ISU develops technology aimed at retrieving serial numbers from stolen items

Locating the owner of stolen objects just got a little easier thanks to new technology from Idaho State University. Using lasers and thermal imaging, researchers can recover serial numbers from metal objects.

“Basically, we’re taking defaced serial numbers that can be on any type of metal object like a stolen vehicle, or more importantly a gun,” John Kalivas, an ISU chemistry professor and co-principal investigator on the project, said. “And we’re trying to bring back the serial number so that it can be readable.”

A laser shoots a beam through mirrors and lenses that shine on a sample. An infrared camera then takes multiple images. The data is collected so researchers can see the image. This is different from a chemical etching technique that is destructive.

“With the acid etching technique, it’s destructive in the sense that once the metal has been etched with acid, it completely obliterates the whatever signature footprint was left by the serial number after a while,” Ikwulono Unobe, a PhD student working on the project, said.

Researchers are already working with law enforcement to use this technology. It can help find the owner of the object they are analyzing.

“So, particularly a serial number that’s recovered on say a firearm or a piece of machinery or equipment that we recovered as evidence on a crime scene can be traced back,” Unobe said. “If not necessarily initially to the criminal, but to whoever initially purchased that piece of equipment.”

Researchers recently received a $200,000, two-year grant extension to continue their work. The technology can currently read numbers, but they are working to incorporate the alphabet as well.