Purchase Solution

Crime Scene Analysis

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

How would a crime scene investigator handle the situations below. Please include equipment that must be provided such as respirators and chemical suits or something as simple as gloves and masks. Discuss the manner in which officers should secure a crime scene after assuring public safety, and the policy for contacting other agencies. Please provide references.

Chemical incidents
Fires
Contamination risks
Biological elements (blood, saliva, etc.)
Protective equipment for each hazard
Securing the crime scene to ensure public safety
A policy for contacting other agencies
Submit the project as a PowerPoint presentation

Purchase this Solution

Solution Preview

How would a crime scene investigator handle the situations below. Please include equipment that must be provided such as respirators and chemical suits or something as simple as gloves and masks. Discuss the manner in which officers should secure a crime scene after assuring public safety, and the policy for contacting other agencies. Please provide references
Chemical incidents
Deliberate chemical and biological releases.
Response Functions
Incident Command/Unified Command. Your emergency plan should address direction and control of responders in the event of terrorist attack. Local responders respond to an incident scene and should notify local, State, and Federal authorities if terrorism appears to be involved. Local response authorities (such as a senior fire or law enforcement official) should establish control of the incident scene. The Incident Command System (ICS) that is initially.
Chemical enhancement: The use of chemicals that react with specific types of evidence (e.g., blood, semen, lead, fingerprints) in order to aid in the detection and/or documentation of evidence that may be difficult to see.
Chemical threat: Compounds that may pose bodily harm if touched, ingested, inhaled, or ignited. These compounds may be encountered at a clandestine laboratory, or through a homemade bomb or tankard leakage (e.g., ether, alcohol, nitroglycerin, ammonium sulfate, red phosphorus,
cleaning supplies, gasoline, or unlabeled chemicals).

Principle: The safety and physical well-being of officers and other individuals, in and around the crime scene, are the initial responding officer(s') first priority.
Policy: The initial responding officer(s) arriving at the scene shall identify and control any dangerous situations or persons.
Procedure: The initial responding officer(s) should:
a. Ensure that there is no immediate threat to other responders -scan area for sights, sounds, and smells that may present danger to personnel (e.g., hazardous materials such as gasoline, natural gas). If the situation involves a clandestine drug laboratory, biological weapons , or radiological or chemical threats the appropriate personnel/agency should be contacted prior to entering the scene.
b. Approach the scene in a manner designed to reduce risk of harm to officer(s) while maximizing the safety of victims, witnesses, and others in the area.
c. Survey the scene for dangerous persons and control the situation.
d. Notify supervisory personnel and call for assistance/backup.
Summary: The control of physical threats will ensure the safety of officers and others present.
Emergency Care
Principle: After controlling any dangerous situations or persons, the initial responding officer(s') next responsibility is to ensure that medical attention is provided to injured persons while minimizing contamination of the scene. Policy: The initial responding officer(s) shall ensure that medical attention is provided with minimal contamination of the scene.

Fires
This may prevent a firefighter from opening a window or forcing a door and destroying tool marks, fingerprints, smoke stains and other evidence. Flagging or taping-off an area of interest may assist the investigation greatly by keeping later-arriving personnel out of the area. I've had investigators advise all personnel to stay out of two or three rooms of a structure and to perform other activities. The area of fire origin was preserved for later examination.
After entry, the next topic of concern is handling potential evidence. Obviously, if there's potential evidence at the scene, fire personnel should just leave it alone. But what if it's an integral part of your duties? Can you cut the clothing off of a gunshot victim? Can you move full gasoline cans and other accelerants so that they don't ignite? The answer to both of these questions is, of course, yes.
In the first scenario, cutting off a victim's clothing is critical to exposing the torso and performing an assessment of the chest for further injuries, wounds and respiratory sufficiency. If it's possible, cutting the clothing on a seam and avoiding any bullet holes, bloodstains and other potential areas of forensic interest is preferable. In most cases, when cutting off clothing, it's better to leave it on the floor of the crime scene than to transport it to the emergency room. Ask for specific direction when in doubt.
Not only are you working with a police office who understands fire behavior, but also the capabilities of the fire department in their suppression methods. A police officer can be a great asset because he is aware of neighborhood patterns, vehicles and other associated demographics. Police officers work with people on a daily basis and are acquainted with known criminals and become aware of the mentality of the criminal thus knowing the attributes of the arsonists.
The knowledge of state law, especially regarding statutes of search and seizure as it applies to evidence collection, belongs to the crime scene technician. Not only will the crime scene technician locate and recognize, but properly package the desired evidence to be submitted to the crime lab in a timely, safe and secure manner. This is desirable for keeping the chain of custody. The submitting of evidence must be done correctly in order to obtain accurate lab results with various forms of evidence. The technician follows such standards and guidelines as NFPA 921 and Kirk's Fire Investigation manual as well as being aware of the ASTM standards for the crime lab. In return the evidence stands a very good chance of being admissible in a court of law.
It is widely known that the fire service has been traditionally at the forefront of fire investigation. It is scene driven when it comes to investigation. On ...

Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
Criminal Defenses Review

Test your knowledge of the basics of criminal law and defenses with this quiz.

Constitutional Law Rights

How much do you know about Constitutional Law Rights? Find out with this quiz!

Evidence

Do you know your evidence objections? Find out with this quiz!

Title VII Laws

Learn the basics of the laws under Title VII.

Contract Requirments

How much do you know about the legal requirements for a contract? Find out with this quiz!