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Appendix M

Explosive Residue Swab Kit InstructionsThis kit is for the collection of organic or inorganic explosive residue at apost-blast crime scene or search from items or surfaces too large to submitto a laboratory. The best areas to swab are smooth nonporous surfaces suchas metal, glass, painted wood, stone, or plastic. For post-blast crime scenesselect surfaces facing the explosion.

Step 1:Remove the kit from the sealed box. You should have the followingpackages of sealed items:Bag 1: Two pairs of nonpowdered latex gloves with alcohol wipe

packets attached.

Bag 2: One Tyvek jumpsuit (with booties and hood) and two pairsof nonpowdered nitrile gloves.

Bag 3: One folded length of brown paper (with attached two-sidedtape), one ballpoint pen, and one black marking pen.

Bag 4: Control swab supplies bottle labels, two disposable for-ceps, zip-top bag, and lengths of evidence tape.

Bag 5: Sampling bottles two packs/ten glass bottles each con-taining one cotton swab, two disposable forceps, two zip-top bagsfor collected samples, bottle labels, and lengths of evidence tape.

Control swabs may be taken from either ten pack as needed.

Bag 6: One 4-oz glass jar containing additional sterile cotton balls.

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Step 2: Remove all watches, rings,etc. Sharp edges could puncture

the nitrile gloves. If possible,take off jackets and roll up yoursleeves. Proceed to clean yourhands using the alcohol wipesattached in Bag 1.

Step 3: Open Bag 1. Avoiding con-tact with any other part of your

body and/or clothing, put onthe nitrile gloves.

Step 4: Open Bag 2. Put on thewhite Tyvek jumpsuit over your clothing. FromBag 2, put on the other pair of nitrile gloves. Putthe gloves on over the first pair or replace the firstpair with the new gloves.

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Step 5: Select a location to stage yourswabbing supplies to provide a

clean work surface. Ideally, it shouldnot be too far away from where youwill be taking your swab samples.

Open Bag 3. Remove the folded squareof brown paper and place it on a flatwork surface. Remove the sticky-side tape protectors.

Step 6:Open Bag 4. Take control swabs of yourself and the work surfaceusing the following procedures:

Select a vial with cotton swabfrom a ten-pack. Using onepair of disposable forceps, re-move a cotton ball from a bot-tle. Rub this swab over yourgloved hands, abdominal ar-

ea, and the sleeves of yourTyvek suit. Place this cottonswab back in the same bottleand screw the cap on. Writethe documentation on a labeland apply it to the bottle in-

dicating suit/glove control. Using the black marking pen, mark theevidence tape. Ensure your initials overlap the evidence tape. This is

now a control swab. Label should include: initials of the person swab-bing, date, file number, or site identifier.

Using the second pair of forceps, re-move the cotton swab from thesecond bottle. Rub this swab overthe brown paper work surface. Re-peat the bottle capping and label

documentation indicating worksurface control. Seal the bottlewith evidence tape as above. Thisis the second control swab.

Additional control samples can be taken if deemed appropriate. Onebottle may be submitted as a control sample without opening it. Donot reuse these forceps for actual sampling.

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Step 7: Ensure each control swab bottle isproperly and accurately labeled, ini-

tialed, and then sealed with evidencetape. Warning: The evidence tape will bedifficult to apply wearing gloves.

Step 8:Place all used control swabbottles into the evidence zip-topbag. Complete the needed doc-umentation on the evidence la-bel. Mark the label as controlsample. Attach the label to theevidence bag. Seal this bag with

evidence tape. Initial the evi-dence bag, overlapping the evi-dence tape seal . Put thisevidence bag aside away fromthe sampling swabs bottles.

Step 9:Open Bag 5 and remove therest of the contents. Open the

smaller bag containing the twoforceps. Using one pair of forceps, open one bottle and remove thecotton swab. With the cotton swab, firmly rub the suspect surface. Acircular rubbing motion is recommended. Return that cotton swabinto the bottle, cap and seal the bottle with evidence tape. Numberand record the descriptive data on the provided label as you did onthe control sample bottle. An extra pair of forceps is provided ifneeded. Additional sterile cotton swabs are in a separate jar (Bag 6)

should they be needed.Repeat this process, bottle by bottle, cotton swab by cotton swab, for

each suspect surface. Complete each bottle before opening another.Record the documentation on each bottle label. Seal and initial theevidence tape on each.

Step 10:After swabbing the suspect surfaces, review each bottle to ensureit is properly labeled, initialed, and sealed. Place the sampling bottles

used in a zip-top evidence bag. Complete the evidence label; attachit to the bag, and then seal and initial the evidence tape.

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Notes:

Do notuse any of the remaining items in this kit for evidence col-lection purposes. They may be contaminated. Properly dispose of all

remaining kit items. Use a kit for each single explosion. Different explosives could have

been used in multiple explosions.

2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC