TV review:
Forensics: The Real CSI. This week's #TuesdayTip is a TV Review for Forensics: The Real CSI, available on BBC iPlayer (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0004p7f/forensics-the-real-csi).
Now in its fourth season, the documentary focuses on West Midlands Police's Forensic Science Service. Each episode focuses on a single investigation, with footage following the technicians around the scene, body-worn camera footage from officers, and shots of the scientists in their paper suits in the laboratory.
The detectives are featured, with video of them interviewing suspects etc
But the thrust of the show focuses on the Crime Scene Investigators and technicians, with face-to-face interviews with various forensic experts, some of whom are in most episodes.
The series features a wide-range of different crimes, not just murders. Highlights of the current series have involved episode two, Time of Death, which utilised phone analysis, DNA evidence and witness testimony to close the net on the murderer of a young woman. Episode 4,  Confession of a Killer, opens with a man phoning the police to admit to killing his flatmate. He subsequently claims self-defence and the police use blood spatter analysis, retrieved data from phone handsets and CCTV to probe his claim.
Probably the most unusual - and frankly scary - episode is episode three, Untraceable Guns, which involves the retrieval of a haul of illegal weapons, including versions of the assault weapons commonly used in US mass shootings. The investigation takes a frightening turn when it emerges that the guns are homemade, using a commercially bought 3D printer and widely available plans from the internet. This episode gives a fascinating insight into the work of NABIS, the National Ballistics Intelligence Service. The experienced officers and technicians are visibly shaken by the potential ease with which these untraceable weapons can be manufactured.
Episodes from previous series include online grooming by paedophiles, indecent exposure, armed robberies, arson attacks and rapists.
The programme is a goldmine for writers of crime fiction and a fascinating watch for anyone interested in how modern UK police forces use cutting-edge techniques to solve a wide variety of crimes.
I highly recommend it.
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time, all the best,
Paul.
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