Crime Scene Investigation: Fact or Fiction? Imagine the scene. You arrive at the murder scene and collect evidence: a finger print, a strand of hair, a shoe print and a drop of blood. What does all this mean and how will this help you to solve the crime? The guys in the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation would use all manner of gadgets to collect evidence from the scene. They would film it using all kinds of unusual camera angles to ‘glam it up’. CSI is obviously not a fair reflection of what a real CSI team would do. I suspect that not many Crime Scene Investigators have perfect hair and wear sharp suits. Their skills are based more on abilities than on looks. They’d have all the skills to work at the sharp end of the business and do their job properly. Real Investigators need to have the expertise to gather information correctly, so as not to spoil evidence. I’d like to see Doctor Raymond "Rayboy" Langston and his cronies standing at a real crime scene. How would they use paper/plastic bags, plastic bottles or metal cans to gather their evidence? If left to this mob, nothing would get solved! Real Investigators would know exactly what to do. All evidence would be packaged separately to prevent crosscontamination. They would know that it had to be labeled correctly with the following information: • • • •
Person’s name Date of collection Description of evidence Agency’s name
They would know how to treat evidence properly and with care. Any evidence with moisture in it would be allowed to dry out. This would prevent the growth of microorganisms that could destroy it. Real Investigators would know about how evidence could be gathered to identify a possible suspect:
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Fingerprints are highly valued as they can tell whether or not a person was at the scene of a crime. Blood and bodily fluids are also other important pieces of evidence for an investigator. They can help to identify a suspect although there may be questions on how they got there in the first place. Bite marks on the victim can be matched to a suspect. Bites should be photographed and where possible, casts of the marks should be taken. This would allow a forensic odontologist to match the teeth marks with the suspect’s teeth. Fingernails have their own unique marks or striations on them. This means that broken nails at a scene of a crime could be important in tracing a suspect. Hair attached to the root would allow for a DNA analysis, using PCR technology, to trace it back to an individual.
So the reallife investigators may not live in the same ‘glam world’ of the TV series. In reality, the job of a Crime Scene Investigator involves using more skills than just looking good and smiling into the camera.