Paper Example. Crime Scene Science

A crime scene is a physical location that provides evidence to the investigator concerning a particular incident (de Gruijter & de Poot, 2019). Therefore, crime scene science is the scientific examination approach that is used to gather evidence for a particular scene. In the scenario, many proofs need to be examined to unravel the cause of the incident. The police officer found a Chevrolet Impala that was abandoned and had stains of blood smears on the steering wheel, the front seats, and the dashboard.

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In addition to that, they always came across black duffel bags, stains of blood, and stock certification together with one earring made of diamond wherein the vehicle. Therefore, there is a need to find evidence and the cause of the scene. This paper explains how to document the required procedure for protecting the crime scene, identification and documentation of evidence, how to handle evidence, administration, and testing of proof together with scientific experimentation, and how to testify at the trial.

Protection of Virtual Crime Scene

The securing of the crime scene is essential for ensuring that the evidence does not tamper. The investigator follows various approaches according to the type of crime (Hofer et al., 2020). For instance, in this scenario, the investigator should deploy police officers at the scene and also at the house of the individuals that are affected. It will ensure that the evidence that is in the Chevrolet Impala and at home is not tampered with or removed.

Every scene should be treated with the utmost care so that the evidence is not contaminated or destroyed. The protocol that is followed to ensure that all the evidence is maintained includes:

Establish a perimeter to protect the scene

It is the first stage that ensures that security officers are present at the scene and do not allow anyone to contaminate the evidence. Also, the perimeters mean putting yellow lines around the scene, indicating that it is a protected region.

Preventing an unauthorized person from entering the crime scene

It is personnel that can easily interfere with the evidence. The security guards are tasked with ensuring that the area is well protected and that no one except the investigators has access to the crime scene (Mousseau et al. 2019).

Prevention of any damage to the Chevrolet Impala

Damages caused by various actions should be avoided. It is because of the damage caused by contaminating or destroying the evidence that is important for unraveling the leading to deaths.

Maintain an accurate scene log

It is crucial to record everyone that comes and goes to the scene. It will provide clarification and other facts concerning the evidence or anyone who may have tampered with the evidence. It is essential since some security guards may also tamper with the evidence. For the court, the names and times of the people who enter the scene are significant (Miller & Massey, 2018).

Maintain control of the scene and accurately recording of a change of duties

The scene should be maintained 24/7 and an accurate recording of the names and official communication from the supervisors for the change of duties (Levstein & Justice, 2019). Many different factors have caused many challenges in the crime scenes, and the only way to maintain the information, and the scene is to have a clear record and communication.

Evidence Collection Procedures

Evidence collection should be carefully executed to ensure that it is not contaminated. After the evidence is collected, it should be labeled clearly and carried carefully to the forensic laboratory for examination. The scenario involves contradictory evidence that is supposed to be collected. These shreds of evidence will be collected as follows:

Trace evidence

Trace evidence consists of a black duffel bag. These pieces of evidence will be collected using the following procedure: Firstly, document and photograph the evidence. It is essential to ensure that the investigator does not confuse the evidence. Secondly, properly securing the evidence by placing the evidence in a paper bag or envelope so that the evidence does not get destroyed. Packaging is an essential activity in evidence collection (Levstein & Justice, 2019).

Thirdly, close, seal or tape the packaging bag or the envelope. It is vital so that the examiner can ensure that the evidence did not tamper. Therefore, the investigator must document the date and time across the sealed area (Morgan et al., 2020). Fourthly, label the envelope with the name of the patient or the identification information. It is because the laboratory has various samples, and it can easily be confused. Fifthly, the investigator should place signatures, dates, and times when the evidence was extracted on the envelope.

Biological Evidence

Biological evidence includes the smears of blood that are found in the scene. It is crucial for finding out the victims that were involved in the crime. Pieces of evidence for this type are collected as follows: firstly, the examiner takes photographs and document the evidence. It is essential to show where the evidence was extracted precisely. Secondly, the evidence is appropriately secured and placed in a bag or an envelope. Thirdly, the envelopes are closed, sealed, and tapped. The investigator records the date of that day together with the time across the sealed area. Fourthly, the evidence that is already in the envelope is labeled with the name of the victim for identification purposes in the laboratory. The laboratory has various samples, and the only way the examiners use is naming the samples with the names of the victim (Robinson, 2016). Fifthly, the investigator signs the envelope together with indicating the time and date the sample of extracted. It is essential for accountability purposes (Allwood et al., 2020).

Injury to the body

The investigator, especially the forensic examiner, takes a history of the patient where they perform a full head-to-toe assessment of the finding to the body of the patient. The injury or the results on the patients are taken photographs and documented using age-specific body diagrams. The investigator uses cameras, measuring tools, and age-appropriation body diagrams to document all the forensic evidence on the body of the victims.

Techniques Used to Collect Evidence

Biological evidence is collected by various tools such as Swabs. It is a cotton tip applicator that is collected for biological evidence. Also, hair is collected using an apparatus and placed in an envelope. The trace evidence is obtained by the use of fingers with gloves or tongs and packaged in folded paper before being placed in an envelope (Allwood et al., 2020).

The two techniques are essential and show how substantial the evidence is. The use of swabs ensures that the blood evidence remains the way it was and is not interfered with. While the use of gloved fingers to collect samples of traced proof is as important as the use of swabs (Miller & Massey, 2018), these techniques are vital since they ensure that every piece of evidence is contaminated when it goes for testing.

Chain of Custody

Chain of custody is how the evidence, whether physical or electronic, in the criminal and civil investigation, has been handled (de Gruijter & de Poot, 2019). In a court of law, an item is not accepted as evidence unless the chain of custody is strictly followed. For the defendant of a crime to be convicted, the evidence against them must have been handled with the utmost care to prevent tampering or contamination of the evidence (Mateen & Tariq, 2019). In the courtroom, the prosecution presents the chain of custody documentation so that the evidence is proven relating to the alleged crime and that it had owned by the defendant.

For a chain of custody to be accepted as valid, it must be established through w clear, well documentation that includes: noting down information that includes documentation of the recovery locations, the date and time received, describing the items, the condition of the item, and any markings that are not usual to the issue, putting marks and packaging of the elements by the examiner or forensic investigator, ensuring that the evidence is sealed and the preparation of the chain of custody (Hofer et al. 2020). However, the chain of custody that shows the items gathered from the crime of scene must have a unique identifier. It must describe the item, date and time of collection, the identity of the forensic investigator who gathered the item and the location where the item was retrieved.

It is vital to secure the integrity of the evidence collected. It is because proof is critical to solving crime (Mousseau et al. 2019). The evidence integrity is supposed to be protected so that it is admissible in the court of law. However, digital evidence is regarded as more revealing, but it is very fragile. It is to means that digital proof can easily be modified or tampered (Morgan et al. 2020). Therefore, gathering and storing evidence using the required procedures s very important.

The chain of custody should be followed from the first step to the last step. It is vital since the court requires that the integrity of the information or evidence is maintained (Levstein & Justice, 2019). However, if the chain of custody is broken, or even one step is not followed, vital evidence is legally deemed to be lawfully worthless (Ramirez & Parish-Fisher, 2020). Most of the time, the chain of custody is broken the evidence bag is mislabeled by the forensic investigator of if the transfer takes an extended period or if the evidence gets into the wrong hands like corrupt officers (de Gruijter & de Poot, 2019).

Evidence Testing

Evidence testing is an essential sector in the crime scene science that is used to unravel the criminal or the suspect that committed the crime (de Gruijter & de Poot, 2019). It plays a central role in ensuring that the criminal is identified through various tests such as fingerprint tests and blood tests. For field testing, multiple testing is carried out. The initial test that is carried out is electronic device testing.

Electronic device testing is a test used by forensics to know the communication and movements of the victims, perpetrators, and witnesses through the examination of commercial electronic devices (Allwood et al. 2020). Forensic investigators contact the investigation of computers, cell phones, and other handheld devices. The cameras are also investigated. The test may mean the monitoring and disassembling of chips of the equipment or even tracing the digital trail by the use of any online communications (Levstein & Justice, 2019).

Secondly, cryptanalysis is another evidence test that can be used by the virtual crime scene. It is a test that involves code-breaking. It is the examination of encoded and enciphered documents so that the hidden information is retrieved (van den Eeden et al. 2016). The investigator analysis the various documents using computer science knowledge to identify any information that could be useful in a court of law.

On the other hand, other techniques are used for laboratory testing. Some of the laboratory tests include DNA and Anthropological testing. DNA testing is a well know evidence testing technique since immemorial (Mousseau et al. 2019). It is the testing that is done in the laboratory, and it is connected to the body tissue, blood, and other forms of fluid of an individual. DNA testing determines the source of Haines, hair, and nails that may have been found at the crime scene (Ramirez & Parish-Fisher, 2020). The examination is carried out by comparing the test taken from a person or a linage to the sample acquired from the evidence.