This reflection was written after the class investigated a fake crime scene that our teacher so kindly set up in the classroom. we recieved a handout that specifies some guidelines that real police officers follow when documenting a crime scene.
What have you learned about crime scene management and evidence collection? Â Do the guidelines make sense to you? Â What steps do you think are the most important to secure the crime scene and minimize tampering/maximize evidence location?
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I have learned that proper crime scene management is imperative in preserving evidence and being able to connect that evidence to the correct person or killer. There are many instances in which a crime scene has failed to be documented correctly, thus leading to the criminal’s waltz to freedom. All that might have happened was an improperly blocked off crime scene, a crime scene that was tampered with, mis-documented evidence, an accidental destruction of evidence, and the criminal was able to get away. Proper crime scene management and evidence collection decides the success of an investigation.
I think that the guidelines make perfect sense to me. I believe that these guidelines are an investigator’s best ally in finding the criminal in any case. This is because the system keeps track of any evidence found, and also keeps the scene from being tampered with further if it has been tampered with at all.
The steps that are most important in securing the crime scene and maximizing evidence location are taping it off while interviewing witnesses, and photography and evidence collection. When the scene is taped off, it can no longer be tampered with. When the first responder interviews witnesses, he may be able to find out if anyone has tampered with the scene. The most important parts of evidence collection are photography and physical evidence collection. These ensure that all the evidence is collected and that the greatest number of evidence is collected.