Our seminars are of manageable size and take place right in the middle of the action. Everyone has the opportunity to get their hands dirty, and a debriefing meeting ensures that all the evidence is fully analyzed.
Our spacious conference facilities include an exhibition of topic-related material and have enough room to allow for practical demonstrations and experiments.
Participants create burglary evidence
Participants break glass
Conference room with exhibition
We offer a varying range of informative seminars about forensic investigation techniques.
Seminar Topic: Forensic Investigations of Motor Vehicles
This in-house seminar concentrates on the processing of evidence of motor vehicle theft.
Loss adjusters and others concerned are given the necessary skills to ascertain whether new keys were obtained, followed by comprehensive information about methods of vehicle theft. We use practical exercises to show ways of mechanical tampering with tools commonly used to break into cars, followed by an analysis of the resulting marks and traces.
This creates a basic understanding of the methods used as well as the ability to use the available evidence to determine whether or not vehicle theft has taken place.
The analysis of evidence provides the fundamental proof of such an incident.
In addition, the participants will learn about forcing immobilizers. As there is a multitude of ways to force or block an immobilizer, some of which involve tampering with electronic components, we can only offer a general overview. More detailed investigations would require a sound understanding of electronics.
Therefore, this seminar merely aims to provide the participants with the basic knowledge necessary to justify initial suspicion. The final assessment of a perpetrator’s methods, whether mechanical or involving electronic tampering, can only be carried out by forensic examination. This seminar aims to provide the participants with an understanding of the different types of potential evidence, and which methods are required to secure evidence while allowing for forensic analysis.
In addition, the participants will be taught about perpetrator behavior when forcing doors and windows on premises, and what types of evidence are investigated to be able to prove such forced access.
Finally, various ways of key duplication or obtaining of keys are demonstrated, which enables the participants to learn about the traditional method of obtaining a key as well as other methods.
There follows a visit to the laboratory with practical demonstrations of equipment used, which will give the participants an understanding of the forensic work required to prepare the expert report.
Such training will enable any loss adjuster to differentiate between a real incident of vehicle theft by third parties, and the strong suspicion that theft was fraudulently arranged, which is the case in more than half of the incidents investigated.
This also ensures that a justified claim can be settled quickly, but that settlement will not be forthcoming in a case that may be rejected.
The seminar is designed for a total of 16 participants, mostly from the insurance sector and the police. We do not accept individual applications.
The cost of the one-day seminar is 3.280 € plus VAT. The cost includes all refreshments and lunch. Also included are all materials, read-outs of vehicle immobilizers and mechanical security devices (destroyed to the point of being unusable).
We encourage participants to use their own camera to take pictures during the seminar as a reference for their future work. In addition, we provide handouts.
Should overnight accommodation be required, please let us know in good time. We can put you in contact with local hotels offering favorable rates.
Program: One-Day Forensic Examination of Vehicles Seminar
1.Introduction of methods of vehicle theft and ways of obtaining evidence of forced access and break-in
– Introduction to the mechanical forcing of steering locks
– Detection methods based on forensic evidence
– Presentation of different tools and implements
Coffee break
2.Introduction to immobilizers
– Critical review of immobilizers
– Forcing of different immobilizers in practice
– Introduction to state-of-the-art electronic forcing devices
– Detection methods of electronic “traces”
Lunch break
3.Practical demonstration:
– Breaking into a vehicle
– Destruction of glass panes
– Forcing door safety locks
– Canceling steering lock and ignition lock cylinders
– Practical application of different tools and implements
– Analysis and discussion of evidence
4.Practical demonstration (electronic security devices)
– Vehicle examination
– Read-out of memory components
– Potential for microscopic investigation, assessment and discussion of results
Coffee break
5.Breaking into premises – an overview
– Removing keys from the premises
– Detection methods
6.Methods of copying keys
– Presentation of different methods
– Impressioning / moulding techniques
– Detection methods
7.Forensic investigation and analysis
– Laboratory presentation (digital photography, microscopes, scanning-electron microscope, etc.)
8.Conclusion
Seminar Topic: Forensic Investigations of Premises after a Fire or Burglary
The main objective of this in-house seminar is to enable police crime scene investigators and forensic scientists as well as insurance industry loss adjusters to understand what evidence is created on premises by perpetrators forcing doors, windows and other security devices.
An essential part is the development of visual recognition skills that enable a participant to make an initial assumption about whether the evidence would preclude or point to a successful forcing of security devices. As part of the practical side of the seminar, participants will also learn to differentiate which evidence is plausibly part of a particular incident, and which can be assumed to be simulated.
Participation is limited to 16.
This ensures that each participant has the opportunity to try their hand at forcing doors and windows with the tools supplied, and to analyze and evaluate the resulting evidence.
After this seminar, crime scene investigators and loss adjusters will know precisely what to look for when first faced with doors and windows at the scene of a burglary which are assumed to have been forced by the perpetrators.
The ability to differentiate between real and simulated evidence means that experts only need to be consulted in the case of irregularities.
The seminar also aims to show how facts that come to light can significantly influence the further course of the investigation. This can prevent false accusations being made as well as an insurer’s refusal to accept liability or unjustified legal or civil proceedings. An expert would only need to become involved when the evidence encountered by the trained observer differs from that presented at the seminar.
For insurance companies who no longer need to employ external specialists, the improved expertise of their loss adjusters should result in significant savings.
After a fire, one should always request an investigation if the possibility of arson can be assumed when sufficient evidence presents itself. Such an investigation would aim to establish how the perpetrator gained access to the premises prior to arson being committed.
Furthermore, forensic and laboratory results can give information about possible additional and alternative ways of gaining access through doors and windows without leaving obvious clues, and which tools might have been used.
As well as visual observation of the evidence, the presentation of laboratory investigation provides knowledge of numerous other ways of detecting evidence that might have been caused by the use of various blocking devices.
And finally, we will present possible means by which a perpetrator may have gained possession of additional keys, and how this can be proven.
Loss adjustment for electronic locking systems requires a different method. Very often, and due to the limited memory capacity, investigation has to be carried out as quickly as possible. We concentrate in particular on widely available security systems and possible ways of disabling them, as well as methods of identifying tampering.
The seminar is designed for a total of 16 participants, mostly from the insurance sector and the police. We do not accept individual applications.
The cost of the one-day seminar is 3.280 € plus VAT. The cost includes all refreshments and lunch. Also included are all materials, read-outs of vehicle immobilizers and mechanical security devices (destroyed to the point of being unusable).
We encourage participants to use their own camera to take pictures during the seminar as a reference for their future work. In addition, we provide handouts.
Should overnight accommodation be required, please let us know in good time. We can put you in contact with local hotels offering favorable rates.
Program: One-Day Loss Adjustment Seminar for Burglary and Fire on Premises
1. Examination of premises after fire and burglary
– Examination of glass, glass breakage, direction of attack, evidence of glass cutting
– Preconditions for carrying out an examination
2. Examination of window locking devices
– after a fire
– after a burglary
Coffee break
3. Analysis of evidence caused by the use of tools and implements
4. Examination of doors
– after a fire
– after a burglary
5. Analysis of evidence created by the use of tools and implements on wooden doors, plastic doors, metal-frame doors
Lunch break
6. Practical demonstration:
– Forcing windows with different tools and implements
– Analysis of marks and traces left by the use of tools and implements
– Forcing doors with the help of lever tools
– Analysis of marks and traces
– Forcing of locking cylinders on doors
– Analysis of marks and traces
– Destruction of glass panes
– Analysis of evidence and tips concerning direction of attack
7. Presentation of microscopic investigation methods and discussion of results
Coffee break
8. Presentation: electronic locking devices
Methods of forcing
Evidence of tampering
9. Presentation: Methods of copying keys
– Traditional and non-contact methods
– Creating a cast duplicate
– Using impressioning
10. Loss of key for General Master Key System, Master Key System and Central Lock System
– Information about loss adjusting
– Presentation of the necessary inspection criteria
11. Laboratory visit
– Presentation of digital photography and imaging technology
– Stereo-zoom microscopy
– Scanning-electron microscopy
– Analysis of materials
12. Conclusion
Are you interested in one of our seminars? Please use our contact form or phone us on (+49) 02651 700 700