Paint & Coatings Industry - November 2008 - (Page 74)

Paint Criminal Forensic After analysis, the detective was called with a “good news, bad news” report. The apartment and pry bar samples were indeed similar and probably rare, but they were rare because they were new paint films and they also contained lead carbonate pigment. Now he had two cases. Further investigation found that a painting contractor had low-bid the paint job to get rid of an old container of alkyd lead-containing white semi-gloss paint he had “buried” in the back of his warehouse. Save for the burglary, he probably would have gotten away with his dumping plan. Subsequently, the apartment dwellers were moved out, the exterior paint on the building was stripped off and replaced, the painter declared bankruptcy and paid a hefty fine, and the burglar pled out. You and I covered the insurance losses. Such is the life of a forensic paint examiner/ criminalist. Nothing in the case ever got to trial or to the newspapers. and Criminal Forensic Trace Analysis I 72 t started one morning in 1990 with a nonetoo-promising paint analysis request from a detective working on a burglary at a brand new apartment complex. The burglar had used a levered device to pry open a white painted front door of an apartment that had been occupied for only a few weeks. A suspect was later found loitering in the neighborhood, and he had an outstanding warrant for a prior burglary. A search of the suspect’s vehicle turned up a two-foot long pry bar in the trunk, with some white material transfers on the wedge end. The analysis request was a criminalist’s trace analysis “ho-hum” case. A single layer of new architectural paint on new wood framing, and a few submillimeter scraps of smeared white material on an iron surface. The confirmation of paint similarity between the door frame and pry bar samples was likely to have little uniqueness, and was also likely to lead to a significant amount of reasonable doubt in a typical trial juror’s mind. Criminal Forensic Trace Analysis is one of several fields of Criminalistics that includes Toxicologists, DNA Analysts, Serologists, Drug Chemists and Latent Print Examiners. Trace examinations can involve paint, glass, hair, explosives, fiber, soil, metals and general unknown materials. It is also a field that requires constant study and re-education, due to the daily and weekly introduction of new materials and processing methods into the products a trace criminalist must analyze and compare. Paint analyses are a particular challenge due to the durability and ubiquity of paint films. A single wall or picket fence in Virginia or Massachusetts might exhibit a hundred years of paint history that can show up as evidence in a murder, hit-and-run or burglary. This is a hint about the profound difference between trace and DNA evidence, where genetic materials have changed little over the eons, and can be expected to change little in the future. Trace evidence changes constantly, and this leads to a constant need for samples of new materials. A criminalist’s success in acquiring new paint materials is at the mercy of the coatings industry. By M.B. (Mike) Eyring, President, Micro Forensics Institute, Ltd. | Phoenix, AZ NOV EMBER 2008 | W W W . P C I M A G . C O M http://WWW.PCIMAG.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Paint & Coatings Industry - November 2008

Paint and Coatings Industry - November 2008 Contents Viewpoint Industry News Calendar of Events Company News Mergers and Acquisitions Names in the News HiTone Resins for Enhanced Pigment Affinity of Powder Coatings New Water-Based Interior Coatings Combine Innovation and Quality With Respect for the Environment Novel, UV-Curable Nanotechnology-Enabled Coatings Highly Weather-Resistant Radiation-Curable Monomers and Oligomers for Exterior Applications Konica Minolta — Sensing Success for Viracon Self-Crosslinkable Thermosetting Acrylics for Use in Water-Dilutable Coatings Paint and Criminal Forensic Science Supplier and Application/Curing Showcases Materials Watch Classifieds Advertiser Index

Paint & Coatings Industry - November 2008

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