Crime Scene Management : Scene Specific Methods

by Sutton, Raul; Trueman, Keith

• ISBN13: 9780470016794
• ISBN10: 0470016795
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-18
• Publisher: WILEY

Summary

Crime Scene Management: Scene Specific Methods is an accessible introduction to the common forms of evidence that may be encountered at a scene of crime and the techniques used for recovery of that evidence. The book is clearly focused on the techniques for handling crime scenes from the role of the first officer attending through the to the specialist personnel who may be called to deal with specific evidence types. Clearly structured to enhance student understanding, methods covered include, dna-rich samples, fingerprints, toolmarks and impressions. Later chapters move on to consider common scenes such as burglary, fire and vehicle crime.Included with the book is an interactive CDROM that highlights many of the methodologies covered in the book with video footage of the evidence gathering technique in action. The book can be used as a stand-alone but the material included on the CD will enhance student understanding of the subject.This is a great opportunity for Wiley to publish the first book in this area. There are currently no other texts with a UK focus that cover this subject area and yet all undergraduate students taking a Forensic Science degree have to cover this aspect of the course. The additional 'extra' of the CD will certainly enhance sales opportunities and ensure that the students are getting a whole package consisting of the book, CD and accompanying website.

Table of Contents

Introduction and Use of This Text	p. xi
List of Contributors	p. xv
Crime Scene Principles	p. 1
The Crime Scene Context	p. 3
Introduction	p. 3
What is a crime?	p. 4
The nature of the UK legal system	p. 6
The legal system in England and Wales	p. 7
Other courts	p. 9
The judicial system in Northern Ireland	p. 10
The Scottish legal system	p. 11
Judicial processes that deal with causes of death	p. 13
What constitutes evidence?	p. 15
The chain of events in evidence gathering	p. 16
The relationship between evidence gatherers and analysts	p. 19
Health and safety considerations	p. 20
Suggested further reading	p. 20
First Officer Attending	p. 21
Introduction	p. 21
Response to incident report	p. 22
Personnel involved in the investigative process	p. 23
Recording and recovery of scientific evidence	p. 24
Initial considerations of the first officer attending (FOA)	p. 24
Dealing with the victim	p. 26
Dealing with witnesses	p. 27
Dealing with suspects	p. 28
Dealing with the crime scene(s)	p. 28
Documentation	p. 33
Dealing with violent crime	p. 34
Summary and conclusion	p. 35
The Role of the Scenes of Crime Officer	p. 37
Introduction	p. 37
Training the SOCO	p. 38
The responsibilities of a SOCO	p. 39
Forensic evidence	p. 41
Request for SOCO attendance at crime scenes	p. 45
Actions when attending the crime scene	p. 46
Initial scene assessment (including health and safety considerations)	p. 46
Planning evidence recovery	p. 49
Record the evidence	p. 50
The elimination process	p. 56
Details of evidence recovered	p. 56
Integrity, continuity and contamination	p. 57
Packaging materials	p. 62
Conclusion	p. 67
Police Photography	p. 69
Introduction	p. 69
General guidelines	p. 70
Equipment	p. 71
Exposure	p. 72
Image quality/size	p. 77
Depth of field	p. 78
White balance	p. 80
Image data	p. 81
Flash photography	p. 82
Room interiors	p. 84
Vehicles	p. 84
Exhibits	p. 85
Assaults and woundings	p. 85
Night photography	p. 88
Footwear impressions	p. 89
Fingerprints	p. 90
Recording video evidence at crime scenes	p. 92
The use of digital images in court	p. 94
Suggested further reading	p. 95
Evidence Gathering Techniques	p. 97
Fingerprints	p. 99
Introduction	p. 99
The nature of friction ridge skin	p. 101
The structure of friction ridge skin	p. 102
Friction ridge growth	p. 103
Principles of friction ridge identification	p. 104
Comparison methodology	p. 106
Chemical composition of latent prints	p. 107
Identification of common locations for prints	p. 109
The use of powdering techniques to enhance latent finger marks	p. 112
Chemical development techniques	p. 115
Laboratory and scene applications	p. 117
Fingerprints in bodily fluids	p. 120
Scenes of fire	p. 122
Optical methods to reveal fingerprints (laser and other light sources)	p. 123
New and emerging techniques	p. 126
Summary	p. 127
Acknowledgements	p. 129
Selected further reading	p. 129
DNA-Rich Evidence	p. 131
Introduction	p. 131
Historical background	p. 131
The structure and properties of DNA	p. 132
DNA analysis	p. 133
Types of DNA testing	p. 133
Biological evidence	p. 136
Procedures for collection of biological evidence: general considerations	p. 139
Limitations of DNA evidence	p. 150
Elimination and reference samples	p. 151
Summary	p. 151
References	p. 151
Blood Pattern Analysis	p. 153
Introduction	p. 153
History of the development of blood spatter as a scientific discipline	p. 154
Composition of blood	p. 155
Physical properties of blood	p. 156
Causes of bleeding	p. 157
Blood dynamics	p. 158
Drop-surface impact and droplet pattern	p. 159
Determination of area of origin of spatter	p. 162
Cast-off patterns	p. 164
Arterial damage patterns	p. 164
Non-spatter patterns	p. 167
Physiologically altered blood stains (PABS)	p. 170
Volume blood stains	p. 174
Composite patterns	p. 176
Investigative transfer and contamination issues	p. 176
Recording traces	p. 177
Summary	p. 179
Suggested further reading	p. 179
Physical Evidence	p. 181
Introduction	p. 181
Tool marks	p. 181
Clothing	p. 184
Fibres	p. 184
Footwear impressions	p. 187
Glass fragments	p. 189
Glass fragmentation	p. 191
Soils	p. 193
Firearms	p. 194
Scene recovery of firearms	p. 198
Gunshot residues (GSR)	p. 199
Drugs of abuse (DOA)	p. 201
The crime scene characteristics of various DOA's	p. 202
Presumptive tests for drugs	p. 204
Amateur explosives	p. 206
Summary	p. 207
Suggested further reading	p. 208
Specialised Scenes and Report Writing	p. 209
The Examination of Fire Scenes	p. 211
Introduction	p. 211
The nature of fire	p. 211
The oxygen demand of fuels	p. 214
Flame and fire classifications	p. 216
Types of evidence specific to fire scenes	p. 217
Locating the seat of the fire	p. 219
Evidence gathering methods	p. 220
Methods for ascertaining whether a crime has been committed	p. 222
Health and safety considerations	p. 224
Summary	p. 225
Suggested further reading	p. 225
Examination of Recovered Stolen Motor Vehicles	p. 227
Introduction	p. 227
What is a motor vehicle?	p. 229
The definition of an auto crime	p. 231
Auto crime scene examinations	p. 233
Requests to attend an 'auto crime' scene	p. 234
The examination process	p. 236
Conclusion	p. 247
Preparing Reports and Statements	p. 249
Introduction	p. 249
Documentation at the crime scene	p. 250
Photography	p. 251
Plans, sketches and diagrams	p. 251
The exhibit label	p. 253
Handling the evidence	p. 257
Statements of evidence	p. 260
Criminal Justice Act 1967, section 9	p. 260
Crime scene examination statements	p. 261
Conclusion	p. 263
Appendix Police Service Rank Structure	p. 265
Index	p. 267
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