Crime Scene Reconstruction

Arrival at Crime scene:

• Upon arrival at the crime scene, if the first responder or technician should record the address, location, time of day and type of call to which they are responding.
• The technician must first make sure that the scene is safe before proceeding. To do this the technician should asses the scene making note of any potential hazards and conditions. If the scene is not safe to enter the proper team should be notified to make the scene safe.
• If the scene is considered safe to enter the technician should proceed with caution making note of any possible conditional or transient evidence (e.g. lights, temperature, open doors, windows etc.) while advancing into the scene. The scene should be treated as if it is a crime scene regardless to any instinctual observations.
• It is the technician first responsibility to ensure safety to him/herself followed by the assistance to any victims, suspects or anyone within or around the crime scene.
• The victim should be check for vital signs and if present an ambulance called to aid the victim. It is important to note that the technician should guide the medical team directly to the victim to avoid destruction and contamination of evidence. A note should also be made with regards to what the medical team did (e.g. cut a shirt open, etc.) so as to know the original state of possible evidence. The medical team should not attempt to clean up the scene. Often a great deal of evidence is destroyed by medical teams so it is important that the precautionary steps and advisory of medical personnel is done completely and thoughtfully. If the victim is dead the body should not be moved and the medical examiner called.
• If there are any suspects (once subdued) or other people present they should be separated and removed from the direct crime scene to a secure place then questioned by the investigator.
• Once the scene is under control a multi level security perimeter should be established. There is no limit to the size of a crime scene so the technician must secure the entire area so that if necessary other areas of the scene could be examined at a later time without being contaminated. This scene will be focused starting from the area the crime most likely took place expanding outwards as necessary. The security perimeter should have strict access and an entry/exit log created for all personnel that enter or leave the secured area. No unauthorized personnel should be allowed into the crime scene (e.g. witnesses, family members, etc.)
• A command post will be set up whereby a team leader will establish the operations of the crime scene investigation and delegate responsibilities to individuals. This command post will host all equipment, supplies and tools required for processing the crime scene. The technician should also obtain the required search and seizure documents before proceeding.
• These initial observations must be recorded in a permanent form (not memorized).

Processing the Crime Scene:

• Once the scene is under control the technician should perform a scene walk through. During this walk through no evidence is collected but the technician should make note of what is possible evidence and start to formulate a plan in which to process the scene. This should be done in such a manner to avoid contamination of the scene and potential evidence.
• Once the technician has decided how to process the scene a briefing should be conducted to inform other personnel of what will be done. The scene must then be fully documented before any items of evidence is collected or removed.
• The documentation of the crime scene would include, all the information from the first responder, photographs from all angles of the crime scene with and without close up shots of the evidence, sketches with accurate measurements (a rough draft may be conducted on the scene and a final draft complete later),video taping of the scene and all permanent documents describing the conditions and information found at the scene. The documentation must allow investigators to do a full crime scene reconstruction if necessary.
• Once the initial documentation has been completed the technician should establish a systematic method for searching for evidence (e.g. line search, grid search, etc.). Any evidence that could be easily lost should be identified and collected first. The technician should not have tunnel vision and search all areas of the crime scene.
• Once a piece of evidence has been identified it must be further documented and photographed before it could be collected. There is no limitation to what can be considered evidence, some items may be easily seen while others cannot be seen with the naked eye and can only be seen and collected with the use of specialized equipment(e.g. UV light, fingerprint powder, luminol, etc.). Evidence can be anything, common forms are fingerprints, biological fluids, drugs, hair, fibers, trace evidence and firearms. Note this is not an all inclusive list.
• It is very important that once a piece of evidence is going to be collected it is done in the correct manner to preserve and avoid contamination. There are guidelines that are normally followed in collecting physical evidence. Different types of physical evidence require different collection techniques to preserve and not damage the evidence. This includes the packaging, storage and transportation of such evidence. Each piece of evidence collected and packaged must be clearly labeled, initialed by the collector and dated as to establish a chain of custody.
• Note: for certain types of evidence collected it is important to take a control and reference sample along with unknown.
• Once all the evidence has been collected, packaged and documented it must then be transported to the lab making sure that the chain of custody is maintained. Evidence must be handled appropriately and avoid shaking during transportation.

Releasing the Crime Scene:

• After all the evidence has been collected the technician must then regroup to make sure that all the evidence had been collected and the crime scene fully documented. If any evidence was missed it should then be collected using the correct procedures.
• The technician may also make a preliminary analysis of the evidence collected and the type of forensic test that may be conducted on the evidence.
• Once the technician is satisfied that all the evidence has been collected, the scene fully documented and all areas have been completely searched the crime scene may be then be released.
• The technician should then compile all of the documents from the crime scene and create a case folder containing all the files relevant to that case.