Abstract
This paper will identify the best methods of maintaining the integrity of a specific crime scene, utilizing a fictional crime scene and fictional scenario to discuss the steps that would be taken to secure the crime scene, the priorities of the responding officers, and the reasons for those priorities. It will list all the pertinent factors that will need to be addressed in the securing of the scene, dealing with the victim, and the potential apprehension of the criminals.
Keywords: crime scene, integrity, securing the scene, priorities, reasons
2-2 Criminal Investigations Journal: The Crime Scene
In responding to the scene, my partner and I discovered that the store at which the silent alarm was triggered had been robbed; the second report from the area had indicated teenagers were in the area and were engaged in unruly behavior. We found evidence of this in the store and along the street in the form of a trail of broken beer bottles from the inside of the store, leading away from the crime scene toward a small wooded area nearby. We determined that it was necessary to secure the crime scene, maintaining its integrity for the crime scene technicians who were en route to process the scene.
As the first responders to the scene, we had six distinct priorities, to be completed in the following order: determining the need for medical assistance, conducting a walkthrough of the scene, taking the necessary steps to preserve and protect the scene, securing and isolating the crime scene through the use of ropes and crime scene tape, removing unauthorized personnel from the scene, and determining the lead investigator for the case (Crime Scene Procedure, 2006). As the clerk was assaulted during the course of the robbery, we called in for EMTs, and I offered the clerk basic first aid while my partner conducted a walkthrough of the scene, ensuring that there were no other wounded or dead. We cordoned off the area including the store, the path of beer bottles, and marked the entry and exit paths that it appeared were taken by the perpetrators (Process the Crime Scene, n.d.), separated the witnesses from the gawkers, and called in for additional backup. As my partner started taking witness statements, I started the process of reconstructing the crime scene (What Happens at a Crime Scene?, 2012), and called for backup to the wooded area, requesting a search of the area for the perpetrators; given the amount of empty broken beer bottles, it was likely that they were still present in the clearing due to high levels of inebriation.
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