The tickle of curiosity. The gasp of discovery. Fingers running across the keyboard.

The World of Iniquus - Action Adventure Romance

Showing posts with label writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writers. Show all posts

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Under the Weather? How to use Mother Nature in Your Plot

I'm blog hopping from ThrillWriting over to Thriller-Writer in this article.

BTW, I wanted to name my blog Thriller-Writer but someone beat me to it. And then, I found out it was my friend Eric - great minds and all that. So join me as I hop.

My Guest: Fiona Quinn

My Guest this week is a little under the weather...  in fact, we all are, as are the characters in the novels we read, and she's going to show us some clever ways authors can use this to immerse readers into scenes on the page. Ladies and Gentlemen...


Fiona Quinn


How’s the Weather? 
In Your Novel, 
It Makes a Difference.


Last weekend, I was out in the woods on an Evacuation Team with Search and Rescue. It was ninety degrees (32º C). Things had cooled down quite a bit from the last time I was out on a manhunt; that day it had been over a hundred (39º C) with a wall of humidity. 

Amazon Link
Since I write Romantic Suspense/thrillers, I always try to note my experiences so I can bring my written words to life. In the case of searching for someone in the woods, weather matters. And I want to make the broader point that weather matters in all of our writing scenes.

Let’s start with my evac event as an example. In order to go into the woods, rescuers need to dress out; that is, we’re required to wear certain clothing to maintain our safety: boots, wool socks, long pants, long sleeved shirt, eye protection, helmet, heavy leather gloves. I was covered from head to toe except for the three or so inches between my glasses and my shirt collar. On top of that, I carried a rescue pack and equipment like rappelling webbing, a backboard, and a litter, as well as first aid bag, water for the victim and food. Water weighs a lot. Especially the amounts carried in for the heat. Ninety degrees. Remember that.


Amazon Link
In ninety-degree weather, a rescuer can quickly need rescuing. Rescuers are human beings, too. While often portrayed as heroic and never being aware of things like heat, Mother Nature really isn’t that kind. In ninety-degree heat, with or without the extra equipment, in that clothing, your character will be sopping wet with sweat. The sweat will make the dirt on the skin muddy. It will bring the bugs a-buzzing. It will make the character thirsty, tired, and probably a bit irritable. It will make the clothing cling uncomfortably to the skin, will increase the friction on the feet, forming blisters. Physical exertion in that weather will increase the need for water. Increase the chance of heat stroke. Use the weather to increase the misery of your character (nothing should be going well for them anyway.) 


Think about all of the wonderful ways you can describe the event once you take into account the weather: heat, cold, rain, drought, wind – it’s all plotting fodder.

The weather gives a writer plenty of ways to add beats into conversations instead of tags. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term 'beat', what I mean is that I would give environmental information or physical activity to the scene. It’s very important to resituate a reader. . . 

Saturday, March 1, 2014

What NOT to Wear: Clothing Choices to Save Your Heroine

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This week I have a new hairdo. I chopped off about a foot of hair to donate to an organization making wigs for women with cancer. This is Breast Cancer Awareness month - so let's save the tatas, ladies.



The change in my appearance prompted this week's article. Time and time again statistics show that perpetrators look for signs of vulnerability, such as long hair, when choosing their victims. Another thing that can turn your character into a victim is her clothing.



Excerpt from WEAKEST LYNX:
AMAZON LINK

I need to be able to move in my clothes. I did a lot of martial arts training. Master Wang thinks too many women wear clothes that restrict them.” And the hell if I was going to put myself at greater risk being bound up by a pencil skirt. When Stalker showed up, I planned to kick the shit out of him. I smiled ruefully. “I always try to get some Lycra in my pants and jeans. I tend to choose full skirts, so I can defend myself and hide my gun.”
            “You carry a gun?” Celia and Alice asked together.
            I smiled. “Sometimes.” More like, always
           



Just like Lexi Sobado, I believe careful clothing choices makes for better safety. 

  • For me this means Lycra, Lycra, Lycra and more Lycra - and   maybe a little Spandex. 
  • I have found that wearing conservative clothing styles creates  obstacles to self-defense.


When you are dressing your character, you may want to keep some of these ideas in mind to either help your heroine escape, or, if it's better for your plot line, get her into a real bind by using her clothes against her. 


Link - How a Predator Courts a Victim

Link Aggressive Body Language


SKIRTS and DRESSES:
Look Of The Day 20100107 - Silk Blouse and Pen...
 (Photo credit: Deirdre Boyer)

  • Skirts should be worn above the knee either an A-line or a shorter  Lycra or Spandex material.
  • Long skirts (below the knee) need to be lifted and held up to fight. This throws off balance and your character cannot use her hands and arms to block, grab, or punch.
  • Pencil skirts prevent a woman from using her best body weapon - her legs. She can't knee, run, kick, or crouch. She is vulnerable.

Video Quick Study (1:10) Look how cute this dress is. It is also easy for this woman to defend herself.

  • Sleeveless for mobility
  • Skirt above the knee and wide enough for high kicks. Bodice tight to the body with give.
  • Wedge shoes that are strapped on offer stability
  • I watched what looked like a cattle call for a martial arts actress. (video removed by YouTube lineup) The women wore skirts of  various lengths. Women wearing short skirts had both hands available. If their skirt came below their knee, they pulled their skirts up and held them out of the way. This leaves them with one less hand to use for balance, blocking and punching.

Video Quick Study (1:02) Woman fighting in a business attire. Her skirt might be a little short for office wear,  a longer (just above the knee) A-line skirt would work as well.



Loon Pants
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
PANTS

  • Wide bottoms can be grabbed during a kick. This would put your character on the ground.
  • Wide legs can get caught on the heel when crouching, tripping your character.



Video Quick Study (:57) Okay, this is not how a real fight works, but I wanted you to see how a good pair of pants help her.


  • They are thick enough to protect her legs.
  • They are form fitting and stretch
  • Held up by a belt. True a belt can be grabbed, but so can the top of pants - and worse if your character is wearing yoga pants or exercise pants the assailant can pull these down quickly and easily to shackle your character. Though this works both ways. If your heroine is facing a gang-banger she can stomp the top of his pants and run.

Video Quick Study (2:50) This is shot at a self-defense seminar.

  •  The girls' jeans are cut in such a way that they cannot get their knees up. This preempts the girl-power numero-uno self-  preservation move: knee-to-the-groin.
  • They can't kick above the knees (though a kick to the knee,   snapping the assailant's leg backward is a great way to escape!)
  • Notice the hoody that one girl is wearing and how it would be   used against her. This guy was being nice. A real villain would yank it backwards and put her on the ground - When she is on the ground, the villain  has the most control.


SHIRTS
 Blouses that are classically tailored have some major
 drawbacks in self-defense.

  • The cotton fabric has no give.
  • The cut is loose enough to grab easily.
  • The cut of the fabric does not allow full range of motion - this prevents the character from getting a full-force back-fist or elbow strike, two strikes that are more effective than straight punches for women.





Video Quick Study  (1:28) See how well this woman can fight in her tight turtleneck.

  • This shirt fits tight to the body and is less likely to get    caught on anything or grabbed.
  • The stretchy fabric allows full range of motion.



SHOES:



Stilettos on Figueroa
Stilettos on Figueroa (Photo credit: lostinangeles)

  • Need to be stable or removable.
  • High heeled boots can be a great weapon if your character has the ankle strength to fight in them. Running, though is hard to do.
  • Stilettos can be an asset if they can be removed easily to run away, or used for strikes.
  • The photo to the right shows women dressed to defend    themselves, but the girl on the far right will be the one who   goes down in the final chase because of the ankle straps.
  • Wedge heels add to stability
  • Closed-toe shoes prevent debris from getting jammed into the    shoe and will also work to protect the toes.
  •  Highly pointed shoes works to concentrate force into a very small area, thereby making a front snap kick all the more devastating. Aim a snap kick at the assailant's diaphragm, and your heroine will wind him and have several precious minutes on her head start.
  • Of course, if she could manage to be wearing steel-toed boots, or cross-trainers that would be nice.






English: An A-line skirt, with top.
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So, I mostly approve of the outfit to the right.

  • Tight fitted shirt with enough give so she has range of motion.
  • Skirt has kicking room and is above her knee for knee raises.
  • Shoes are low heeled. She can use those heels for  grinding toes. They're strapped on for stability. But they are open toed which can cause problems with  gravel and debris. I imagine these have slippery soles. These would be tough to run in.
  • Her hoop earrings are problematic as well. She  needs to lose those earrings.



Just a final thought about ACCESSORIES:


Purses:


  • You're heroine should always have a weapon, her phone, and her keys on her body when she's walking. If someone makes a grab at her purse, she should just let it go.
  • Big purses are  a bigger target.
  • A big purse can be used to block punches.
  • A small purse is a smaller target and can be used to swing at the assailant.


Scarves:


  • Are chocking hazards and binding hazards.
  • Unless your heroine is trained to get out of choke holds and then use the scarf as a weapon (for trapping strikes or kicks, for example) she should probably just leave the scarf at home.


Earrings, necklaces, and other accessories:


  • Can all be used to grab and control your character
  • Rings can work like brass knuckles especially if they have sharp stones. Also, if your heroine punches the assailant a few times she'll probably have enough DNA caught in the pongs to do a profile.  Link to DNA 101


Please let me know if you have any questions, and I will do my best to help. 




Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.





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Monday, January 6, 2014

Medevac Helicopters: When Your Heroine's Life Is On the Line

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_________________________________________________________


An Iceland Coast Guard (Islenska Landhelgisgae...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Recently I had the opportunity to meet a helicopter rescue team from Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems. What a fascinating job!











It was a nighttime landing at a church parking lot. The helicopter circled to come in with the wind direction. I was ready for wind - I was not ready for the gale that swallowed me. Debris flew by, and I ended up ducking between cars for safety.




Helicopter with patient
Helicopter with patient (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
* On the VCU Health Systems team,
    rescuers work four
   days a month: two twenty-four-
   hour days and two eight-hour days.
* The teams from V.C.U. work as a
   group of three to include:
   1. The pilot - who knows nothing
       about the patient in order to maintain his
       focus on piloting safely.
   2. A medevac nurse
   3. A flight paramedic
* Team members are rotated so that:
   1. they are used to working with everyone from
       their location
   2. to avoid complacence
   3. to avoid bad habits.
* Surprisingly, most of their work is not flying crash victims to the hospital.
   Most of their work involves moving patients from smaller hospitals, where the
   equipment, medication, or expertise is lacking, to a larger
   hospital which is better positioned to handle the medical crisis.
* Getting a patient into the right environment within a 1-3 hour window creates a significantly higher
   survivability rate.
* The VCU team flies up to Maryland, Washington D.C., down to North Carolina,
   and west to Virginia Tech. While many of the large universities have their own flight evac teams
   and their own hospitals that they represent, on this level there is a great deal of comradery, reciprocity,
   and shared resources. The teams will transport for each other depending on availability and location.

Video Quick Study (6:00) Excellent overview of a simulated rescue moving a patient from a lower level
hospital to a trauma center. In this video:
* The average take off time for this team is 6 minutes
* They like the team to touch the helicopter in 90 seconds
* As they are flying in the hospital is gearing up. They can be in surgery cutting into the patient
   within 3 minutes of landing.

Video Quick Study (4:00) Response to a car accident with head trauma.
Video Quick Study (11:00)  GRAPHIC IN NATURE - please consider your tolerance. A soldier with a
                              brain trauma is being treated on the flight. This is NOT A SIMULATION. You may
                              want to mute the music to focus on the organization of the medical equipment and the
                              medical interventions that are being performed on the floor of the helicopter.
             

This job is considered one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. 

One of the bad thing that can happen is called: Flicker Vertigo
* Is not caused by inner ear issues like normal vertigo - it is a visual issue
* Causes queasiness and confusion
* Can effect the patient as well as the pilot. This is particularly concerning where a patient
   has a history of motion sickness or epilepsy.
* Full face visors work like sunglasses to protect against this.

PDF resource that is much more thorough
Video Quick Study (0:23) experience flicker vertigo

Another big danger happens in landing around power lines.
* Lines are difficult to see especially at night. (Which you can easily see in my video above)
* The helicopters are equipped with hooks that would trap and cut the line to protect the helicopter
   and the rescue workers.

Video Quick Study (3:00) Skip right to the 2:10 mark. Helicopters and power lines are a bad combo.

If you are writing a flight evac scene, you will need to make a lot of decision, just like real-life rescuers do.


What about the weather?
* Before any information about the patient or the situation is offered, the weather is checked.
* It is important that a safe decision is made based on data alone, without figuring in the heroics of the rescue
   team.
* Once the weather is determined to be safe, then other decisions are considered.

Is the woman pregnant and is it possible that she will go into labor?
English: Close up of the belly of a pregnant w...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
* From the position of the gurney on the helicopter, the
   rescue team does NOT have access to the lower half
   of the patient's body.
* A woman in labor is a no-go on the helicopter

Will the patient fit?
* The space is limited.
* These  rescue workers have had a patient
   with an enormous girth before. They had to lubricate
   him in order to squeeze him in to the cramped space - it
   makes for an uncomfortable ride, and it ups the danger quotient.

Weight.
* A helicopter can only carry so much weight.
* The flight crews weight is documented and put into a mathematical calculation as is the weight of the
   passenger they are going to pick up.
* Jet fuel weighs about 7 lbs per gallon. The pilot calculates for distance. It takes 1.1 gallons of fuel
   per minute of flight. They are flying at 120-140 nautical miles per hour. A nautical mile is 20%
   longer than a regular mile - so this is equivalent to about 188 mph. The pilot indicated that this was the
   speed of a NASCAR driver on a medium track. Of course they are moving in linearly, unlike a car,
   so the distance is shorter. (And how much does that fuel at 1 gallon per 1.1 second cost? As of the writing
   of this post it was $4.90 per gallon tp $6.50 depending on contracts. YIPES! That's an expensive
   rescue!) At any rate, the pilot is calculating whether or not he can hold enough fuel for the distance of the
   rescue.

Once the patient is stabilized, packaged, and loaded:

The  nurse and flight paramedic have all of the resources of an emergency room to include:
* Respiration apparatus
* Defibrillators
* Medications
* Wound dressing

HELICOPTER SAFETY

Approach

* The helicopter has two engines
* The blades move at 450 mph which about six times per second.
* The blades can flex downward which is a decapitation hazard.
* To approach safely only do so from the front.
* If you are positioned to the rear of the helicopter make a large arc to the front
* Get permission to approach by signaling the pilot either by radio or hand signal of your intention and wait
    for a thumbs up.  

Video Quick Study (2:05) approach

Heliports

Helicopter parking sign on ground of the forme...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
*Are one of the most dangerous places at a hospital.
* Nurses, technicians, and maintenance workers are
   all trained to minimize risk - but we all know in
   an emergency sometimes our bodies just act. This
   is the wrong place for that to happen.
* Hospitals have a dedicated elevator ONLY for
    medevac rescue.

Video Quick Study (1:00) Medevac helicopter landing
                                           on a hospital roof heliport.


Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.



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Sunday, December 1, 2013

Unusual Uses for Dental Floss - How to Save Your Character's Life


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Dental floss
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
At the request of one of my readers, I am working on various blogs that will help you, the writer, develop a great EDC (every day carry) for your character. Since most people don't walk around prepared for the end of the world, it helps if your character has some basics on hand and a little out-of-the-box know how.

In our last EDC tutorial, we learned how to save your character's life with condoms LINK.

This week we're adding in dental floss.

Dental floss is handy dandy and can be used in a pinch in all kinds of situations:


It's fortunate that your character just happens to carry a travel toothbrush and floss in her purse. Even better, since she was a Girl Scout she has some preparedness training, and she sticks a darning needle into the box, just in case. Either way, having a spool of dental floss can save your character's life.


English: Dental floss Deutsch: Zahnseide
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Heart symbol, with border.
. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

EVERY DAY PROBLEMS:

* Hair tie-back
* Entertain your kids with a
  Cat's Cradle String
* Food in the teeth
* Cleaning between small
   cracks like on the keyboard
* If your heroine is out on a romantic picnic and
   forgot her knife, dental floss will cut her bread, cheeses, cake etc.
* Your heroine has an important meeting tomorrow, but the drip drip dripping in the hotels sink is making her
   buggy! She can run some dental floss around the faucet and let the string hang down into the drain. The
   water will conduct along the string, and it will be quiet.
* If she needs to remove the stuck picture or page from a surface, she can
   work carefully with the dental floss to separate one from the other.
* She can also use the floss to remove cookies stuck to her cookie sheet.
* She can support her office plant by tying it up with the floss
   Video Quick Study (1:48)

Ah, but let's get real here. These uses are pretty benign, and we all know you're just not that nice to your heroine. You throw her from one life-or-death emergency to another. Let's see how dental floss can help her escape with life and limb.

FIRST AID

* Use as a tourniquet if a toe or finger is severed. (put the severed digit in a non-lubricated condom tie it off
   and put it on ice. Send her to the hospital immediately.
* Tie off an umbilical chord when she had to rescue-deliver that baby on the stuck elevator.
* If the hand is injured and swelling, threatening to cut off circulation in the finger because of a now-too-tight
   ring, starting at the far end of the finger by the nail wrap the floss around and around tightly to force fluids
   back up the finger into the hand and slide the ring over this. Release the floss immediately. 

Apartment Key
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ESCAPE AND SURVIVAL

* What if your heroine's keys fell down a grate?
    Dental floss, a paper clip, and lots of patience.
    (Could also try freshly chewed gum tied to the floss.
     or duct tape made into an inverted loop)
    Video Quick Study (2:00) Fishing for keys
*  Replace shoe laces as she's running from Big
    Foot.
*  Sewing - repairing her clothes or gear or even
    suturing a wound (last ditch effort in the wilds).
*  Repairing a wet suit
    Video Quick Study (1:35)
*  Make a clothes line - if your character fell through the
    ice and is sopping wet, she has to get dry fast!
    Water wicks heat away from the body; she's better
    naked and dry than clothed and wet.
*  A hiding place for small objects. They might search
    your heroine/spy from head to toe and empty her
    purse out but much like the tampon box in her
    bathroom, a dental floss case will get very little attention,
    especially if she has it in a small bag with travel tooth brush, comb, and mirror. It looks so normal. She can
    store memory chips, hand cuff keys, or other get-out-of-jail-free items inside.

Video Quick Study (3:29) Brief demonstrations of some of the uses



English: zombie
English: zombie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



In a Zombie Apocalyptic Disaster, remember that there are four main components to survival: FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, FIRE.


Fire in Dumpster
(Photo credit: benwatts)

FIRE - 

* Use for fire starter material (waxed works
   particularly well)
* Making a bow drill
   Video Quick Study (5:26)


FOOD

*  Hanging things. If your character has food with her, she should not keep it on her or near her while she
    sleeps. She should walk a short distance and hang the food from a tree limb so as not to attract wild
    animals and keep everything safe. Remember that while dental floss is strong your character might want to
    braid the floss to increase the tensile strength if her food ways more than a couple of pounds.
 * Fishing line coupled with a safety pin or paper clip and a stick she finds in the woods (and a condom or
    tampon wrapper as a bobber).
 * Hunting
   - Bow string
      Video Quick Study (5:02) If this ten-year-old can do it, your heroine can. She remembers a
                                   neighbor kid doing this when she was little.
   - Traps
      Video Quick Study (1:55) catching a bird

English: Image 3 of 5 in Debris Hut Constructi...
English: Image 3 of 5 in Debris Hut Construction.. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

SHELTER



*  Tying sticks for a debris hut.
*  Makeshift shelter such as a poncho tent



CampMor Silnylon Poncho Tent
Poncho Tent (Photo credit: kc7fys)







WATER

* Tying the top of your condom water carrier.





Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.


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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The SIRCHIE Education Training Facility Tour - by Patti Phillips




SIRCHIE makes hundreds of products for the law enforcement community and offers classes in how to use those products at their Youngsville, North Carolina Education and Training site. Several crime writers were allowed an unprecedented opportunity to attend a five-day, hands-on training session, so that we could learn more about the latest and best gadgets being used to catch the crooks.

During the first two days of Evidence Collection Training, we used a number of chemicals, fingerprint powders, and brushes, and employed several different fingerprint lifting techniques on a variety of tricky surfaces. We discussed the benefits of both cheap and costly Alternate Light Sources.

Our notebooks were filling up and theories of the perfect crime were flying around the class. We kept quizzing Robert Skiff, our instructor, (SIRCHIE Training Manager/Technical Training Specialist) about ways to ‘get away with the murder of the decade.’ But as we learned, there is no perfect crime. That pesky trace evidence will always be waiting at every scene for the investigator to discover it, photograph it, tag it, bag it, and transport it without losing the integrity of the sample.

It was time to visit the plant – see how the powders, brushes, and other crime scene paraphernalia were made.

SIRCHIE manufactures most of its products in-house. The specialized vehicles for SWAT, bomb rescue, arson investigation, and surveillance work, etc., are built in New Jersey, but the smaller products are produced right in North Carolina.

Security was carefully controlled throughout our tour. Most of our group writes crime fiction, so we are always looking for a way our fictional criminals can break in (or out of) a wild assortment of locations. As we walked through the stacks and aisles of products, we commented to each other on the smooth organization and many checks SIRCHIE had in place. Cameras everywhere. Limited access to the assembly floor. Labyrinths a person could easily get turned around in. If we got separated from the group while taking an extra photo or two, we were found and escorted back by an always friendly employee.

Of course, we couldn’t turn into rogue students anyway. Our fingerprints littered the classroom and they knew where we lived.

Security plays a part in the assembly model as well. Each product they create is put together from start to finish by hand. There are no assembly lines because of trade secrets and a dedication to preserving product integrity. Personnel are carefully screened before being hired and qualification for employment includes graduate degrees. No criminal history whatsoever is allowed. Every employee comes through the Evidence Collection Training Class so that they understand what SIRCHIE does as a whole.


Tool and Die Machinery

Templates for the various products are created in-house. The operators of these machines are highly trained experts. Quality control is paramount, so training is constant.


Printed Supplies
Scale Strips
All the printing is done in-house. The printing area was stacked with cases of items being printed for shipment. We saw ink strips large enough to process tire treads.

Field Kit
Field Kits are created for general use by investigators, but can be specifically designed for a special need. The small vials contain enough chemicals to test unknown stains and substances at the scene. Note the dense foam holding the vials and bottles firmly in place. The kits are usually kept in the trunk and probably get tossed around quite a bit. The foam insures against breakage during car chases and while bumping across uneven road surfaces.

Finger Print Brushes
There are fiberglass brushes, feather dusters for the very light powder, regular stiffer brushes, and magnetic powder brush applicators.



Brushes Completed
We were lucky enough to see fiberglass brushes being made.



Gun Box
If a handgun is seized for evidence, there needs to be a simple, yet effective way to track chain of possession.
*Bag the gun to preserve the fingerprints and
*drop the gun in the box.
*Then fill in the blanks on the box.
*Easy to stack and store until needed.
Think of all the cases that may be ongoing in a large jurisdiction – the evidence is not sitting at the police station. It’s in a warehouse someplace, and needs to be easily identified when required for court. In addition to several sized boxes for guns and knives, etc. SIRCHIE also provides an incredible assortment of resealable plastic bags for preserving evidence like clothing, unidentified fibers, etc.


Wendy with Magnetic Powder
Magnetic powder was being processed that day and then put into rows and rows of jars and jugs. Before it is sent out to the customers, each lot is tested for moisture content, appropriate ratio of ingredients and other trade secret tests. We joked about taking some back to class for the next round of fingerprint study and were surprised by how heavy the jugs were.


Cyanowand Cartidges for Glue Gun
No, she’s not making bullets. She is assembling the cyanowand cartridges used for fuming with superglue.

SIRCHIE Makes Riot Gear
Riot Helmet Drills
This is not a photo of something from a SyFy movie. At the center of the shot is a helmet template. The drills encircling the template are aimed at spots where holes are needed for each helmet, depending on the type of helmet in production. All the holes are drilled at the same time.

The helmet before anything
 has been added to it
 
.

Helmet Padding
Buckles for Helmets


Padding is inserted after the buckles are attached.
Helmet Component
Helmet Neck
Helmet Faceguard














Completed Riot Helmet



The Optical Comparator, as well as the other machines, are built to order by hand.


While in the warehouse, we learned that if a product is discontinued, it is still supported by SIRCHIE. That means that if a law enforcement officer calls up with a problem a few years after purchasing a machine, he can still get help. Reassuring for jurisdictions with a tight budget that can’t afford to replace expensive equipment every year or two.

SIRCHIE sends supplies to TV shows, so next time you’re watching a fave detective or examiner lift prints with a hinge lifter, it may have come from SIRCHIE.


Great tour, great people who work so hard to keep the law enforcement community supplied with the gear needed to catch the bad guys.
A big thanks to Patti for stopping by today.

Patti has been a contributor to several articles here on the blog including: Finger Printing LINK and Footwear Evidence LINK. You can find a link to her blog NIGHTSTAND BOOK REVIEWS under my  
"Blogs I Follow" on the information strip on the right hand side.  Also check out Kerrian's Notebook LINK  

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