NS4101 3/10/2015

NS4101 3/10/2015

1. Forensic Science

   • Recovery of evidence from a crime scene
   • Examination of evidence from a crime scene
   • Presentation of scientific results in court

2. Important Dates

   • 1829 - police established supervising the streets, preventing rather than detecting.
   • 1842 - first detective force established
   • 1878 - CID formally established
   • 1842 - middle class murders caused police to question their roles in society: prevention or detection.
   • Resistance to formal training up to the 20th centaury

3. Forensic Science and Investigation

   • Bertillonage - anthropomorphic measurement, 1800s, not used now-a-days.
   • Fingerprint - ridged analysis
   • Pathology - cause of death, determined by a pathologist.
   • DNA - ever developing
   • 1870's - biological samples: presence of semen, rapid strangulation on the lungs, signs of death by being burned alive.
   • Forensic Techniques - profiling, polygraphy, interviews, electronic data, CCTV, forensic computing, palynology, entomology, knot analysis.
   • Unique to an Individual - strength of evidence will hold in court, links to an individual only.

4. Key Crime Scene Terms

   • Modus Operandi (MO)- way a perpetrator commits their crime, general statement of the scene.
   • Crime Scene Processing - activities that preserve and record the crime scene
   • SOCO - scene of crime officer CSI/E- Crime scene investigator/Examinor
   • FOA - first officer attending, must preserve the scene so forensic evidence is not destroyed or manipulated.
     • Scene must be preserved exactly as it was found!
   • CAP - Common Approach Path - needs to be set up and marked out in an obvious way. Cordon tape. path goes from the beginning of tis tape to the focal point of the scene, prevents people from walking everywhere. Is not always the most direct route to the focal point, the route that preserves the scene the most. The path least likely to have been taken by the perpetrator.
   • SIO - Senior Investigating Officer - most important person there and the most difficult job. manages everything on the scene, major crimes will have more than one scene.
   • Pathologist - doctor who carries out the post mortem (PM), must be Home Office (HO) registered to carry out forensic PMs. These are critical to murder investigations.

5. LOCARD'S EXCHANGE PRINCIPLE - EVERY CONTACT LEAVES A TRACE!

6. Multiple scenes

   • Tends to occur in big crimes i.e. murder, kidnapping.
   • Anything can be a crime scene
   • No SOCO or officer attends more than one scene to prevent cross contamination, full decontamination needed before entering a new scene

7. Identifying Crime Scenes

   • Body is a crime scene in itself. Whether it is living or dead it must be preserved. Victim or Perpetrator.
   • Room the body/focal point is in- is it a deposition site?
   • Place where the murder took place
   • Place where the kidnapping took place
   • Place the victim was held
   • Vehicles used by the victim or kidnapper/murderer
   • Suspects within the case
   • Homes/workplaces of suspect/victim

8. Exit and Entry points typically hold the most evidence

9. CSP seeks to answer specific questions.

   • Who
     • Victim
     • Perpetrator
     • Witnessed the crime
   • When
     • Crime occur
     • Specific time determined
     • Long time scale - specific days, months, years
   • Where
     • Crime occur (at scene?)
     • Body brought to the scene
     • Individual enter and leave the CS
     • Items at the CS brought from elsewhere
   • What
     • The motive
     • MO
     • Objects involved
     • Sequence of events
     • Objects placed at scene and/or removed from scene
   • Why
     • did the crime happen where it did
     • did the crime happen when it did.