Forensic Publications
The below documents are management system documents utilized by ATF Forensic Laboratories. They are provided for informational purposes only. Sensitive or copyrighted information has been redacted. The documents are used in ATF Laboratories and not published with the intent of setting a policy or analysis standard for other laboratories. The inclusion of equipment/software manufacturer names does not imply endorsement by ATF Laboratories.
The documents were current as of February 28, 2018. ATF management system documents are reviewed annually and revised as needed. For specific requests, submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Name | Description | Type |
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Standard operating procedure for a hotwire anemometer.
| Engineering |
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This instruction covers the use, design, and specifications of thermocouples used at the ATF Fire Research Laboratory (FRL).
| Engineering |
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This instruction covers the use of stopwatches used by the ATF Fire Research Laboratory (FRL) examiners.
| Engineering |
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This instruction covers the use, design and specifications of optical density meters (ODMs) for smoke measurement in the ATF Fire Research Laboratory (FRL).
| Engineering |
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This Instruction covers the use of laboratory condition stations used in FRL experiments.
| Engineering |
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This instruction covers the use of the Combustion Calorimeter that is used to measure the heat content and specific gravity of natural gas that is used in the ATF Fire Research Laboratory (FRL) experiments.
| Engineering |
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The FRL coordinates with special agent/certified fire investigators to apply engineering principles to crime scene and physical evidence evaluation for the purpose of assisting the client with understanding specific limited aspects of the fire event, such as ignition, material properties, visibility, etc.
| Engineering |
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Standard operating procedures for a sand burner and gas cart.
| Engineering |
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This technical reference covers the use, design and specifications of the averaging velocity probes used in the ATF Fire Research Laboratory.
| Engineering |
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This technical reference covers the use, design and specifications of the tube burner used in the ATF Fire Research Laboratory.
| Engineering |
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This technical reference covers the use, design and specifications of the Sartorius-Scale-450 kg scale used in the ATF Fire Research Laboratory.
| Engineering |
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This technical reference covers the use, design and specifications of the Sartorius-Scale-30 kg scale used in the ATF Fire Research Laboratory.
| Engineering |
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This technical reference covers the use, design and specifications of the Sartorius-Scale-150 kg scale used in the ATF Fire Research Laboratory.
| Engineering |
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Standard operating procedures for a tube burner.
| Engineering |
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This method describes the procedure for setup and use of the reflected light fluorescence attachment on the PLM microscopes.
| Materials (Trace Evidence) |
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This method describes the procedure for basic microscopy setup on compound polarized light microscopes (PLM) but certain sections can also be used for brightfield (biological) microscopes.
| Materials (Trace Evidence) |
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This method describes the procedure for use of the Microspectrophotometer. Microspectrophotometers are used to measure color characteristics in the transmission, reflectance, or fluorescence of microscopic samples in the UV, visible, and NIR.
| Materials (Trace Evidence) |
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Pyrolysis is a technique used to break chemical bonds of molecules by the use of thermal energy only.
| Materials (Trace Evidence) |
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Raman spectroscopy is a technique that has been validated for rapid identification of unknown chemicals.
| Materials (Trace Evidence) |
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Different crimes involve the recovery of trace evidence from articles of clothing, vehicles, crime scenes, or other items, which may contain hairs.
| Materials (Trace Evidence) |