Forensic Palynology Essay

Forensic palynology is the scientific study of pollen and spores to help solve civil and criminal legal issues (“Forensic Palynology,” n.d.). Pollen and spores are reproductive cells produced by various types of plants. These microscopic grains are durable, and easily transported by wind, water, and other insects. They can be found in many different environments. “Pollen and spore samples can be recovered from a wide range of sources, including people, such as on their clothes, in their hair or even in their nasal passage, vehicle tires, air filters in cars, on objects and in mud” (“Forensic Palynology,” n.d). For this reason, palynology is very useful in forensic investigations because of its ability to establish a link between two places,
Pollen and spores are a very reliable form of trace evidence because they last a long time, are resistant to damage, and are very small which enables them to be trapped almost anywhere. Forensic palynology can relate a suspect or item to a crime scene, prove or disprove alibis, determine the travel history of items, aid police in investigations, determine if a body was moved, pre, post, or peri mortem and much more (Walsh, & Horrocks,
Instead more “standard” investigative techniques are preferred. Additionally, palynology is very labor intensive, expensive, and require a certain level of expertise. There are very few people properly trained to analyze pollen and spore samples, thus they could often be collected by untrained staff which could create issues with its credibility. This is a disadvantage because forensic palynology has so much potential to be used as a standard tool but we simply don’t have the means to support or maintain its practices properly.
On the other hand, forensic palynology is highly invested in, accepted, and used in other countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and many more. “The United Kingdom is currently the world leader in using forensic pollen routinely in a wide variety of criminal cases” (Bryant, n.d.). As a matter of fact, in most areas of the UK it is routine for a forensic palynologist (FP) to be the first person to visit a crime scene & collect samples (Bryant,