Preserving Olfactory Evidence

The protocol for preserving a crime scene just got a lot smellier, thanks to a new crime fighting device that can literally bottle up a person’s distinctive odor. According to Special Agent Darrin Jones, the FBI’s new STU 100 Portable Vacuum Collection Unit collects scents “in such a way that can store that scent for later use.”

The FBI used the unit to collect the odor of Joseph Burgess, better known as “the Cookie Bandit,” who died in a shootout in the Jemez Mountains that also killed a Sandoval County sheriff’s sergeant. According to the New Mexico Police Report on the shootout, the FBI had Burgess’ clothing processed to maintain his distinctive scent.

The unit vacuums the odor onto sterile scent pads which are then stored inside a sealed tube for later use. The FBI said the advantage to the technology is collecting the odor without contaminating the evidence. The sample-scent can be taken to search sites for K-9 units to track a missing person or suspect or even used in scent line-ups where a discriminating dog can sniff out the real stinker.