CSI: Canadian Army

Ottawa, Ontario — Through the door of what looks like an ordinary ocean freighter shipping container is a world of high-tech machines and highly trained technicians working to identify insurgents hoping to harm Canadian soldiers.

A tour of the Deployed Technical Analysis Laboratory (DTAL) is like something out of a movie. But DTAL is very real.

The lab boasts some of the best equipment in the world. High-tech equipment is illuminated by fluorescent blue lights and pictures of fingerprints, facial shots and other identifying markers line the walls.

This fully stocked, highly advanced lab is one of two laboratories that can be deployed anywhere around the world and be operational within 24 hours.

The technicians’ work, says the lab’s Officer in Charge Lieutenant (Navy) K.P. McNamara, is the “application of scientific principles in a tactical environment.”

The lab analyzes items ranging from cell phones, to narcotics, to improvised explosive devices. This analysis can reveal biometric information including facial, retinal, and fingerprint images, which the team can run against authorized databases and records.

“We have linked many materials and cases to insurgents,” says Carl Labrecque, a DTAL Identification Technician. “I remember one in particular where an individual, already in Afghan custody, was fingerprinted and connected to our database which linked him with unrelated insurgent activities.

“He went to trial, was convicted, and therefore was prevented from doing further harm.”

Canada’s two DTALs are considered by our NATO allies to be the “gold standard” in technical exploitation capability. The labs sit in eleven twenty-foot containers and can be shipped by road, rail, ship and aircraft. They can change size depending on the need. While the labs and teams are Army-sourced, they will eventually support the entire Canadian Armed Forces and other Canadian and international agencies.

For full-sized photos of the DTAL, visit us on Flickr.

Article by Ryan Ferrara, Army Public Affairs, Ottawa

Photos by Cpl Philippe Archambault