Florida Sheriff's Office using Gold to catch crooks

Every once in a while, you’ll hear somebody claim that gold is “a useless metal.” You may think I’m exaggerating, but I assure you, I’m not. I heard a commentator on MSNBC say it with my own two ears a few years ago.

Warren Buffett has even disparaged the yellow metal in such a way.

"[Gold] gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head."

Gold has no utility. Just goes to show that even smart people say dumb things.

Of course, gold has utility. It is one of the most useful metals in the world. Due to its utility, coupled with its scarcity, gold is also one of the most valuable metals in the world.

When you mention gold, most people immediately think of jewelry. That’s because the metal is strikingly beautiful. About 44 percent of gold demand is for jewelry production. About 1,877 tons of gold were used in jewelry fabrication last year.

Fundamentally, gold is money. It possesses all the characteristics inherent in sound money. It is durable, portable, divisible, scarce, and has intrinsic value.

But that’s not all. Gold is also utilized in a wide range of technical and industrial applications, from electronics to medicine. Industry and technology used 326 tons of gold last year, propelled by the strongest fourth quarter since 2021.

Here in Pinellas County, Florida (St. Petersburg and Clearwater), law enforcement is using gold to help catch crooks.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) uses vaporized gold to discover fingerprints that are invisible to the naked eye.

Technicians place evidence into a Vacuum Metal Deposition Chamber (VMD) along with very fine particles of metal. Gold is the most popular because it works the best.

PCSO forensic science specialist Heather Temple explained to Fox News 13 how it works.

“We place metal, different kinds of metals, it could be gold, silver, copper, into boats, heat them up thermally until they turn into a gas, if you will, and they adhere to the background of the evidence that we either magnet or suspend with different wires and fishing wire, that kind of thing. So, all of those metals travel upward, and then we finish out with zinc because it helps with contrast for the background.”

The machine can process almost anything that will fit in the chamber, except pressurized items or things that are wet. Techs frequently use the VMD to process bullet casings.

Temple called the machine “vital.”

“It's an expensive piece of equipment, so not a lot of agencies in Florida actually have this. We're able to solve crime, so that makes it invaluable.”

Most law enforcement agencies can’t afford this technology. Only 9 percent of the sheriff's offices in Florida have it. Being good neighbors, the PCSO often processes evidence from other agencies, some outside the state of Florida.

The PCSO got its first VMD in 2000. It was relatively small. This year, the agency obtained a National Institute of Justice grant to purchase a VMD the size of a walk-in freezer.

So, the next time you hear somebody say "gold is useless," just think about the fact that the yellow metal is putting bad guys in jail. I'd call that pretty useful!