Solving a Crime
YouthLink Documents
1.
Secure the scene
You want to make sure that you are safe.
Make sure that the scene is safe for to enter and clear the area. Once the
scene is safe, you should escort all bystanders away and tape it off with crime
scene tape ASAP. This is to prevent anyone unauthorized from coming into the
crime scene. You should not disturb anything in the scene since the location of
all the evidence is crucial in solving a crime.
It is crucial that we protect the evidence from cross contamination. We don’t want to put our own fingerprints, footprints, DNA, or anything else onto the crime scene or on the evidence. You want to put a full hazmat suit, boot covers, masks, gloves, and safety glasses.
3. Gather and document evidence
First, the forensics photographer comes
and photographs everything without disturbing the scene. This is to make sure
we know where everything was before we start touching things. Once everything
has been photographed, CSI will walk around and gather only one piece of
evidence in each evidence bag. If the evidence is wet, we need to make sure we
place it in a paper bag to prevent molding. The bags are sealed with
information about the case, who collected it and at what time it was collected.
Then it is sent to the forensics lab.
Every evidence bag has a lot of information on it such as date, time, name of the CSI who collected it, the case number, evidence number, location, etc… This information is used to catalog the evidence in the case file. Once the evidence arrives at the forensics lab, it is sent to appropriate lab rooms depending on what kind of evidence it is.
5. Gather Suspects
Anyone can be a suspect. We gather all the people who we think are connected to the crime and ask them questions. The most common question we ask is what they were doing and where they were at the time of the crime. This gives the suspects an opportunity to give us something called an alibi. An alibi is a reason suspects give us as to why they couldn’t have possibly committed the crime. Once we have an alibi, we investigate and check to see if the alibi is true.
6. Link Evidence
to Suspects
Evidence is what tells the story of what
happened. Evidence can put a suspect at the crime scene during the time of the
crime. It can help determine if a suspect is lying to the police or not. You
can link evidence to suspects to figure out who was involved and who is
innocent.
Once all evidence has been analyzed in
the lab and linked to suspects, police can then lay a charge. These charges are supported by evidence and
the police officers and CSIs involved will have to go to court to testify. The
suspect who has been charged also needs to go to court.
In order to prove that the suspect is guilty (beyond a reasonable doubt), police officers and CSIs must present the evidence in front of the judge or jury. If the suspect if found guilty, the judge will give a sentence demanding the accused pay a fine or serve jail time.
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