How to Hang Out at a Crime Scene

This is part two of my posting today. Because of a lovely thing that happened on patrol, (and of course my experience from Forensics class) I can tell you what REALLY happens at a crime scene and how to handle it.

1. The first officer there makes sure the scene is safe and keeps people from coming in who shouldn't be in there in the first place.
Communication is key. Everyone needs to know what is going on... that is, the law people. But         safety is first. Also, it's highly important that every person that enters the crime scene gets documented as being there. No random person can just ENTER.

2. The primary officer (WHILE WEARING GLOVES) surveys the scene and looks around while keeping safe.
The primary officer is in charge. Until someone higher up takes jurisdiction.

3. Tag the evidence with evidence numbers, make a sketch and make sure all the evidence shows up on the sketch.
It's very important to know what all the evidence is, and where it is. Because of evidence tampering, a jury needs to know that the police didn't plant anything when they made their search.

4. Photos of the scene are taken, as well as a video of the scene.
It is really important that everything is correctly documented. Court cases require air tight evidence with no mistakes. Otherwise we end up with a case like OJ Simpson's... where the man was obviously guilty, but the police fucked up big time. All photo and video evidence is done in RAW format, which means even in photoshop or editors, the originals cannot be changed.

5. Evidence is collected.
There are very specific ways to collect the evidence from the crime scene. In my forensic class, i learned that there are some pieces of evidence that can be put in plastic bags. However, in the real world, they always play it safe by using paper evidence bags instead.

6. The chain of custody must never be broken while moving evidence, opening evidence and sealing evidence.
I must keep saying and reiterating that the chain of custody is the most important thing. Anyone who touches, moves, opens, closes... anything from the crime scene, enters the crime scene, touches evidence... MUST sign off. Must put correct times and dates, must initial. It's all a very thorough process. 

7. Witnesses to crimes are very important. More important than you think. They can give you details that can help solve the case, or completely confuse you. And sometimes, these witnesses are the actual perpetrators of the crime.
But the process is long and rather tedious. Name, birthday, license. Then you get run through the system. They look at your B.O.P. which is a number that gives a good estimate on the number of crimes they have committed in the past. So many people have to be called, and the background of the person must be constantly checked to see if anything was missed. It's actually quite a boring practice.

Anything else you need to know... send me a message, send me a comment. I know the system. I know how it works and why it's important. :)