From this we concluded the bowls were being used as a water bath rig to either extract the active ingredients of cannabis, namely hash oil, or to remove the solvent after extraction. Although the residue indicated that they guy was doing a pretty good job, through some misadventure the fumes from the solvent must have ignited causing the flash fire in the kitchen. This was reported to the forensic engineer investigating the case.

Interestingly, we followed up later and found out that the house insurance claim was refused, not because of the illegal substance, but because extracting hash oil is not considered a 'normal' use of a home stove, so the resulting damage form the fires was not covered. Several months later the regional police force contacted us for a copy of our report to assist in an ongoing criminal investigation.

What we need to know

The burnt bowls case is one of over a hundred forensic investigations we have participated in over the past 10 years. Most of these, as people in the business will know, are relatively standard investigations looking for liquid accelerants indicating arson in fire residue. These are done using a standard set of ASTM methods. The non-arson jobs like the example above, however, are much more unusual.

Several years ago we adopted the ISO 9001 quality system to help us in providing systematic and legally defensible work for our clients. During this exercise we sorted out some of the key aspects of successfully completing these investigative jobs. On the surface, they seem merely interesting problems requiring a bit of deductive reasoning and, perhaps, luck. But completing them successfully, and in a legally defensible fashion, requires the melding of the ISO concepts of good project management with the formalities of the scientific method.

Some of the key concepts are:

Contract Verification: It is very important to clearly understand what questions need to be answered. Exchange information and ideas with the site people, often forensic engineers, and also, if applicable, with the legal or insurance people responsible for the overall outcome. Confirm what you are planning to do and what question you will be answering with your work. The ISO-9001 system forces the formalization of this process.

Notes and Records: The need to keep accurate, dated and traceable notes and records cannot be over emphasized. Sample security and traceability as well as dated and traceable lab and field books are a bare minimum. Take photographs and document all observations. Record all meetings and have standard procedures for as much of the technical work as possible. Again, the ISO system formalizes this, requiring the files to be organized, complete, traceable, and auditable.

Tests and Experiments: Central to the process are tests and experiments that actually prove the solution to the problem. Some of the more routine work, for example arson tests, follow well established procedures and require only good chemists and suitable equipment. The more complicated jobs however, require innovative and creative experiments to answer questions. To successfully answer these questions without ambiguity, the experiments must be well designed. Karl Popper, a philosopher and the father of the scientific method, said the hypothesis - that is, the expected answer from the experiment - must be disprovable or the experimental result is not conclusive. In the day-to-day world showing this 'disprovability' usually takes the form of controls. In the simple arson test, the chemist also must test a blank to make sure the assay is not giving a false positive and a spike to make sure the assay is not giving a false negative. In more complex investigations it can take some careful consideration to make sure the experiment is valid and defensible. In some cases, it is impossible, making that particular experimental approach useless.

Conclusions: At the end of our investigation we give our answer, and it must be objective. This answer is based on the information we have been provided and whatever we could find out from our field investigations and laboratory tests. At this stage it must be clear what we do know and what we do not know. It is easy to stray into an overconfident position. In our example of the bowls we may be inclined to say the solvent from the bowl extraction causes a flash fire. In fact we only know that components of cannabis were in the bowl and the fire had destroyed any hope of seeing an accelerant. Our work is therefore not conclusive, but only supportive of that fire scenario.

It is also important to note that reports for this type of work are not usually extensive so it is very important that the entire body of work supporting the report can be directly traced from the report so it can be audited. This may be necessary in the case of a court case or dispute. In our experience records in an "ISO-organized" fashion are not disputed.

In the end, the successful completion of forensic work demands a combination of creativity, objectivity, painstaking attention to detail, and openness to scrutiny. A firm understanding of scientific methods helps keep the creativity objective, good solid field and laboratory practices keep the details recorded, and an ISO 9001 or similar system assures the work will stand up to audit and scrutiny. And - best of all - it's fun.

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