Distance Determination Essay

During the course of my 19 years as a police officer, I have had to testify as an expert in court regarding certain evidence involving shooting incidents. I am also certified as a range master for my police department where a large part of my responsibilities consist of understanding how various types of firearms work, the types of ammunition they use, and the mechanics of how the two work together in regards to the impact area they are targeting. One of the things I have yet to deal with in court is distance determination. What is distance determination? Describe two situations in which distance determination can establish the facts of a shooting incident. Let’s start by defining what distance determination is.
Distance determination is a procedure used to discover the distance between a firearm and a specific target. This is generally determined by the disbursement of gun powder patterns or the shot pattern. Ammunition used today is projected towards a target by expanding gas that is produced by the ignition of gun powder in a bullet. When a gun is fired, smoke, as well as fragments of the gunpowder, both burned …show more content…
Handguns and rifles as well as shotguns each display different powder-residue patterns on clothing and the victim’s skin. When handguns or rifles are used, a white cloth or fabric similar to the clothing the victim was wearing is used as a test target. Because the results will vary significantly between different weapons and ammunition, the actual weapon and ammunition used in the shooting would be used in the test. If this is not possible, the same type of weapon and ammunition may be used which restricts the examiner to looking for similar characteristics in the pattern. The same type of testing is conducted with shotguns however, in the absence of a weapon, the spread of the discharged shot is measured to assist in determining the distance. Let’s