Investigations and forensics tools capture the public imagination like no other sector of law enforcement. No small number of popular movies and television shows take advantage of this fascination, regularly grabbing viewers’ minds and eyes with bad-guy-nabbing bells and whistles.

However, as law enforcement professionals know, just because it’s on television doesn’t mean it’s at the local police station. That simple fact—dubbed the CSI Effect—has actually had a deleterious effect on some aspects of the investigative and prosecution processes, with jurors and other members of the public expecting a level of technological sophistication in investigations and evidence gathering that is simply not available to most (or any) agencies.