O C T O B E R 1 3,

Transcription

1 CRIME SCENE OVERVIEW O C T O B E R 1 3,

2 DIRECTIONS What you need today: Notebook and/or loose-leaf paper. Pencil or Pen Computer with Internet Acess What you should do during class today: Go to my website calendar for today. Open the Crime Scene Preservation and the Crime Scene Overview Write complete answers to the questions from the overview into your notebooks. Hints: Put the article and the overview up on the screen side by side.

3 EVIDENCE AND THE CRIME SCENE 1. Define evidence and criminalist. Name three main sources of evidence 2. What affects the usefulness of evidence when it is introduced in court? 3. What do investigators consider the location of a crime scene?

4 PICTORIAL DOCUMENTATION OF THE CRIME SCENE 5. What role do photographs play in an investigation? 6. What is the objective for photographing the scene? 7. Summarize what types of camera and lenses should be chosen to photograph a crime scene. 8. List three distances from which crime scene photographs should be taken and why they are important. 9. What should be the first photograph on every roll of film? What happens to all the subsequent photographs?

5 SKETCHING THE CRIME SCENE 10.Summarize the different ways that sketches support the crime scene investigation and complement the crime scene photographs. 11.What steps would a sketch preparer take at the crime scene and what would the sketch preparer include on their rough sketch? 12.What are the differences between using rectangular coordinates, triangulation, baseline, compass point, and cross projection when preparing crime scene sketches? When would you use each? Create a table to help you answer this question.

6 DISCOVERING AND RECOGNIZING EVIDENCE 13.Describe each of the basic patterns for searching a crime scene and when you would use each. 14.Why do investigators wear gloves? 15.How are large and small items collected? 16.How do investigators mark the evidence and/or containers with evidence? 17.What is an evidence log? 18.Define standard of comparison.

7 TYPES OF EVIDENCE AND CRIME SCENE PROTOCOLS Review the following two slides and complete the questions. 19.Explain the different types of evidence. 20.What will evidence collected at the scene do for the investigation? 21.Summarize (in your own words) each step of the Crime Scene protocol.

8 Types of Evidence Testimonial evidence includes oral or written statements given to police as well as court testimony by people who witnessed an event. Physical evidence refers to any material items that would be present at the crime scene, on the victims, or found in a suspect s possession. Trace evidence refers to physical evidence that is found in small but measurable amounts, such as strands of hair, fibers, or skin cells. What will evidence collected at a scene do for the investigation? May prove that a crime has been committed Establish key elements of a crime Link a suspect with a crime scene or a victim Establish the identity of a victim or suspect Corroborate verbal witness testimony Exonerate the innocent. Give detectives leads to work with in the case Source:

9 Crime Scene Protocol Step 1: Interview The first step in investigating a crime scene is to interview the first officer at the scene or the victim to determine what allegedly happened, what crime took place, and how was the crime committed. This information may not be factual information but it will give the investigators a place to start. Step 2: Examine The second step in the investigation of a crime scene, which will help identify possible evidence, identify the point of entry and point of exit, and outline the general layout of the crime scene. Step 3: Document The third step in the protocol involves creating a pictorial record of the scene as well as a rough sketch to demonstrate the layout of the crime scene and to identify the exact position of the deceased victim or other evidence within the crime scene. Step 4: Process This is the last step in the protocol. The crime scene technician will process the crime scene for evidence, both physical and testimonial evidence. It is the crime scene technicians responsibility to identify, evaluate and collect physical evidence from the crime scene for further analysis by a crime laboratory. Adapted from