Did you ever play with Day-Glo paint as a kid? Do you remember smooshing your finger prints all over a paper plate to watch them glow? Researchers have just brought the next best thing into your forensic tool-kit and it may soon be helping to solve crimes all over the world. Sadly, the founder of […]
If you follow the yellow brick road of evidence left by prints, impressions, and markings, it can lead you to the answer you’ve been looking for all along. These three are the most common types of evidence found at crimes scenes, and both crime scene investigators (CSI) and forensic laboratory technicians must know how to properly document, collect, and analyze them.
For those of us who have watched shows like CSI or Law and Order, detectives and investigators always dramatically enter and exit a crime scene where a grisly offense has been committed. Yellow “POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS” tape extends in all directions and it’s very clear that the crime scene is very serious business.
In real life, a crime scene is a dramatic and important part of investigations and analysis of crimes. Here, evidence for murder, rape, burglaries, and other law-breaking incidents are gathered and it’s important that the scene stay intact and that the integrity of that evidence be kept intact so that any police, detectives, lawyers, and others involved in justice, can do their jobs.
So just how do those at the scene of the crime work to preserve a crime scene?
Crime scene investigation (CSI) is a lot more complicated than what you might see on television. In many mystery shows, the investigators show up, take a few photographs, and then return to the lab to conduct experiments. Although these shows make for great entertainment, they don’t depict the planning, time, and effort that go into real crime scenes. Every crime is an event that must be managed and reconstructed through isolating the area, documentation, and organization. To accomplish this task, crime scene investigators must follow certain procedures.
Keep in mind that the duties of each precinct vary depending on available staff and the scope of the crime. Any illegal activity can involve various departments or organizations such as the local police, forensics experts, or national organizations such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). With that in mind, the following procedures are standard across the board and are a basic introduction to what you will learn when you study forensic science in a degree program.
Our blogger, Brooke Kaelin, is a student at Eastern Kentucky University pursuing a B.S. in Forensic Psychology online.
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