American Board of Forensic Dentistry

"They use this tape for packaging drugs or for tying you up before they put a bullet in your head," he told a group of forensic science students clustered around him. "You get great fingerprints off it."

As Mexico struggles to stem a wave of drug-related crime, forensic science classes such as Ramos' are multiplying, trying to meet the booming demand for fingerprint collectors, crime scene photographers and ballistics experts to keep up with the body count.

"Forensic science is seeing a boom in Mexico," said Rafael Ruíz Mena, secretary-general for professional training at Mexico's National Institute of Criminal Science. "More and more young people are seeing this as a career opportunity."

The growth in forensic science, a highly technical field made popular in the USA with such TV crime series as CSI, comes as Mexico tries to professionalize its police with U.S. aid and as the country embarks on a major overhaul of its court system, creating a need for investigators.

"There's a growing sense that Mexican authorities need to do a better job of investigating, not just writing up police reports," said Amalia Chacon, manager of the Center for Development of Forensic Science Investigations, a school in Mexico City.

It's a major change for Mexican police who have traditionally done little investigative work, rely heavily on confessions and have a history of contaminating crime scenes or posing suspects with weapons in their hands at news conferences, Chacon said.

Last month, a forensic expert, a photographer, a doctor and three other workers from the Morelos state coroner's office were suspended for vandalizing the corpse of drug kingpin Arturo Beltrán Leyva after a shootout with police. The workers allegedly pulled down Beltrán's pants and covered his body with money to make better newspaper pictures.

Since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderón first ordered troops into smuggling hot spots, the number of drug-related murders has soared, from 2,275 in 2007 to 6,587 in 2009, according to a tally conducted by Reforma newspaper.

To combat the violence, the Mexican government has created the Federal Police and pushes officers to improve their investigative skills.

In 2009, the Mexican attorney general's office built a $20 million laboratory building and purchased five mobile crime labs. It has added hundreds of forensic experts in recent years, from 756 in 2003 to 1,425 in 2009. In June, it gave the experts an 18% raise to attract even more.

The U.S. Embassy has donated digital cameras, spectrometers for analyzing chemicals and equipment for detecting false documents and analyzing bullets. In March, U.S. officials will launch three months of classes on forensics and evidence preservation for Mexican police.

Reference:

Hawley, C. (2010, January 15). Crime wave fuels forensics boom. USA Today, Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-01-12-mexico-crime_N.htm