Keeping America’'s borders secure is one of the most unrelenting and unsung jobs in law enforcement. It requires the cooperative efforts of agents from numerous federal agencies, including the U.S. Border Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Administration. These dedicated professionals regularly utilize a variety of investigative resources during the course of their work. And when it’'s time to document their findings, two of their most trusted tools are the Polaroid Macro 5 SLR close-up camera and the Spectra Law Enforcement Kit.
Documenting “critical incidents” for the Border Patrol.
The U.S. Border Patrol’'s San Diego sector monitors 66 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border. And when serious trouble occurs, it’'s the Sector Evidence Team that gets the call. “We’'re unique within the Border Patrol,” notes Joseph Giuliano, Supervisory Patrol Agent for the Evidence Team. “We work exclusively with so-called ''critical incidents,’' which include all reportable shootings, on-duty fatalities, major assaultive offenses, serious collisions and air crashes. We collect and analyze evidence to reconstruct accidents, shootings and other incidents from a technical standpoint.” Since much of this work involves close-up documentation, the Evidence Team considers its Macro 5 camera a vital resource. “The Macro 5 has very good optics and great resolution and color,” says Giuliano. “We use it to record small evidence such as bullet holes and minute paint transfers.”
This camera’'s ability to provide 2x and 3x enlargements at the turn of a dial makes it indispensable to many investigations, according to Giuliano. “In one case, the Macro 5 enabled us to document the striations in a bullet hole, which allowed us to narrow the list of weapons that could have been involved in the shooting,” he says. “In another, it allowed us to prove that an offender used his car to pin an agent against another car. Using the Macro 5, we were able to document indentations on the offender’'s vehicle made by the agent’'s holster and gun.”
But bullet holes and vehicular evidence aren’'t the only items suitable for instant, close-up documentation, notes Giuliano. “Because the Macro 5 tells you the precise degree of magnification, we also like to use it to document injuries,” he explains. “That way, we’'re able to show an enlarged photo and still describe the exact size of the injury depicted, which can be critical to proving or disproving an assault claim.” Although the Evidence Team normally uses 35mm and medium-format images for presentation, Giuliano notes that Macro 5 images can also fit the bill. “To tell you the truth, Macro 5 images are sometimes even better than 35mm images, which can occasionally get a little messed up in the lab,” he says. “In fact, I’'ve gone to court with Macro 5 3x enlargements.”
When extreme close-up documentation is not required, the San Diego Evidence Team normally relies on its dozen Spectra Law Enforcement Kits. “We use these primarily as note-taking devices,” says Giuliano. “Since we need to do immediate briefings and produce after-action reports, Spectra prints keep key details fresh in our minds. Also, since there might be six or eight agents working on a case, instant photos give us a convenient way to share information.” The Spectras also provide one other type of critical documentation -- on-the-spot photo lineups. “Many times, the driver of a van full of illegal aliens will try to blend in with the others after the van is stopped,” explains Giuliano. “Since the driver is subject to stiffer penalties, it’'s crucial that we identify him, so we photograph everybody with the Spectra and then show each detainee the prints individually, asking them to identify the driver.”
Giving DEA agents a closer look.
For the Drug Enforcement Administration’'s San Antonio district office, evidence documentation typically begins and ends with the Polaroid Spectra and Macro 5 cameras. According to Dean Sullivan, special agent in charge of technical operations in San Antonio, the Spectra Law Enforcement Kit is the DEA’'s first line of documentation. “Highway stops are a big part of our job, and our Spectras are an ideal tool for documenting our findings,” he says. “They can give you close-up shots of evidence as well as distance shots whenever you need them. We also like the exposure control because it lets us photograph objects through a window without glare.”
Once a vehicle is seized, Sullivan says that agents normally use the Spectra to document all suspicious features that led to concealed drugs -- “things like a new gas tank on a 15-year-old truck, or clean bolts on an otherwise greasy car,” he explains. “We also use the Spectra’'s close-up attachment to copy photo IDs and other documents in a suspect’'s possession.”
Besides aiding his unit’'s own investigations, these Spectra prints can also help other law enforcement agencies, notes Sullivan. “If we encounter a novel method for hiding drugs, we often document it with a Spectra print and share the photo with other agencies along the Mexican and Canadian borders,” he says. “To cite one example, we discovered heroin in a hollowed-out car battery. When we looked further, we saw that a smaller battery was actually being used to power the car, so we photographed them both and used the photos to alert other agencies to the tactic.”
Because Spectra prints are one of a kind, however, Sullivan shares only copies with colleagues at other agencies - copies produced with the Macro 5. “The Macro 5 makes it easy to create one-to-one copies that are virtually as good as the original photo,” he says. “I’'ve even used the Macro 5 to copy -- and enhance -- older black-and-white photos from our files. And if there’'s only one person in a group photograph whose image I want to copy, I just use the Macro 5 to enlarge and copy that person’'s face only.” Sullivan estimates that copying prints represents about half his Macro 5 usage. The other half of the time he uses the Macro 5 to document crime scenes -- especially seized drug laboratories, where the Macro 5''s light-beam focusing system provides essential flexibility.
“When you enter these labs, you have to wear a body suit and a face shield,” Sullivan explains. “As a result, you can’'t really look through your camera’'s viewfinder. But with the Macro 5''s light-focusing system, I don’'t have to. I just position the camera so that the focusing lights converge, and I take my photo. I’'ve done this successfully while holding the camera at waist level, as well as over my head. Just as important, I can see right away whether I’'ve gotten a good photo. That’'s critical, because these labs are completely disassembled after they are documented.”
Whether they’'re using Spectras or the Macro 5 cameras, Sullivan says that DEA agents in San Antonio can count on high-quality instant photo documentation whenever they need it. “The Spectras are virtually foolproof in the field,” he notes, “and I’'ve shown agents how to copy prints with the Macro 5 in literally one or two minutes. That’'s all the training that’'s required.”
For more information on Polaroid Cameras and Film for law enforcement, please visit www.polaroid.com
