Off the ‘Cuff

When a writer is working on the script for the latest episode of CSI, Bones, Dexter or any of the other countless shows that depict forensic science, there comes a point when realism comes second to telling a good story. Although a real investigation and evidence analysis could take weeks or months, the show needs to finish in a single episode, usually in a neat-and-tidy package. To make this happen, sometimes you need to invent new forensics techniques to move the story forward.

One of those most commonly used examples of “Showbiz Forensics” is the amazing power that “software” has to “enhance” an “image”. This video, that we found on YouTube this morning, helps show just how common this trick is:

(Thanks to http://dunk3d.tumblr.com/ for this!)

In real life, of course, forensic techniques like this don’t exist, or don’t work nearly the way they’re shown. Instead, most investigation involves really hard work, a strong intuition and a significant amount of deductive reasoning. And even when you have access to magical technology, sometimes the low-tech solution, combined with lots of hard work, beats the high-tech one. (But that makes bad TV.) You could spend hours trying to lift and identify a minuscule portion of a fingerprint on a drinking glass, or you could start by seeing who had a reservation for that table that night and interviewing eye-witnesses.

Next time you watch a forensics-themed TV show, be sure to pay attention to all the fantastic examples of “showbiz forensics”. Usually, it’s painfully funny. What’s your favourite example of impossible forensics?

ps. We’re doing a bunch of workshops for kids on the forensic sciences this Winter Break; if you’re an adult and want us to do forensics workshops for you, be sure to let us know.

Tags:   BSG · CSI · Dexter · enhance · fiction · fingerprints · Forensics · MacGyver4 Comments