Everybody loves CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Whether it's the moody atmosphere, pithy repartee or the scientific wizardry that inevitably leads to the murderer, the popular TV series about forensic police scientists remains one of the top-rated shows week after week.

What most people don't know is that the specialties featured on the show - DNA, fingerprinting, handwriting and even criminal investigation analysis - aren't exclusively the purview of police departments.

For example, Wayne Murray, manager of the genetic identification division of Mississauga-based Maxxam Analytics Inc., heads one of the few accredited private DNA profiling and identification labs in Canada.

"People don't realize the availability of this testing and that it's only a 1-877 phone call away," says Murray, whose lab in Guelph handles cases for the RCMP and the private sector. "The hard part is letting people know that we do this type of testing and what it can be applied to."

Wayne Murray

With more than 1,200 employees, Maxxam Analytics is one of Canada's largest privately owned laboratory companies, doing work in four major fields: Food safety, environmental analysis, petroleum and industrial services as well as forensic toxicology, biology and DNA.

Murray says his specialty can be applied to any situation in which DNA - whether from bodily fluids, hair, skin or even fingernails - is left behind. For instance, if a disgruntled employee were to lick the envelope of a threatening letter or, in some way, foul a production line with bodily fluids, Murray's lab can help track down the culprit.

"This is really about risk mitigation," he says. "If you have contamination of a food product or a disgruntled employee or a health situation, there is a considerable amount of risk involved for a company. All you need as a food company, for instance, is a little bit of exposure that there is blood in a certain product. I think they would see their revenues decrease in a hurry."

Contrary to popular belief, Murray says genetic testing isn't exorbitantly expensive or time consuming. The typical turnaround time is a month or less while expedited cases can be completed in as little as three days for an extra fee.

"Based upon my experience, spending money on DNA is probably the least expensive part of the investigation," he says. "Most of the invoices that we send out for corporations are in the $1,500 to $2,500 range if we are only looking at a couple of samples."

Of course, not all forensic services garner the scientific mystique of DNA testing. Atul Singla, director of Worldwide Forensic Services Inc. in Toronto, specializes in document, handwriting and fingerprint analysis for government, private investigators, insurance companies, law firms, corporations and individuals.

"In forensic document analysis, we examine all aspects of a document including signature comparison, age of ink and age of paper, age of document as a whole, and then any other marks such as indentations," Singla says.

"We examine the signature and writing and then give an opinion as to whether a signature is genuine or falsified. We also look at whether there has been any alterations or something has been obfuscated."

While not as sexy as DNA, document analysis is no less technical or scientifically exacting. Singla's lab houses a number of high-tech devices including a special three-dimensional microscope and a contraption called the electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA) that can detect the indentations made by writing implements even if the ink has been erased. In addition, he says obscured writing can be reconstructed by means of chemical, ultra-violet or infrared examination.

"Even in the case of damaged documents, there are ways to preserve or reconstruct them," Singla says. "With water-damaged documents, for example, we use a special freeze-drying technique to restore it to a readable condition."

With a doctorate in forensic science and more than 20 years in the field, Singla says the most important thing is to find a qualified specialist since there are no government-mandated certifications required to set up a forensic lab in Canada.

"Because there are few experts in this area in town, it can be difficult for people to find qualified help," he says. "Many times, clients will find us through a referral from forensic accountants. Barring that, individuals or companies looking for this service should contact the expert in question and see if they have sufficient experience and qualifications."

Dr. Stevan Pausak, president of Forensic Science Services Inc., says credibility is key for forensic consultants. As a part of their work, they are often called into court as expert witnesses where their professional opinions can come under heavy scrutiny by opposing counsel.

"In general, you will find that in most consulting firms there is one single expert operating," says Pausak. "I can delegate some things, but anything that can be questioned in court while I'm on the stand can't be given to someone else.

"That's the problem in forensic labs where technicians do a lot of the work," he adds. "Many times lawyers for one side or the other get very tough with a scientist's testimony, especially when the results were produced by somebody else."

After graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a doctorate in spectroscopy, Pausak started his 26-year career as a forensic scientist with the provincial Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto.

Today, in private practice, he is considered one of the foremost experts in voice identification and audio-recording analysis.

He says that independent labs such as his provide an independent perspective that counter-balances the potentially biased perspective given by public forensic lab scientists.

"Public labs operate on behalf of the Crown attorney," he says. "When I worked for the Centre for Forensic Sciences, they trained us to answer questions briefly and not to divulge any information that may help the other side. I always felt this wasn't quite right.

"The prime purpose should be to help the court," Pausak says. "The people in the court, judge and jury, are laypeople. If the expert doesn't help them understand the technical aspects of the testimony, how can you expect them to make a rational decision?" Mark Mendelson and Mike Davis, co-founders of Mendelson Davis Consulting Partners, echo Pausak's concerns. After more than 60 years collectively as police officers - 30 of those years as Toronto homicide detectives - the pair are considered the senior homicide investigators in Canada, having investigated more than 200 homicides during their careers.

But, literally within hours of their retirement from the Toronto Police Service, the partners quit being prosecutors of criminals and became investigative consultants primarily for defence lawyers in criminal and civil proceedings.

"For example, if a lawyer has a new client who is charged with murder or some other offence, the defendant will eventually get disclosure, all the evidence the Crown attorney and the police have in their possession," Mendelson says. "The defence counsel's job is to sift through this, which could easily be 300,000 pages of evidence. We know exactly what we're looking for. We know exactly what the lawyer should be getting, what he has and what he doesn't have."

More importantly, Mendelson says, the partners help defence lawyers spot the weaknesses in the Crown's case. He adds that this can include everything from analysing police investigative procedures to reviewing witness statements to analysing forensic evidence.

He says that real world forensic labs don't have many of the fancy gadgets featured on the TV show and don't always produce results as ironclad.

"We've spent our lives in that CSI box, so we know what it really is about," Mendelson says. "We understand where the frailties are in forensic evidence."

(Mike McLeod can be reached at mcleod@businessedge.ca)