Page 14 - An Inky Lead Questioned Documents

Disguised writing is typically written more slowly in office and duplication equipment. Through wear
than normal writing and can appear to be written and use, printers and photocopiers will accumulate
by someone with less graphical maturity than the dust and defects that are transferred to the
actual writer. If the examiner has a writing sample document created, often in the form of specks or
that is known to have come from the same person, lines. Using these marks, a document examiner can
they may suspect that the one with a seemingly exclude a machine from having created a specific
lower graphical maturity was intended to be document. If police investigators can limit the
disguised in some way. Disguised writing typically number of machines that could have created the
has shakier lines, lines that end in full stops instead document, the document examiner can possibly
of tapers, and an absence of feather marks on the make a match. Additionally, because these features
page where the pen was not completely removed change over time, the document examiner can
between letters or words. Writers attempting to compare the questioned document to others made
disguise their handwriting commonly change the on the same machine and determine approximately
form of letters, their slant, and their spacing, but when the document was created.
it rarely occurs to someone to change the ratio of
letter heights, how letters are connected, or the Forensic document examiners are also called
shape of cross bars and punctuation. on to determine if a large document has been
tampered with by the removing or replacing of
Although handwriting identification and pages or the adding or erasing of text. To do this
verification compose a large amount of forensic they may examine staple holes and paper types.
document examiners’ work, they are also called Also, by using special light sources and filters
on for a variety of other document authentication such as Ir and UV lights, the document examiner
tasks. Some of these are similar to handwriting can determine if different inks were used on the
identification but involve looking for unique features same document. If the entire document was

14 THE MYSTERY OF LYLE AND LOUISE