JS 112- Crime Scene Procedures

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JS 112- Crime Scene Procedures

• Pre class activities
• Quiz
• Announcements and Assignments
• Acknowledgements
• Crime Scene Management, First Responders and
  Processing the Crime- Fisher Ch 2 and Ch 5
• a. Management considerations- Information,
  Person power, Technology and Logistics
• b. Role of the First Responder- Before arriving,
  Arriving
• c. Secure and Isolate- Multilevel security Walk
  through
• d. Recording the scene (CSI exercise)
• e. Communication
• f. Legal Considerations and Safety

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Announcements

• Next time- John Jermaine MS. Chemist ATFE Guns,
  Drugs and Bombs, Investigative Chemistry
• Looking ahead- Weds 03/01/10- Student led
  reviews- E mail summary by 02/28/10 by 1200 noon
• Monday 03/03/10- Exam I
• Assignment- Read Chapters 2 and 3

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Elements of Crime Scene Management

• Combined power of crime scenes, physical
  evidence, records and witnesses
• Use of teamwork, advanced investigative skills,
  ability to process the crime scene properly,
  recognizing, collecting and preserving all
  relevant physical evidence
• Effectiveness of crime scene functions are only
  as good as management that supports those
  functions

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Components of an effective crime scene management
system

• Information
• Person power
• Technology
• Logistics

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Information management

• Victim- background
• Actions and whereabouts
• Belongings accounted for-anything missing
• Locate family, friends and associates for recent
  events and how the victim got to the scene
• Motor vehicle registry
• Extended Victim Background
• Business, family and personal associates
  identified and interviewed
• Habitual behaviors
• Financial affairs-credit cards, bank accounts,
  telephone records
• Residence and personal belongings inventoried for
  anything missing or out of the norm

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Information Management

• Witnesses
• Interactions with victim near time of death
• Clothing, food eaten, trace material foreign
  biological material or drugs taken
• Find physical evidence to corroborate witness
  statements
• Potential Witnesses
• Direct witness
• First responding officer witnesses and
  potential suspects, transient or conditional
  evidence, eg position of the door or on/off light
  status
• General public
• Informants

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Management of person power

• Allocation of personnel and training
• Time, talent, resources
• Scene documentation
• Photography
• Videotaping
• Sketching
• Search methods
• Recognizing, collecting and preserving physical
  evidence

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Information Management

• Crime scene/evidence
• Documentation- Photography,sketches, notes
• Physical evidence-any evidence/object that can
  provide useful information for investigators in
  solving the crime
• Transient evidence- eg odors, temperatures,
  markings
• Conditional evidence- lighting conditions, smoke
  or fire, precise location of specific pieces of
  evidence
• Pattern evidence-Imprints, indentations,
  striations, markings, fractures, blood spatter,
  glass fracture, tire or skid mark, projectile
  trajectory pattern, powder or residue.
• Transfer evidence- Locard exchange principle-
  trace
• Associative evidence- suspects wallet

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Information Management

• Suspects
• Background Information- like victim
• Modus operandi patterns
• Databases
• DNA
• CODIS Combined DNA Index system
• http//www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/codis/index1.htm
• The FBI Laboratory's Combined DNA Index System
  (CODIS) blends forensic science and computer
  technology into an effective tool for solving
  violent crimes. CODIS enables federal, state, and
  local crime labs to exchange and compare DNA
  profiles electronically, thereby linking crimes
  to each other and to convicted offenders.

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Advances in DNA technology permit analysis of
very small, extremely old evidence
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Information Management

• Databases
• Fingerprints- Automated Fingerprint
  Identification system-AFIS
• Many states with millions of fingerprints on file
• Fingerprints can be checked with latent prints
• http//www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/iafis.htm
• Cartridge casing and bullets- Drugfire- IBIS
• DrugFire/IBIS is a ballistic imaging system
  initially designed by the FBI for use in
  counteracting drug and gang shootings in the
  early 1990s. The FBI found that guns used in one
  drug related crime were often used in other
  crimes. A database was created that stores the
  unique markings found on bullets and cartridge
  cases.

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Technology and Equipment

• Inventory equipment
• Keep current in technology
• Know unit limitations
• Training
• Equipment
• Support vehicles
• Communications
• Tools and search equipment
• Specialized crime scene kits
• Chemical and reagents
• Evidence packaging materials and forms
• Portable instrumentation

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Management of Logistics

• Command Posts
• Media Relations
• Inter-agency Liason
• Resource allocations
• Developing procedures
• Selecting appropriate crime scene investigation
  model
• Traditional
• Crime scene technicians
• Scene of the crime/major crime squad
• Laboratory crime scene scientist
• Collaborative team approach

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Forensic Laboratory Management Practices
American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors
Guidelines

• Provide guidelines to safeguard integrity and
  objectives of criminalistics
• See Fisher pp 15-20
• Included are Integrity, quality, security,
  training, competency, communication, public
  responsibility, legal compliance, disclosure and
  discovery, accreditation, certification, research
  and ethics

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CSI Crime SceneBefore Arriving- Pre-assessment

• What am I responding to?
• What do I need to bring?
• Who do I need to bring?
• How much time will it take?
• How long will it take to get there?
• What has transpired at the scene?
• Who has been through it?
• Have you secured the scene?

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CSI - Crime Scene -Arriving

• Get ID ready
• Park in a place not blocking exits
• Team approach- Observations to assist in
  determining potential value of evidence
• What has happened (in agencies eyes)?
• Who has been in?
• When did it happen?
• What has been done?
• Do we have a search warrant?
• Some apparent evidence may be superfluous- eg
  medical treatments can create blood/footprints
• Interview first officer on the scene

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First Responders Duties 1

• Successful resolution of the case may hinge on
  the actions and stops taken by the first
  responder
• First responder duty does not vary due to rank
• Preserve the integrity of evidence
• Change to the scene may occur with each contact -
  Locards exchange principle Leverite
• Value of meticulous note taking
• Do not approach in haste
• Calm and Deliberate movements
• Expect the worst- If something can go wrong it
  will (Murphys law)

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First Responders duties (2)

• Every crime is different not possible to set
  hard and fast rules
• Generally applicable
• Secure the scene
• Responsibility of the first officer on the scene
  to Secure and protect
• Take measures to isolate the area- ropes,
  barricades and positioning of guards
• Authority to exclude- Scene security officer
• Potential destruction of physical evidence
• Logs- example from SJSU- no one in w/o authority-
  requiring report
• Critical to the investigation

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Multi-level security approach

• Level 1 Overall scene security- restriction of
  general public set up special media area
• Level 2 Area security- restriction to official
  business- higher ranking officers and officials-
  Set up command post for briefings, logistics,
  break and rest areas
• Level 3 Target Area security- highest limited
  access only for crime scene investigators

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First Responders duties (3)

• Arrest the suspect-
• Check for weapons
• Do not let suspect back to scene
• Document condition, injuries and behavior of
  suspect
• Assist the victim
• Injured person on the scene-administer first
  aid--- even if evidence lost or destroyed
• Dead body-Homicide?
• Dead person- do not touch. Use a phone not
  radio due to press
• Summon the coroner
• Record the time
• Critical to the investigation
• Estimate what may have happened

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First Responders duties (4)

• What to do until investigating personnel arrive
• Write down names of witnesses and other persons
  who entered the scene
• Note who was at the scene when the officer
  arrived
• Establish the basic facts
• Keep suspect and witnesses separated wherever
  possible
• Instruct witnesses not to discuss the events
• Do not discuss the crime with witnesses or
  bystanders
• Listen attntively but unobtrusively
• Protect evidence that is in danger of being
  destroyed
• Continued protection of the scene
• No one allowed without investigators
  permission-GOSOKEEO

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First Responder Duties (5)

• Observe transient evidence
• Doors, windows, lights, shades, odors, signs of
  activity, date and time indicators, mail,
  newspapers etc.
• First officer should remain and send others to
  call headquarters
• Inteview/Detain witnesses
• Communicate with supervisors
• Report all actions, observations and changes

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Legal Considerations

• Removal of any evidence from a person of from the
  scene of a crime in conformity with Fourth
  Amendment privileges
• The right of the people to be secure in their
  persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
  unreasonable searches and seizure, shall not be
  violated and no warrants shall issue, but upon
  probably cause, supported by oath or affirmation,
  and particularly describing the place to be
  searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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Legal Considerations

• Justification of warranties searches
• Existence of emergency
• Need to prevent immediate loss or destruction of
  evidence
• Search of a person and property within the
  immediate control of the person provided it is
  made incident to a lawful arrest
• Search made by consent of the parties involved
• Message from Supreme Court-when time and
  circumstance permit obtain a search warrant
• Mincey vs Arizona-
• Police raid on suspected drug dealer Rufus Mincey
• Undercover officer forced entry pretext of buying
  drugs and was killed in scuffle.
• Collected evidence including bullets, drugs and
  paraphernalia over 4 days without warrant
• Violated 4th amendment rights court unanimously
  agreed

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Fundamental Practices Crime Scene Safety

• AIDS, hepatitis B and TB- Inoculation for
  hepatitis B
• OSHA
• Double glove, tyvek shoe covers, coveralls
• Particle masks, respirator, goggles or face
  shield
• Sharp objects- appropriate container
• Blood latent print powder brush needs to be
  decontaminated or disposed
• Biohazard bags for infectious materials used
  gloves etc.
• Notes taken with uncontaminated gloves
• Soiled protective equipment needs to be removed
  and decontaminated
• Eating and drinking is prohibited

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Summary (1)

• Physical evidence has many uses- establish a
  crime has been committed, exonerate the innocent,
  establish links, corroborate statements, provide
  investigative leads
• Examples of physical evidence include drugs,
  hair, fibers, fingerprints, bullets, paint, ropes
  and shoeprints.
• The goal of identification is to determine the
  physical or chemical identity of a substance.
  Contrast this to individualization that is to
  determine that an item has come from a unique
  source.

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Summary (2)

• Elements of crime scene management include
  teamwork, information, person power, technology
  and logistics
• ASCLD has published guidelines to insure
  integrity and objectives
• First responder duties may vary depending on the
  crime. Duties that are common include preserving
  the integrity of the evidence, secure the scene,
  arrest the suspect, assist the victim, record the
  time, note transient evidence, interview
  witnesses and communicate to supervisors
• Legal considerations include fourth amendment
  privileges and getting a warrant before
  processing the scene
• Safety considerations include AIDS, hepatitis B
  and TB