CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION I:

1. CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION I: Basics and Photography

2. Crime Scene Investigation • The goal of a crime scene investigation is to recognize, document, and collect evidence at the scene of a crime. • This information can help investigators: • Reconstruct the sequence of events • Give the modusoperandi (the criminal’s method of operation, or MO) • Find the motive of the crime

3. The 7 S’sof Crime Scene Investigation • Securing the Scene • Separating the Witnesses • Scanning the Scene • Seeing the Scene (photography) • Sketching the Scene • Searching for Evidence • Securing and Collecting Evidence

4. Securing the scene • First responders need to: • Get medical attention to those in need (saving lives priority over destruction of evidence) • Make arrest if possible • Protect scene from unauthorized people (destruction/addition of evidence) • Detain suspects and witnesses

5. Separating the witnesses • First responders separate the witnesses so they do not talk with each other • Witnesses are interviewed by either the police or a police detective • The goal is to determine what happened

6. Scanning the scene • First responders should: • Find all possible evidence, but don’t collect it • Identify points of entrance and exit • Consider what may have happened • Mentally outline how crime scene should be handled • Take great care to maintain the scene so as not to destroy evidence

7. Seeing the scene • Important to take notes and photographs • Consistency between the final report (notes), photos and sketch are very important • A properly documented crime scene should allow others to take our finished product to use in either reconstructing the scene or the chain of events for a court room presentation

8. Seeing the scene (cont.) • The notes and reports should be done in a chronological order and should include no opinions, no analysis, or no conclusions. Just the facts!!!!

9. Seeing the scene (cont.) • Take photographs before anyone touches or alters the scene • Be sure to take distance photographs of the crime scene • Take photographs with the lens perpendicular to evidence to reduce distortion • Take multiple photographs of the evidence from at least two different orientations (angles)

10. Seeing the scene (cont.) • If using a digital camera, check the photographs for clarity and retake them when necessary • Place an identifying label and ruler next to key pieces of evidence • Use oblique lighting when possible since sunlight can produce a glare • If an additional flash is needed, position the flash at least three to four feet away to avoid reflection in the photograph

11. Laboratory notebook • The notebook should be a bound, composition-style book in which the pages cannot be easily removed. • Each page must be numbered, dated, and witnessed by another person. • The notebook should be neat, accurate, and written in pen because it is a permanent record. • The notebook should contain a record of all: • Tests and procedures • Data • Observations • Calculations • Notes • Conclusions

12. Laboratory notebook (cont.) • For the data section of the notebook, be sure to record: • The identity of every sample that was tested • The date and time of day the test was run • Appropriate environmental conditions at the time the test was run • Your observations about the samples • To make changes in the notebook, draw one line through the section you are changing, then mark the change with your initials, the date, and the time of the change.