“The study of these material facts is precise and unchangeable and true. The study of these material facts and the interpretation of scientific methods is today known as police science, which embraces the application of all kinds of physical, chemical and biological techniques.” – Baty
Thomas Baty in Manila, c1945. Founder of the Scientific Section of the Queensland Police Force.
Served from 1936 – 1946. Image Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
The Scientific Section of the Queensland Police Department owes its existence to an intelligent, innovative thinker named Tom Baty. His first case was a microscopic examination of two spent .22 calibre projectiles used to damage property at Theodore in October, 1937. Baty started off as a police service clerk at the expanded Firearms Section, at the Criminal Investigation Branch. The Firearms Licencing Act 1927 made obtaining a licence mandatory for purchase of any firearms “this included any lethal weapon from which any shot, bullet, or other missile can be discharged” with a barrel not exceeding nine inches. Baty led the section for some time and became an expert in firearms. He also had a recognised talent for preparing and drawing up plans of crime scenes.
In 1936, it was recommended that Baty be sworn in into the Police Force and employed as the firearms specialist. Three years later Constable Baty was the first policeman to be trained in sciences at the university level (UQ), his tuition fees covered by the Department. In 1940, Baty pointed out the advantages of scientific training in investigative police work in the examination of bullets, documents, clothing, and stains. The same year he was placed in charge of the newly organised Scientific (Technical) Section. In his forensic laboratory work, Bates employed methods such as ballistics and trace analysis, ultra violet light (aka Black light), spectrography, and blood evidence (origin, type) and fingerprinting. All of the above forensic methods are still in use today.
First Fingerprint Case in Queensland. The original comparison of the latent beer bottle fingerprint and James Craig’s inked right thumb print by Fingerprint Expert Acting Sergeant Duncan Fowler, February 1906. Image Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Photography as a method of identifying offenders was in use as early as 1897, while the fingerprinting method, or dactyloscopy, was not introduced in Queensland until 1904. The onset of the World War II drove the unit to expand further. In 1941, a Central Finger Print Bureau was established in Sydney. A Photographic Section was extended in 1947 to incorporate a drafting unit, with officers drawing up layouts of crime scenes, road collisions and so on. Photographs and drawing as evidence became a regular feature in the courts. By 1957, the forensic department stored details on over 63,000 offenders in the Modus Operandi Section, and nearly 93,000 single finger-print impressions in the Finger-print Bureau. (The Long Blue Line, by W.Ross Johnston)
In 1984, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) profiling was developed by an English geneticist, Alec Jeffreys, and three years later it was commercialised. In 2000, the Queensland Police were given powers to collect DNA samples for use as part of criminal investigation in indictable offences, such as assault occasioning bodily harm, rape, murder, etc. The same year, Brisbane special team of detectives reopened 2500 unsolved cases of sexual assaults in the operation under code name ‘Javelin’. Five offenders were charged soon after the operation began.
Inside the Scientific Major Incident Response Vehicle, April 2007. Image Courtesy of the QPS Media and Public Affairs Unit.
Just under a decade later, the Scientific Major Incident Response Vehicle (SMIRV) was introduced. SMIRV – a major advancement in the criminal scene investigation – allowed forensic specialists to bring fully equipped mobile laboratory out to the scene.
To keep abreast of the new technology and stay ahead of the criminal mind, forensic officers undertake continuous training and ensure ongoing exchange of experience.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available. The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – Forensic Science and the Police Force” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode