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The following list of equipment was compiled by Special Agent Benedict
Oaxaca during his time stationed in Mexico City. He has retained
the habit of carrying this gear since his posting to the mid-west
evidence response team. There are four categories of equipment in
this list:
- Plain-clothes toolkit: small enough to be carried concealed
on the belt or in the pockets of an average person dressed in
professional business attire.
- Tactical toolkit: carried on an assault vest, in a large
bag and/or in the many pockets of an agent dressed in SWAT/military
BDU-style attire.
- Gym bag toolkit: large items that can be fitted into
a duffel-sized bag or backpack.
- Car trunk toolkit: heavy and bulky tools that can fit
in a waterproof Rubbermaid box, itself sized to fit in the rear
of the trunk of a four-door American sedan (can be concealed by
objects for cursory searches).
Acid
- Gym bag, car trunk
- A few litre bottles can make many problematic items (files,
hard drives, bodies) go away. Acid can also be useful cutting
through locks.
Cable Ties
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Besides being used to tie cable, these can also attach items
or people together.
Chainsaw
- Car trunk
- Combat or evidence disposal, also for instant non-forensic autopsies.
Chemical Light sticks
- Plain clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Light sticks can be used at just about any depth underwater
and are still useful as field-expedient lighting. They can also
be used as flares.
Digital Audio Recorder
- Plain clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A palm-sized recorder is useful for recording observations,
conversations (covertly or otherwise) and as an ad-hoc "bug".
Digital Camera
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A medium-sized camera with powerful zoom lens, directional mike
and some night-vision capability. An adaptor hooks the camera
to a notebook computer.
Duct Tape and Super Glue
- Plain clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- So many uses, so little space.
Emergency Oxygen Tank and Mask
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- It's a small oxygen tank with a built-in mask that can be strapped
to the ankle and used in an emergency.
Entrenching Tool
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A fold-up shovel, with serrated edge, useful when there are
bodies to be buried, things to saw up or for killing people using
the sharpened end as an axe.
Evidence Kit
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Including latex gloves, a laser pointer, large and small zip-lock
plastic and paper bags (plastic can degrade certain evidence),
large and small envelopes, metal cans, marker (for labelling),
specimen containers (styrofoam cups and seals), cotton swabs,
glass slides, write-on tape, a folded cardboard box (for weapons),
plastic ruler, handyman knife and fingerprint knife and dust.
First-Aid Kit
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A small basic first-aid kit including band-aids, adhesive tape,
gauze bandages and pads, a triangular bandage, tweezers, scissors,
burn cream, anti-venom, a CPR mask, latex gloves, medicinal alcohol,
eye drops, iodine and aspirin.
Fire Extinguisher
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Stop fires or use as a club. Small extinguisers can fit on a
tactical vest.
GPS Handheld Receiver
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk)
- The Global Positioning System can provide latitude and longitude
at any place on Earth. The handheld receivers are accurate to
about 25 metres.
Geiger Meter
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Radiation detector. Always be prepared.
Go-Bar
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A 4-foot crow-bar made of titanium, capable of prying open steel
fire doors.
HAZMAT Suit
- Gym bag, car trunk
- A lightweight, non-pressurised suit with oxygen tank allowing
40-60 minutes completely save work. HAZMAT gloves are also more
resilient than latex.
Lock-picking Tools
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Gun-style picks are quick, whilst a car-version hooks up to
a PDA and break locks that use swipe cards can also prove useful.
Magnifying Light Map
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- For reading in the dark or checking out the details of circuitry
and such.
Mini-Flares
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Illumination and/or rescue efforts. Flares with pull-string
ignition can be rigged with gas cans to create an ad-hoc incendiary
mine.
Multi-Band Scanning Receiver
- Gym bag, car trunk
- Scans radio, television, police and military. Recent backpack
models are capable of VHF military bands, UHF public safety bands
and SATCOM satellite burst transmissions, with all communications
digitally encrypted.
Multi-purpose Tool
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Useful for a variety of different functions, these kinds of
tools often incorporate blades, drivers, pliers, wire cutters
and other tools all in one handy package. A good choice would
be a custom-designed Gerber Multi-pliers in a belt case with a
pouch for a pocket flashlight.
Night-Vision Optics
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A night-vision scope is also a good idea to have in certain
situations, especially with weapons that have guide rails for
quick and easy fixing of optics. A portable IR lamp is also useful
as even the best image intensifiers won't work well under certain
conditions. IR lamps shouldn't be used when expecting resistance
from those similarly equipped, as the lamp with shine like a beacon
to those equipped with night vision gear.
Notebook Computer
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A notebook computer can be essential to communications. It can
also be useful for running detailed CD-Rom maps, photographic
analysis (especially with a digital camera), the usual practice
of writing reports and just about anything capable of being done
with a desktop computer.
Oven Spray
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- The spray breaks up grease, so it is useful for removing fingerprints.
PCP
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Drugs. Used as 'evidence' to justify a shooting or arrest.
Personal Digital Assistant
- Plain clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Accoressores: compact flash port for GPS receiver, wireless
moden for email and web browsing and a low-quality digital camera
for instant photos.
Plastic 1-gallon cans
- Gym bag, car trunk
- A few cans filled with water (survival / car maintainence) or
gasoline (extra mileage / destroying evidence or nests or incarnate
evil or interrogation).
Pocket Flashlight
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A small high-powered Surefire light; pistol-mountable for tactical
use, water-tight at shallow depth with red filters to preserve
night vision.
Pocket Knife
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- With 4-inch serrated blade and one-handed opening for cutting
seatbelts.
Rappelling Gear
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- 100 feet or nylon rope, climbing harness, karabiners, pitons,
pulley and grapple.
Smoke Grenades
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Used to mark a Landing Zone, provide concealment or disruption.
Snakelight
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A foldable light, which can wrap around your head, chair or
stand on its own.
Spray Paint
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Most useful for marking up evidence scenes for for leaving a
trail to back-track.
Tactical Radios
- Tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- A pocket-sized, lightweight two-way radio with a range of 2-5
miles. Can be clipped to a belt and used with an earplug receiver
and wristband mic for plain-clothes communications. It is equipped
with a hands-free setup, digital encryption, frequency-hopping
and whisper operation.
Tool Kit
- Gym bag, car trunk
- Tools for mechanical and electrical repair and electronics.
Most kits fit into a plastic/metal two-tray kit; screwdrivers,
nails, nuts and bolts, cables and wires, a hammer, chisel, electrical
tape, G-clamps, wire cutter and stripper, cable stripper, folding
hex and torx key set for screwdriver, pocket multimetre, needle-nose
vice-grips, telecomm scissors and a set of jumper cables.
Trauma Bag
- Car trunk
- Includes gloves, CPR mask, airway tubes, emergency blanket,
stethescope, EMT shears, blood-pressure cuff, penlight, cold packs,
gauze pads and bandages, dressings, tape, burn sheet, burn dressings,
syringe, glucose, ammonia, nitro-glycerine tablets, saline solution,
thermometer, tourniquet tubing, splints, oxygen tank with masks,
water, cervical collars, KED (flexible backboard-style device)
and a backboard.
Wet-Naps
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- You can never be too clean....
Zippo Lighter
- Plain-clothes, tactical, gym bag, car trunk
- Fire! Useful for all.
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