he published an order among the prisoners, that
within three days every one should bring in their ransom, under the
penalty of being transported to Jamaica. Meanwhile he gave orders
for so much rice and maize to be collected thereabouts, as was
necessary for victualling his ships. Here some of the prisoners were
ransomed, but many others could not bring in their money.
Hereupon he continued his voyage, leaving the village on the 5th of
March following, carrying with him all the spoil he could. Hence he
likewise led away some new prisoners, inhabitants there, with those
of Panama, who had not paid their ransoms. But the two religious
men, who had diverted the lady’s money, were ransomed three days
after by other persons, who had more compassion for them than
they had showed for her.
About the middle of the way to Chagre, Captain Morgan
commanded them to be mustered, and caused every one to be
sworn, that they had concealed nothing, even not to the value of
sixpence. This done, Captain Morgan knowing those lewd fellows
would not stick to swear falsely for interest, he commanded every
one to be searched very strictly, both in their clothes and satchels,
and elsewhere. Yea, that this order might not be ill taken by his
companions, he permitted himself to be searched, even to his very
shoes. To this effect, by common consent, one was assigned out of
every company to be searchers of the rest. The French pirates that
assisted on this expedition disliked this new practice of searching;
but, being outnumbered by the English, they were forced to submit
as well as the rest. The search being over, they re-embarked, and
arrived at the castle of Chagre on the 9th of March. Here they found
all things in good order, excepting the wounded men whom they had
left at their departure; for of these the greatest number were dead
of their wounds.
From Chagre, Captain Morgan sent, presently after his arrival, a
great boat to Puerto Bello, with all the prisoners taken at the isle of
St. Catherine, demanding of them a considerable ransom for the
castle of Chagre, where he then was; threatening otherwise to ruin
it. To this those of Puerto Bello answered, they would not give one
farthing towards the ransom of the said castle, and the English
might do with it as they pleased. Hereupon the dividend was made
of all the spoil made in that voyage; every company, and every
particular person therein, receiving their proportion, or rather what
part thereof Captain Morgan pleased to give them. For the rest of his
companions, even of his own nation, murmured at his proceedings,
and told him to his face that he had reserved the best jewels to
himself: for they judged it impossible that no greater share should
belong to them than two hundred pieces of eight, per capita, of so
many valuable plunders they had made; which small sum they
thought too little for so much labour, and such dangers, as they had
been exposed to. But Captain Morgan was deaf to all this, and many
other like complaints, having designed to cheat them of what he
could.
At last, finding himself obnoxious to many censures of his people,
and fearing the consequence, he thought it unsafe to stay any
longer at Chagre, but ordered the ordnance of the castle to be
carried on board his ship; then he caused most of the walls to be
demolished, the edifices to be burnt, and as many other things
ruined as could be done in a short time. This done, he went secretly
on board his own ship, without giving any notice to his companions,
and put out to sea, being only followed by three or four vessels of
the whole fleet. These were such (as the French pirates believed) as
went shares with Captain Morgan in the best part of the spoil, which
had been concealed from them in the dividend. The Frenchmen
could willingly have revenged themselves on Captain Morgan and his
followers, had they been able to encounter him at sea; but they
were destitute of necessaries, and had much ado to find sufficient
provisions for their voyage to Jamaica, he having left them
unprovided for all things.
End of the Buccaneers.

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For information on all Anderson publications

Many years ago my first job in law enforcement was as an evidence

police response and action at crime scenes. As many prosecuting attor-

This book contends that DNA evidence collection should be in

Larry S. Miller, PhD

I have been working on this book, or more specifically the broader

I am indebted to those mentors who helped me refine my research

were their support, contribution, and confidence in me, and that of my

I also wish to acknowledge Washington State University and the

I owe immeasurable gratitude to my family. Long were the hours,

writing, interviews, and focus groups, I have missed much of them.

While unorthodox, I start this book with a series of questions. What

The key to this puzzle of questions is to narrow the unit of focus,

to address the most routine of police practices. Formed as a response

Since this report, scholars have tried to understand the role of

The research in the 1990s introduced researchers and practitioners

While the state of forensic technology has been a focus of research,

Thinking back on the statement from the officer, the theoretical

1. The officer could have lacked the specific knowledge (training).

THE BROADER AIM

to media, from communications to organizations, alters the world.

WHY PROPERTY CRIME SCENES?

Fortunately, I could use a mixed-method research design, a design

STRUCTURING A THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ANALYSIS

property crime scene evidence, the skepticism levied at expansion

Chapter 5 discusses collection of genetic forensic evidence, a brief

Being honest, a large issue for us is prioritization, we devote forensic resources

To argue that property crime scene forensics is worthwhile to the criminal

Property crime scenes receive some of the fewest resources within

To introduce the war on crime may seem out of place, but it is a

The resulting response is rather expected. Violent victimizations

increased resources, in which the expense inevitably requires a decrease in

A Kantian interpretation of the state proposes the purpose of the

To provide a figure to the injustice, consider the research of Strom

Tragic is any victimization, be it property or personal. However,

limiting collection and analysis must change to see equal treatment in

The philosophical connection reflects the narrow vision of forensic

Despite a clear determination to increase offender collection, this

for DNA, including generating phenotypical expression of a person’s

Continuing an examination into the practical benefits is to intro-

The resulting literature has produced an impressive and growing

to adapt to a changing environment, diffusion must assimilate into the

The historical and modern resistance to technology implementation

From a resource perspective, I offer the National Institute of

To exceed the financial is to connect to a deeply rooted and widely

While the sections above have addressed the philosophical and

more elevated rates with an average of 114.6 burglaries, and Chaiken