Original Release Date: November 13, 2020
In episode two of our 2020 Case Studies season, Just Science sat down with Erin Sims, Forensic Lab Manager at the Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department, about bloodstain pattern evidence in forensic investigations.
Not all crime scenes will have bloodstains. But when they are present, analysts can use them to help determine the types of activities or mechanisms that produced them. Erin Sims believes that bloodstain patterns can tell the unknown story behind a crime. Listen along as she discusses the application of bloodstain pattern analysis and how it fits into the larger puzzle of crime scene investigation in this episode of Just Science.
This episode of Just Science is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence [Award 2016-MU-BX-K110].
View or download the episode transcript here:
Transcript
Guest Biography
Ms. Erin Sims has been employed with the Lincoln Nebraska Police Department for 38 years. She started her career as a Uniform Police Officer (9yrs), was a Detective/Sergeant (16yrs), and was promoted to Forensic Lab Manager of LPD’s Forensic Identification Unit in December 2008. She has been one of the supervisors in LPD’s Crime Scene Investigation Unit since its inception in 1997. She has instructed at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center and taught Advanced Crime Scene Processes at Nebraska Wesleyan Forensic Science Master's program for 6 years. Her areas of expertise include Latent Fingerprint processes, Crime Scene Processing, and Bloodstain Pattern Analysis. Ms. Sims is a Certified IAI Crime Scene Investigator and Bloodstain Pattern Analyst.
The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this podcast episode are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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