Crime Scene Investigation Initial Response & Planning

Crime Scene Investigation Initial Response & Planning

Instructions: Each students answer to the question should be between 350-500 words. A minimum of two references need to be used in the development of your answer. You also need to provide two (2) feedback posts to your peers. Each feedback post needs to be 150 words or more,and should include information that helps to enhance the discussion on the topic. Do not include statements such as great work, or excellent post. Try to include info that is challenging and respectful and that will stimulate debate. Also, be mindful of including references and citations whenever citing facts to support your position. APA 6th edition citations and references must be used always!1.Identify and discuss the steps for a methodical approach to investigating a crime scene. How does Locard’s Exchange Theory impact the crime scene examination?Everyone has seen the crime scene investigations as it unfolds on television shows. They almost always lead to some profound DNA or evidence discovery that ultimately “breaks the case wide open” and leads police to their suspect. Then you turn off the television and come back to real world only to realize that things do not happen this way. Law enforcement officers and crime scene investigators must go to great lengths to find, secure, and preserve evidence. This begins when they first approach the scene of a crime. Initially, law enforcement officers will be the first to arrive to a crime scene. Crimes can be reported in three ways: crime in progress; crime that was just

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Crime Scene Investigation Initial Response & Planning

CMRJ101 Forum #5

Choose 3 different types of evidence from chapter 9 (example fingerprints, hair, glass).Discuss the importance of each, how an investigator would collect each, and determine theadmissibility as acceptable evidence. Compare and contrast the tests used by courts todetermine the admissibility of expert witness testimony. What is meant by “abuse ofdiscretion”?Fingerprints are an extremely useful type of evidence when investigating a crime scene for several reasons. Because every person has fingerprints and they are uniquely different for everybody, they provide a great deal of forensic value for crime scene investigators. Science and technology have proven that specific patterns and characteristics of each fingerprint provide a unique identity to each set that is identical to none. In addition to the fingers themselves, the palms of each hand also contain friction ridges which can also leave latent prints that are also identifiable. Fingerprints do not change and remain the same unless altered through surgery or aninjury (Buckles, 2006, p. 184). Through this process of fingerprint collection, investigators can identify if a person has been in the vicinity of a crime scene, as well as determine whether or not a person has touched a particular object of importance. Once collected, investigators can compare fingerprints with previously collected fingerprints within the FBI’s IAFIS database, which can assist in narrowing down suspects (Buckles, 2006, p. 186). If visible during a crime scene investigation, investigators must properly collect and preserve the print. The investigators first photograph the print to properly document the evidence. If the item that the print is located on is transportable, then the entire object is collected as evidence and sent to the crime lab. If the print is on an immovable object, the print is carefully lifted using fingerprint tape, and then transferred to an evidence card. If fingerprints are not initially visible, investigators have several resources to identify them. For porous surfaces investigators may use the chemical ninhydrin to detect latent prints. On non-porous surfaces such as plastic, leather, or wet surfaces, investigatorsuse cyanoacrylate to identify latent prints. Additionally, investigators may dus