CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) professionals evaluate, interpret, document, collect, and preserve physical evidence found at crime scenes. Personnel participating in the CSI Section include Supervising Criminalists, Criminalists, Forensic Evidence Technicians (FETs), and Latent Print Examiners.

Typical services offered by CSI personnel include photography, videotaping, crime scene sketch preparation, evidence collection, latent print development, blood enhancement, bloodstain pattern analysis, trajectory determination, shooting reconstruction, crime scene reconstruction, and expert testimony.

The CSI Section is responsible for examining the scene of a crime, documenting the conditions present, and providing investigators, attorneys and ultimately the jury, with an accurate depiction of the locations and relationships of items located within the scene. They determine the relevance of items within the scene and the evidentiary potential of the items as related to the crime under investigation. Crime Scene Investigators preserve and collect the items deemed potential evidence, as well as process the items of evidence that are not removable from the scene. These investigators deliver the evidence to the crime lab for forensic examination, and then prepare a report detailing the actions taken at the crime scene. The purpose of the CSI Section is to help establish what occurred and to identify the responsible person. The ability to recognize and properly collect physical evidence is critical to solving violent crimes.

Despite Hollywood's portrayal, crime scene investigation is a difficult and time consuming job. There is no substitute for a careful and thoughtful approach. An investigator must not leap to an immediate conclusion as to what happened based upon limited information, but must generate several different theories of the crime. Reasonable conclusions about what happened are produced from the scene appearance and information from witnesses. These theories will help guide the investigator to document specific conditions and recognize valuable evidence.