Outdoor Crime Investigation

1757 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Basic elements of criminal investigation

Ever wonder just how investigations are conducted? Or how detectives can figure out crimes that seem extremely difficult? The answer is simple, it lies in the process of Criminal Investigation. Criminal investigations are used to find, analyze, and process evidence and information useful to the crime scene. Criminal Investigations help solve crimes ranging from a simple breaking and entering to even a crime like homicide. Criminal Investigation is not a simple act, criminal investigations have many different types of crime scenes, and complicated stages to follow during an investigation.

There are many different kinds of crimes, therefore there are many different types of crime scenes. To investigators, the first step of any crime scene, is figuring out what type it is (Penven, Don). There may be many different types of crime scenes, but all crimes can be put under one of three main categories of crime. The different types of scenes, dictate how the procedure of the investigation.

The first type of crime scene is the outdoor crime scene. Outdoor crime scenes can be the most problematic of all the crime scenes. This is because outdoor crime scenes are most vulnerable to loss, contamination, and change of physical evidence in a short period of time.

Also, …show more content…

Evidence can be lost due to many things like, temperature, snow, rain, and wind (All About Forensic Science). These are often the most common type of alters in an outdoor crime scene. Many times evidence cannot be protected under these kinds of conditions and will be ruined or at least less reliable to the investigation(Webb, David). Outdoor crime scenes are also more open to the public, allowing more opportunities for evidence to be altered with or contaminated. It is more likely that a citizen will wander into an outdoor crime scene before it could be processed than a citizen wandering into any other type of crime

Show More
Related

  • Michael Swango Case Study

    2436 Words  | 5 Pages

    After they have a clear understanding of the situation, they find out how this event took place. After they find out about this, the most important part comes, and that is finding out who was responsible for the crime. Searching is an extremely important part of investigation as it gives an extremely clear picture of what has happened (Weiss & Gross, 2000). 2. What is the difference between a..

    Read More

  • Evidence Analysis: Homicide Scene Analysis

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    If handled with care the evidence can be the best assistance to the crime investigator and can be used as a major proof in court. To improve the investigation any detective or expert has to admit the necessity of the non-movable items observation and processing apart from the regular movable evidence collection.

    Read More

  • A Career as a Crime Scene Investigator

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    CSIs must photograph/sketch crime scenes, take measurements, make observations, testify against criminals in court, and collect, pack, label, document, and analyze evidence (Career Cruising). All of these tasks CSIs must complete, require them to handle a variety of tools including: cameras, tripods, flashlights, notepads, utensils to collect physical evidence, measuring tapes, rulers, microscopes, fingerprinting kits, and even guns in some cases (Career Cruising). CSI agents collect to different types of evidence, when they investigate a crime (Byrd). The first type of evidence is testimonial evidence, which is the answers CSIs questioning suspects and witnesses are given (Byrd). Physical evidence, which is the other type of evidence, is any type of three-dimensional evidence collected at a crime scene (Byrd). Although different CSI teams from different areas of the world can consist of multiple branches, including: detectives, technicians, medical examiners, scientists, and lab analysts, they still use forensics, which is science and technology, to investigate crimes (Zullo). There is always crime, but when there are no current cases; CSIs go back to old/previous cases (McFadden).

    Read More

  • Trace Evidence

    1592 Words  | 4 Pages

    Crime scenes are known to have many clues left behind. The obvious would be the body, clothing, and sometimes even the murder weapon. While these are great ways to solve a case, there's another kind of evidence: trace evidence. Trace evidence is small pieces of evidence that are laying around a crime scene. There are many types of trace evidence, some of them include metal filings, plastic fragments, gunshot residue, glass fragments, feathers, food stains, building materials, lubricants, fingernail scrapings, pollens and spores, cosmetics, chemicals, paper fibers and sawdust, human and animal hairs, plant and vegetable fibers, blood and other body fluids, asphalt or tar, vegetable fats and oils, dusts and other airborne particles, insulation, textile fibers, soot, soils and mineral grains, Although these are the most commonly found elements, they are not the only ones.

    Read More

  • Crime Scene Investigator Research Paper

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today’s time, modern Crime Scene Investigation has increased rapidly. From throughout the late 1900’s and in the early 2000’s (Taylor 1). For all of the evidence that they find, a solid foundation has formed over the thousands of years of Crime Scene

    Read More

  • First 48 Thesis

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    In criminal justice, detectives need many skills that help capture the suspect. One of the important skills is finding and presenting evidence. This is significantly important because according to the Criminal Justice

    Read More

  • The Criminal Justice Process

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    The police conduct a preliminary investigation then later conduct a secondary or follow up investigation. The primary goal of the preliminary investigation is to secure the crime scene to protect the integrity of the evidence. The follow-up investigation is when they thoroughly collect, preserve and relinquish the evidence to the evidence tech in the lab with a chain of custody form.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Criminal Justice: Nothing Cuts Deeper

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    Denise Moore 's criminal report starts the investigation. A police investigation of a crime is the entryway into the criminal justice system, once Denise Moore reported the crime, Detective Riley and Detective Clay conducted a photo lineup, an investigative tool used when the suspect is unknown and not in custody, to identify the suspect (Burns, 194).

    Read More

  • The Importance of Collection, Custody and Preservation of Forensic Evidence

    1566 Words  | 4 Pages

    Collection of evidence is usually a term designated to refer to the collection of physical evidence, government agencies such as police or environmental protection departments will have their own methods for the collection, storage and conservation of physical evidence and it is the responsibility of forensic personnel to adhere to these set guidelines. General principles which are shared amongst various agencies include, the creation of contemporaneous notes, recording the collection of evidence via photographing, videotaping and/or audiotapes, preserving the crime scene by sealing off the location and only allowing designated personnel to enter, avoiding contamination of the crime scene by investigators through the use of full body covering and also preventing cross-contamination with the scene and any suspects.

    Read More

  • Collecting the Evidence From a Crime Scene

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    The amount of evidence can either help win or lose a case. Every crime scene has evidence available for officers to collect. It is important for them to know what the standard protocol is for collecting evidence and how to properly collect it without contamination.

    Read More

  • A Career as a Criminal Investigator

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine pulling into your driveway and seeing your neighbor’s house surrounded by police, flashing lights, and caution tape with bodies covered in white sheet on the lawn. It was a drive by shooting. Next, a van pulls up and a Criminal Investigator steps out and starts assessing the crime scene. She begins taking photos, marking shell casings, packaging evidence, documenting tire treads on the pavement and inspecting and collecting DNA evidence from the bodies. Criminal Investigators are highly trained college graduates that are a vital part of bringing criminals to justice.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Pre-Liminary Investigation

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is where the crime scene unit (CSU) comes in to play as well as the detectives. Once the detectives arrive on the scene they will be looking for a suspicious individual or individuals and speak to witnesses and take their testimonials or story, they basically tell the investigator what they observed. On a crime scene investigation packet it states "when seeking for witnesses and taking their testimonials it is best to separate them so no individuals have identical stories." Once this has been done and the investigator takes the testimonials they must determine if a crime took place. For example if a person was stabbed in the abdomen and first responders arrived and trying to help the victim and he dies then the crime that took place was a aggravated battery but turned into a homicide. If a person was sexually molested and beaten while being molested then the crime that occurred is a sexual battery and rape. Once this is completed then the investigator will determine the nature of the crime. What this means is that if it is a violent crime, a website

    Read More

  • Processing a Crime Scene

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    A scene search is necessary to find evidence such as shell casings, biological evidence etc. At the time, a more detailed, extensive search will begin. Investigators have made their initial notations of the scene and created their hypothesis of the crime. The survey is an organizational stage to plan ...

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Private and Public Criminal Investigation

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    Criminal investigators are professionals in the law enforcement team who try to solve crimes, prevent the occurrence of future crimes, and searching and detaining suspects. The two categories of criminal investigators are private and public criminal investigators. The level of training that these professionals go through is different which leads us to the differences between public and private criminal investigations.

    Read More

  • Forensic Science History Essay

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    Forensic science has now been recognized as an important part of the law enforcement team to help solve crimes and cold cases. The advances in technology are being used each day and we must continue to strive to develop better advances in this field. The recent discovery of using DNA in criminal cases has helped not only positively identify the suspect, but it has helped exonerate hundreds of innocent individuals. “With new advances in police technology and computer science, crime scene investigation and forensic science will only become more precise as we head into the future.” (Roufa, 2017) Forensic science and evidence helps law enforcement officials solve crimes through the collection, preservation and analysis of evidence. By having a mobile crime laboratory, the scene gets processed quicker and more efficiently. Forensic science will only grow in the future to be a benefit for the criminal justice

    Read More

More about Outdoor Crime Investigation

Open Document