“Create a worksheet for the following presentation: • A crime scene investigation consists of recognizing, documenting, photographing, and collecting evidence • First responding officers must identify the extent of a crime scene • Crime scene investigators document the scene(s) with photographs and sketches • Goal of a crime scene investigation o Piecing together the evidence • Guidelines for evidence acceptability o Sufficient and scientific o Consistent when retested o Must be valid • National Academy of Science Report in 2009 o Evidence and evidence testing needs to be more scientific o Formation of Scientific Working Groups o Revised and standardized protocols o Recommendations to improve evidence collection and testing • Team of legal and scientific professionals o Police officers o District attorneys o Crime scene investigators o Medical examiners o Detectives o Specialists • Physical transfer o Whenever two people come into contact physical transfer occurs o Transferred materials constitutes trace evidence • Dr. Edmond Locard o Director of the world’s first forensic laboratory o First person to note physical transfer • Locard’s Principle of Exchange o Cross-transfer of physical evidence can occur o Evidence is found on both entities o Intensity, duration, and nature of the entities in contact determine the extent of the transfer • Established protocols o Step 1: Securing the scene  Responsibility of the first responder o Step 2: Separating the witnesses  Ask specific questions o Step 3: Scanning the scene  Where photos should be taken o Step 4: Seeing the scene  Take photos • Established protocols o Step 5: Sketching the scene  Make an accurate sketch o Step 6: Searching for evidence  Search pattern types o Step 7: Securing and collecting evidence  Properly package, seal, and label evidence • Establishing the collection site o Locate a datum point o Mark evidence collection limits o Measure and mark evidence positions • Evidence analysis o Lab technicians are specialized o Detectives examine the evidence • Crime scene reconstruction o Involves forming a hypothesis o Investigators look at the evidence • Legal proceedings o Evidence is evaluated to be scientific, sufficient, reliable, and valid o DOJ and ASA provide guidelines for expert witness testimony o Cannot rely on investigator experience as evidence validity • Commonly faked or staged crime scenes o Arson to cover other crimes o Murder staged to look like suicide o Burglary to collect insurance money • Determining if a crime scene is staged o Initially treat all death investigations as homicides o Could the wounds be easily self-inflicted? o Establish a victim profile o Evaluate behavior before the event o Corroborate statements o Reconstruct the event • Locating crime scenes and recording evidence o Surveillance cameras and facial recognition • New technologies used today o Ground penetrating radar o Drones o 3-D stationery camera systems o Cell phones and GPS • Locard’s Principle of Exchange: contact during a crime can result in a transfer of material • Evidence may be direct, as in eyewitness accounts, or circumstantial • Evidence may be physical or biological • A crime scene investigation team consists of police officers, detectives, crime scene investigators, medical examiners, and specialists • A crime scene investigation consists of recognizing, documenting, photographing, and collecting evidence • First responding officers must identify the extent of a crime scene • Crime scene investigators document the scene(s) with photographs and sketches • Crime scene(s) are sometimes precisely mapped • Evidence must be properly handled, collected, and labeled • Evidence is analyzed in a forensic laboratory • New guidelines have been established to ensure expert witnesses use scientific, reliable, and valid evidence”