Shooting Incident Documentation

Instructors: Gary Graff, CBPA, Iris D. Graff,
& Jackie Smithson, MS
Course length: 20 hours

Detectives and forensic investigators are frequently summoned to scenes of violence involving firearms. These incidents, including homicides and officer-involved shootings, should be investigated to their logical conclusion. That requires an understanding of the firearms-related evidence at the scene and how to properly document it.

This two and one-half-day Shooting Incident Documentation course teaches the student how to properly interpret physical evidence and to document the scene through note taking, diagramming, and photography. Use of rods, lasers, and protractors will be covered, as will the use of mathematics in determining bullet flight paths.

This Shooting Incident Documentation course is designed as an introduction to the 40-hour Shooting Incident Reconstruction course or as a standalone course for those students more concerned with documenting scenes as opposed to reconstructing them.

Course Content:

Day 1 - Intro / Shooting Reconstruction Concepts
Firearms & Ammunition Components
– Exercise 1: Firearms & Ammunition Practical
Shooting Scene Documentation
Defect Characteristics & Target Surface Considerations
– Exercise 2: Bullet Impact Exercise

Day 2 - Review Defect Characteristics & Day 1 Exercises
– Exercise 3: Defect Characteristics & Target Surface
Chemical Testing of Defects
– Exercise 4: Chemical Testing
The Laboratory’s Role in Shooting Reconstruction
Flight Path Rods
– Exercise 5: Flight Path Rods / Use of Lasers
Vehicles
– Exercise 6: Vehicles

Day 3 - Mathematics in Shooting Reconstruction
– Exercise 7: Mathematics
Class Wrap-up & Certificates

Note: This course does not include live-fire exercises.

Gary Graff, CBPA

Retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after 23 years of service, Gary Graff’s broad investigative experience included public corruption, fraud, sex crime, property crime, and violent crime and often involved coordination with state and local law enforcement agencies.

Iris Dalley Graff

Retiring in 2009, Iris Dalley Graff conducted laboratory analysis, crime scene investigation, and worked with various police agencies in processing and investigating hundreds of homicide investigations, during her career.

Jackie Smithson, MS

Jackie Smithson is a career law enforcement officer in Oklahoma, having served the last 15 years as a forensic investigator while concurrently teaching as an adjunct professor of criminal justice. He spent the first several years of his career with Broken Arrow assigned to the Uniformed Patrol Division then the Traffic Specialist Unit. His inquisitive nature lead him to request a transfer to the Crime Scene Unit where he still serves.

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