Case Notes #011: Fingerprints and Forensics
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My name is John Sweetman, and this is Lines of Inquiry, Case Notes. My name is John Sweetman, and this is Lines of Inquiry Case Notes. In Case Notes, we step away from telling one specific case in detail, and instead take some time to reflect, to revisit past investigations, and to respond directly to you, the listener. These episodes are about opening up the conversation. If you have a message you'd like to share, a case you'd like us to revisit, or someone you'd like to hear from on future episodes of Case Notes, You can get in touch with us at linesofinquiry at goloudnow.com and be sure to follow us on Instagram at linesofinquirypodcast to keep up to date.
My guest today is Ray Kane, a retired detective sergeant with Angarda Siocana. He spent more than 30 years in policing, much of it in the Garda Technical Bureau and Fingerprint Department. During that time, he examined thousands of crime scenes and fingerprint case files, making thousands of identifications across a wide range of serious investigations. Ray is now a consultant forensic expert, working on case reviews, crime scene evaluations, expert witness work and training, and currently serves as evidence manager with the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention in Tuam. Ray, you're very welcome. Good to have you here. Thanks, John. It's great to be here. We know each other, Ray, how long, I suppose?
1993, I think, is when we first met. Probably. And, you know, we've crossed paths numerous times over the years in the command and control and then later, of course, in the fingerprint section. Was there anything that, you know, apart from me telling it was a great spot, was there anything that attracted you to that work in the Bureau?
Well, before I joined the Guards, I was in the FCA for a couple of years, and I've always had an interest in firearms. And ballistics is something that would have piqued my interest. When I left command and control, I went to Sun Drive Road, and as luck would have it, my sergeant on the unit was a guy called John McGee, who was a fingerprint expert who had left the section. And one particular night, I was... Sitting there thinking, what was I going to do next with my life in the guards? And so I applied for, I think, four or five different courses that night. But he just picked that one out and said, do you really want to do scenes of crime course training? I said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. If he'd said anything, I would have said, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it was that particular one. So he made a few phone calls. Got me the course and did the training and like back then, you're talking this is 1998, the division of scenes of crime units around the country wouldn't have been as well staffed as they are now, well resourced. And in Sun Drive Road, there was a very small unit in Crumlin that had a big division to cover. So I got to do a bit of practice. Like I had the scenes of crime kit in the back of the patrol car when I was driving around, any crimes that happened, rather than them having to wait a couple of days for the scenes of crime guys to arrive, I'd take out the kit and powder away.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–8:23
2
Who is Ray Kane and what was his role in the Garda Technical Bureau?
8:23–12:06
3
How did Ray get into fingerprint and scenes-of-crime work?
12:06–21:30
4
What does a typical call‑out and unpredictable day look like for a fingerprint examiner?
21:30–38:37
5
How do forensic teams coordinate evidence gathering at crime scenes?
38:37–42:28