Crime Laboratory

Forensic Documents

We are bombarded with printed, copied and computerized documents every day. Criminals with sophisticated networks have stolen identities, forged driver’s licenses and manufactured counterfeit currency.

The Lake County Crime Laboratory document examiners compare the ink, the type of paper, even the specific printer used to create a forged document. A skilled examiner may be able to identify the distinctions in one handwriting against another by measuring the smallest curve of an “S” or the tiniest tilt of a “T”.

Ultraviolet and infrared spectral comparators, use electromagnetic wavelengths and various filters to differentiate inks and reveal altered or hidden writing. Tests are so sophisticated now, an examiner may be able to read a blank page from the pressure or the indentation found on underlying pages in a tablet of paper.