Lesson 8: Investigations (Part 1)

What is an investigation? Almost everyone has seen a television program depicting investigations attempting to solve cases involving murder and other serious crimes. You may have developed a sense of what investigators do and maybe even how they go about it. If this sense is based upon most popular television shows, you have more than likely been misled. In television, ratings demand entertainment. Observing action sequences involving the police kicking in doors at random and beating confessions out of suspects can be very entertaining. This is not; however, the way legitimate criminal investigations are conducted.

Actual investigation involves making detailed and systems inquiries and observations. Investigation is both an art and a science. The first time you cut the lawn, it may have been pointed out to you that the system you used didn’t work. Large tufts of grass may have protruded in the newly cut lawn. Your system may have been to cut a little over here and a little over there until you were complete. Every time you go home you’re more than likely to put your keys in the same location. This is the system you use so that you don’t lose your keys. You systematically store your keys. Have you ever lost your keys? How did you find them? You (most probably) retraced your steps and systematically attempted to locate them. You may have interviewed possible witnesses and even a suspect (a family member who borrowed them) in an attempt to recover them. You conducted an investigation. If you think about it, you conduct investigations every day.

There are seven major considerations in the search process. These are consistent issues that must be dealt with at most crime scenes.

1. The protection of the crime scene first and foremost. If the scene has not been protected, then you can assume that it has been contaminated.

2. Determine the boundaries of the crime scene. Once this is accomplished, you can set up your crime scene.

3. Decide how exactly you are going to search. You must choose a search pattern and then create an action plan for implementation. In an extremely small it may only take one or two people. On large crime scenes, it could take hundreds.

4. Proper instruction and coordination of personnel involved in the process of searching must be accomplished at both the initial briefing and then modified once the search commences. The manner in which the investigator addresses the personnel is crucial.

5. The investigator must coordinate the search. The investigator is in charge of a crime scene and has authority to issue directives in relation to the scene and the investigation.

6. The search must be concluded after a predetermined time. Termination of the search is linked to the type of crime and associated cost factors.

7. Documentation of the search is the final step. "If you didn’t write it down, then it didn’t happen". All things pertinent must be recorded; including attempts to locate evidence.

There are five basic search patterns.

• Line search - The line search is probably the most common of all types of searches. It is simple to conduct and relatively easy to supervise. A long line of searchers is formed, and the searchers moving slowly through the search area.

• Grid search - Archeologists do this type of search regularly when they dig for artifacts. Sets of string lines are place over the area to be searched. This forms a series of boxes. Each line is labeled and identifies exactly where the artifact is recovered. The grid is normally used for smaller areas where the investigator is searching for small evidence.

• Spiral search - This type of search involves a person walking in a spiral and can be accomplished by starting in the center and spiraling out or beginning on the outside and spiraling in. The goal is to cover the area completely.

• Quadrant or zone - This is a combination search technique. In this pattern, an area is divided up into zones. Each zone is assigned to a person or team. The person or team then decides what type of pattern they will use to search the zone.

• Wheel or pie - This search is mostly used for searching vast areas by airplane. The coast guard uses it when they search for lost people at sea. It is usually accomplished by determining a central point. Once the point is determined then an aircraft will fly to that point and radiate out from the point. The plane will fly out in a wheel formation and constantly return to the center point until the wheel is completed.

Crime Scene Diagram

The diagram that you make creates a permanent record of the scene as you saw it. It is easier to show a diagram to someone than try to explain the scene verbally. You can show the distances between items, which can be very important. A diagram can reconstruct a crime scene or crash site for people who vested interests in the event. Insurance companies for example, are very interested in crash information. A diagram helps explain and clarify what is written n a report and what I seen in photographs or other of documentation.

Surveying is the method of measuring distances from fixed objects in order to place evidence at the scene in proper spatial relation to the scene. There are three basic methods:

• Triangulation. This method involves measuring from two fixed points to the evidence and forms a triangle. Numerous triangle-shaped measurements could be made in a diagram.

• Rectangular Coordinate. This method involves measuring from two fixed points that are perpendicular to the evidence and forms a right angle.

• Straight Line. This method simply involves measuring from two fixed points that are on either side of the evidence in a straight line.