LESSON 9: EQUIPMENT AND APPARATUS USED IN QUESTIONED DOCUMENT

EXAMINATION
This lesson presents the different equipment and apparatus used in questioned documents
examination. It explains also the techniques and importance of photography in questioned document
examination.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

 familiarize on the equipment and apparatus used in questioned document examination,
 use photography in questioned document examination, and
 describe the different techniques in questioned document examination.

1. MAGNIFYING LENS

Bank personnel and other people involved in currency

examinations usually use and ordinary hand-lens; the maximum
diameter of which is four inches, and this appears big with its
wide frame it has a magnifying power of two times the original
only. Magnifying lenses of five times or more magnifying power,
with built-in-lighting are more useful.

2. SHADOWGRAPH a pictorial image formed by casting a shadow,

usually of the hands, upon a rightful surface or screen.
3. STEREOSCOPIC BINOCULAR MICROSCOPE a tri-dimensional (30) enlargement is possible.

4. TABLE LAMPS WITH ADJUSTABLE SHADES (Goose Neck Lamps) used

for controlled illumination; needed in sidelight examination wherein light is
placed at a low-angle in a position oblique to plane or document.

5. ULTRA VIOLET LAMP this is usually used in

the detection of counterfeited bills but can
actually be used to detect security features of
qualified documents.

6. INFRARED VIEWER primarily used to decipher writings in a

charred document.

7. COMPARISON MICROSCOPE similar to that of the bullet

comparison microscope.
8. VIDEO SPECTRAL COMPARATOR (VSC) it is
used in the examination of masked or obliterated
text, watermarks, visible fluorescence, paper
fluorescence and oblique illumination of indented
writing and embossing. It is a comprehensive
imaging device. it enables forensic document
examiners to analyze, compare and distinguish
between different inks and papers, reveal
alterations on a document, identify obliterated
entries, identify instances of page substitution,
and visualize hidden security printing features.

9. ELECTROSTATIC DETECTION APPARATUS (ESDA)

indentation/ indented writings that can records transparencies of
any in _ a piece of equipment commonly used in questioned
document examination, to reveal indented impressions on paper
which may otherwise go unnoticed. It is a non- destructive
technique (will not damage the evidence in question) thus allowing
further test to be carried out. It is a sensitive technique, and has
been known to detect the presence of fresh fingerprints. It is used
to detect and to assist in the decipherment of indented impressions
of handwriting on paper.

10. TRANSMITTED LIGHT GADGET a device where light comes from

beneath or behind glass on document is placed.

11. MEASURES AND TEST PLATES (TRANSPARENT GLASS) those used for signatures and
typewriting’s.

12. HANDWRITING PORTRACTOR- An instrument for measuring angles: an

instrument shaped like a semicircle marked with the degrees of a circle,
used to measure or mark out angles

13. OBLIQUE LIGHT- used in Oblique lighting as the light source positioned at a low angle. Oblique
lighting is usually used to show detail by creating shadows on the surface of the evidence.
TECHNIQUES IN THE EXAMINATION OF QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS:

A. Microscopic Examination - Any examination or study which is made with the microscope in order
to discover minute physical details. Stereoscopic examination with low and high-power objectives
is used to detect retouching, patching and unnatural pen-lift in signature analysis.
With proper angle and intensity or illumination, it aids in the decipherment of erasures, some
minute manipulations not perfectly pictured to the unaided eye and the sequence of entries done
by different writing instruments.

B. Transmitted Light Examination – In this examination, the document is viewed with the source
of illumination behind it and the light passing through the paper. Documents are subjected to this
type of examination to determine the presence of erasures, matching of serrations and some other
types of alterations.

B. Oblique Light Examination - An examination with the illumination so controlled that it grazes or
strikes the surface of the document from one side at a very low angle. Decipherment of faded
handwriting, determination of outlines in traced forgery, embossed impressions, etc. are subjected
to this type of examination.

C. Photographic Examination - This type of examination is very essential in every document

examination. Actual observations are recorded in the photographs.

E. Ultra-Violet examination - Ultraviolet radiation is invisible and occurs in the wave lengths just
below the visible blue-violet end of the spectrum (rainbow). These visible rays react on some
substances so that visible light is reflected, a phenomenon known as FLOURESCENCE.

This type of examination is done in a darkroom after the lamp has been warmed up in order to
give a maximum output of the ultra-violet light. Exposure to the ultra-violet light should be to the
minimum duration in order to avoid fading of some writing ink and typewriter ribbon.

The exposure of a document to ultra-violet light is useful when it consists of several pages
and substitution is being suspected. The color and intensity of fluorescence reaction is very apparent
in case of substituted page. Mechanical and chemical erasures will certainly change the reflectivity
and fluorescence of the area affected.

F. Infrared Examination - This examination of documents employs invisible radiation beyond the red
portion of the visible spectrum (rainbow) which is usually recorded on a specially sensitized
photographic emulsion.
PHOTOGRAPHY AND QUESTIONED DOCUMENT EXAMINATION

A. Photographs are very necessary and useful in nearly every questioned document investigation
(examination) especially for those who are required to present the facts to a court of any
investigative body or agency.

B. PURPOSES OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN QDE:

1. serve as record of the initial condition of a disputed document;
2. make clear what otherwise may be hidden or indistinct;
3. enlarge a writing in question so that every quality and characteristics of it can be clearly and
properly interpreted whether the facts so shown point to genuineness or to forgery;
4. enable any number of accurate reproductions of document, thus affording unlimited opportunity
for study, comparison and evaluation by any number of examiners, which would not be possible
by using the document alone;
5. allow cutting apart as may be desired and the various parts classified for comparisons;
6. can show delicate discolorations due to chemical erasures or other fraudulent changes, which
may otherwise be overlooked, or misinterpreted;
7. can show very clearly any erasures by abrasions made by ordinary rubber eraser and it can
record in permanent form with the paper placed obliquely to the plane of the lens and plate
and inclined at just right angle of reflection so as to show differences in the reflected light from
different portions of the paper surface; and
8. with transmitted light, photographs are useful in:
a. examination of watermarks
b. determining the identity, or the differences in paper by showing arrangement of the fibers
and the markings of the wire gauze and dandy roll
c. showing the continuity of strokes and
d. determining retouching or patching of a writing by showing clearly the presence of added
ink film and the uneven distribution of ink in interrupted strokes.

Source:
https://pdfcoffee.com/questioned-document-examination-5-pdf-free.html
https://slideplayer.com/slide/8176632/
https://www.robsonforensic.com/articles/forensic-document-examination-expert-witness#Handwriting
https://www.robsonforensic.com/articles/forensic-document-examination-expert-witness/