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Crime Scene Management

Crime scene management requires a set of skills that an investigator must possess to execute his/her duties competently. This paper discuss various elements of crime scene management by focusing on the importance of securing a crime scene, ways of contaminating a crime scene, techniques used during documentation, evidence collection methods, the chain of command and its importance, repercussions of failing to protect the crime scene and observing the chain of command as well as determining how investigators identify evidence.

There are two major reasons for preserving the crime scene. First, a crime scene is secured to preserve evidence. For instance, cross contamination and loss of evidence is bound to occur if bystanders are allowed to tamper with the crime scene. Additionally, a crime scene is secured for security purposes (Technical Working Group on Crime Scene Investigation, 2013). For instance, allowing the public at a site where an explosive has exploded could lead to more injuries and deaths since there could be more explosives.

Evidence can be contaminated in various ways. First, weather conditions such as rain can wash away crucial details at the crime scene (Technical Working Group on Crime Scene Investigation, 2013). Second, the first respondents to the crime scene such as medics can interfere with the evidence through cross-contamination. Third, the suspect can interfere with the crime scene in an effort to mislead investigators such as by cleaning the blood of the victim.

Documentation of a crime scene constitutes of various techniques such as taking notes, videography, photography and sketching. The essence of note taking is to capture crucial details of the crime scene by answering the questions how, when, why, what, who and where. Both videography and photography provide images as evidence that will be used for future reference while sketching provides a depiction of the crime scene such as the position of the victim and the murder weapon among others (Technical Working Group on Crime Scene Investigation, 2013).

Collection methods differ across crime scenes depending on the nature of the evidence. However, some of the common evidence collection methods are visual collection, swabbing, tape lifting and cutting. Visual collection involves picking visible physical evidence such as hairs with a tool like forceps and packaging it. Swabbing is used to collect biological evidence such as blood in its liquid or dried from using a swab. Tape lifting involves the use of an adhesive tape to collect evidence from a surface while cutting constitutes of the removal of the entire or part of the object that has traces of evidence such as a piece of wood containing blood stains (Richards, n.d; Indiana State Police, n.d).

The chain of custody refers to the sequential account of how evidence is handled from its time of discovery to when it is presented in court. This documentation captures information such as the name and signatures of individuals who had access to the evidence and the procedures that it underwent at the forensic laboratory. The importance of observing the chain of custody is to preserve the authenticity of the evidence by ensuring that it is not contaminated. In case the evidence is compromised in any way, it becomes unreliable in court (Richards, n.d).

Failure to protect evidence is detrimental in that it leads to contamination and loss of evidence (Technical Working Group on Crime Scene Investigation, 2013). As a result, investigations cannot be conducted effectively hence halting the case. Additionally, contamination of evidence can lead to prosecution of innocent people while the guilty person escapes justice. Failure to establish a chain of command on the other hand compromises the credibility of the evidence hence rendering it unreliable in court (Richards, n.d).

For an investigator, evidence is any elements within the crime scene that can be linked to the crime. These elements include biological substances such as blood and teeth. Other elements are non-biological but the investigators in charge are convinced that these elements are linked to the crime such as documents, a gun, a knife and fibers among others (Crime Scene Investigations, n.d). However, those elements that cannot be linked to the crime cannot be considered as evidence.

In conclusion, crime scene management is a procedure that involves many processes. Each of these procedures has to be conducted effectively to ensure that both the investigation and the case are executed successfully. Lack of competence on the other hand will lead to inclusive results and lack of justice for the victim while tinting the reputation of the law enforcement officers involved.

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