The science of crime
Reality show Forensics’ host Simon Morton takes us behind scenes and behind the science of solving crime.
Season 2 of New Zealand true crime series Forensics (2018-now) gives viewers a crash course, Sundays on CBS Justice (*170) at 20:00, in forensic science including blood spatter, DNA analysis, tool marking, digital forensics, toxicology, entomology and ballistics. In each episode, tech journalist host Simon Morton talks to the real-life scientists who worked on that episode’s investigation. We then see Simon try out an aspect of the forensics process himself. “I get to create evidence and do some analysis using the latest forensic tools, which is fun. This is really good, hands-on, practical stuff,” says Simon.
CURIOUS CASES
The first episode of season 2 is somewhat controversial. Convicted killer Liam Reid protested the broadcast because he was trying to get his case overturned at the time, leading to a delay in its original airing. “I’ve got to say I was a little concerned!” admits Simon. “I remember the chap Liam Reid. He’s this incredibly scary guy whose head is all tattooed. He was very high profile in the media. When I heard that, I thought, ‘Argh! I’m on Facebook and Google and he might Google me and decide to come and have a bit of a chat!’” Simon laughs and adds, “But I quickly thought, ‘Well, I’m sure he’s got bigger fish to fry.’”
And one of the stranger cases in this season is episode 3 (on 23 May), in which a man claimed that he’d accidentally killed his ex-girlfriend while attempting suicide. Simon’s first reaction to reading the story was astonishment. “When I looked at the case, I thought, ‘Hold on, this guy thought of an alibi after having killed this girlfriend.’ I didn’t buy it from day one. But it was quite a tough case. We spent a lot of time looking at tyre tracks and using a vehicle, working with scientists looking at rubber deposits on roads and trajectories and speeds.”
PLAYING WITH SCIENCE
The series was messy fun for Simon and two of his favourite experiments feature blood spatter and ballistics. “The blood splatter was the best. I got to re-enact hitting someone with an instrument like a hammer multiple times, and use tools to look at trajectories, volume of blood and the angle of the blood deposited on surfaces, to work out force and to work out the direction of the blow. We used litres of pig’s blood. It was pretty gory. I was dressed in a hazmat suit and full PPE. Once I got over the fact that it was pig’s blood, it was actually quite fun.
The shape of the droplets would precisely tell you not just the force, but the direction of the blow, and the ballistics stuff was great. I got to shoot guns in a controlled police lab at big blobs of jelly and look at entry points and exit points and that was Boys Own (referring to the old-timey adventure publications), shooting into big bits of green jelly.”