So, last night

[james_davis_nicoll]

The constable took away with him a beer can left by my door-kicker. Apparently they can do DNA testing on quite trivial cases (which if true I had no idea) and if the guy who left the can is in the system, they can show he was on my porch and go chat with him. Not 100% useful because it doesn't link them to my door but apparently there's some history of people spontaneously incriminating themselves in conversations.

I just actually looked at the door instead of the door jam. I bet the absolutely perfect bootprint on the door could link the owner of the boot to the door.

[update]

The forensic guy said it was an exceptionally clean, crisp boot print.

Comments

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

A perfect boot print in a door made of solid wood?! That was some kick.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

On, not in. And it's metal, because nothing is more secure than a sturdy steel door with a wooden jam, six feet from some french doors.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Ah.

Well, at least the door is secure. The house, not so much.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Grab a picture of that bootprint while it's fresh-ish, together with a ruler in frame to give it scale. Does your constable have email?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I don't have a camera....

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Not even on your phone?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I have a land line. I am either here or sitting next to the only person with my number; why do I need a cell phone?

[nelc.livejournal.com]

So you can communicate with someone from the 21st century?

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Forensics staffers provided their own, I'm guessing...?

[soon_lee]

We had our car broken into some years ago but the perp left some blood behind (damaged himself while trying to hotwire our car - guess the quality of criminal isn't what it was).

Some years later, the police database finally linked the crime to an actual person leading to charges laid & conviction. Our incident was just one of many that the accused had perpetrated.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Honest to god, every time I've had a b&e or home invasion the criminal has been a complete moron. If they were pulling off a Mission Impossible it would come to a halt 60 seconds in as they accidentally shot themselves in the crotch.

[nojay.livejournal.com]

The clown who broke into my van many years ago managed to leave a bill with his name and address on it at the scene of the crime. The comment by the police officer who took it as evidence was "Oh, him."

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

This is referred to as "felony stupid" down at the local cop-shop.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

You know the case will go your way when you call the police and the first thing the responding officer does is to look at the other person and say, "AGAIN?!?"

True story...

[izeinwinter.livejournal.com]

I suspect that while it is not true that all criminals are stupid, it is true that criminals with brains are mostly committing crimes with a much higher reward/risk ratio than breaking and entering random places of residence. So.. To be expected, really.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

As far as I understand the last post he didn't even enter. Just broke.

[wizwom.livejournal.com]

actually, didn't break so much as annoy.
But it still goes in as an attempt, which counts in most "justice" systems.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

It must be nice to have a constabulary that gives a damn. My last burglary but one, there was a set of absolutely perfect hand and finger prints on the window he'd forced to get in. I insisted that someone come out and take the prints, although the police weren't going to bother. They noted that they don't actually have any funding for analyzing the prints once they take them. And this in a city that ranks in the 50 most populous in the USA.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

This.

The first time my place was broken into and burgled, the cops came out, took my statement, and prepared to leave. I asked if they were going to dust for prints, as the place had been thoroughly ransacked. No, they said, It's a waste of time. Probably just someone wanting stuff to sell to get drugs. It's not likely their prints are in our database, so why bother?

My tax dollars at work. Or not.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

The DNA test reveals the perp was a single cell organism in the class Ascomycota.

[soon_lee]

Just some dude out having a good time: a fungi.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Did they look for fingerprints on the paint gun? Although I suppose there might be too many sets of fingerprints.

(I've never had a break-in. These days, when the weather lets me out, I'm only out about six or eight hours a week. But even before I got sick, I never had a b&e.)

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Wasn't necessary as the guy left a swath of chaos that left a trail of eye witnesses and ended with his savage beating at the hands of the cops.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

Apparently they can do DNA testing on quite trivial cases...

According to some guy's website, even DNA testing dog poop. It doesn't get much more trivial.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

There was a big acceleration in the decline of sequencing cost in 2007.

http://www.genome.gov/images/content/cost_per_megabase.jpg