There are two laws that relate to the role of a forensic investigator:-

1. The Locard Principle, whenever two surfaces come into contact with each other there is always transference of trace evidence from one surface to the other and vice versa and

2. The Theory of Probabilities, the probability of the concurrence of all the events is equal to the continued product of each separate event.

Most forensic evidence is circumstantial and the more circumstances that are presented to the court the greater the chance of a conviction.

We were the only police force in Australia that insisted that staff must have tertiary qualifications which enabled staff to be involved with a greater range of work.

Our laboratory staff became involved the following forensic investigations and examinations:-

1. Major crime scene examinations including murders, attempted murders, rapes, fires, explosions, hit run accidents, break and enters etc

2. Laboratory examinations included identification of inflammable liquids and vapours, comparisons of paint, hairs, fibres. tool marks, shoe impressions, explosive substances, recovery of engine and chassis numbers on stolen vehicles, the interpretation of blood splash patterns, etc. 

The comparison microscope was a very valuable tool in conducting these examinations, together, with other microscopes and various lighting techniques. Our fully equipped laboratory allowed for various chemical identification of unknown samples to be identified together with a range of other procedures which required a chemistry background to undertake.

In the 80s a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with QUT for the use of their scanning electron microscope (SEM) which greatly enhanced our forensic capabilities to analyse minute samples of trace evidence.

After I graduated from QIT (now QUT) in the 60s with a Diploma in Industrial Chemistry I became an Associate member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI). In the 80s I was admitted as a Fellow of the RACI for my services to forensic science in Qld. Being the only police officer in Australia to be granted this honour.

In the 60s my boss and I were the only staff members servicing Qld when I left in the mid 90s we had 34 staff and sections on the Gold Coast and in Townsville and Cairns. I was very proud of these achievements and the commitment from by loyal and professional staff who supported me during that time.

In my career I was involved with over 2,000 crimes scenes examinations, including 400 murders and witnessed several hundred PMs, and gave sworn expert evidence excluding ballistic evidence on 500 occasions. These days the role of the all rounder forensic scientist have long gone and I was lucky to be able to experience it.

A roll of honour of all O/Cs of the Scientific Section which was first established by Const Tom Baty as the Technical Section in 1937 is published below. 

  

Photo 1:Budding Forensic Scientist        Photo 2: OIC 1944_1976 - Insp Les Bardwell (1944/76), Const Tom Baty (1937/44), Insp Neil Raward ( 1974/94), Acting A/C Ron Redmond

   

Photo 3: OIC  1976 - 2012     Photo 4: Current OIC Insp Darren Pobar (2016-)  with Neil Raward