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Table of Contents

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LESSON 9

SECURITY OF A CRIME SCENE

OVERVIEW

LESSON DESCRIPTION:

This lesson will provide an overview of how to properly protect a crime scene.

INTRODUCTION

The scene of any crime is itself evidence. Testimony of a trained military police official's observations and findings at an unchanged crime scene is vitally important to a successful case clearance. Improper protection of the crime scene will usually result in the contamination, loss, or unnecessary movement of physical evidence items. Any of these is likely to render the evidence useless. The actual scene of the crime is the place from which all investigative leads begin. It provides a starting point of the search for them and yields important clues for crime laboratory examiners who evaluate the evidence. The first military police official at the scene of the crime incurs the serious and critical duties of securing it.

The military police person on patrol is normally the first police representative at the crime scene. Any military police person, regardless of rank or assignment, may happen to be the first law enforcement official to arrive at a crime scene. However, the rules for that official's conduct are always the same. The seriousness of the crime is of minor importance. If military police are confronted with a location where a criminal may have left clues, it is their duty not to destroy or change anything which may reconstruct the crime or be useful as evidence against the offender. Nor must the military police inadvertently add material to the crime scene which may mislead investigators.

PART A - INITIAL ACTION AT A CRIME SCENE

No definite rule or set of rules can be applied to defining the dimensions of the scene of a crime. However, the best physical evidence is normally found at or near the site of most critical action that was taken by the criminal against property or the victim. Important physical evidence is often found in the immediate area surrounding the body in a homicide case.

Similarly, the site of forcible entry into a building, or the area immediately surrounding a cracked safe, normally yields the most evidence. The dimensions of a crime scene may be large, but there will usually be apparent to the military police priority areas that should be given immediate protection. However, valuable evidence may be discarded or dropped by the criminal at some distance from the (apparent) immediate scene of the crime. Thus, the area to be protected may eventually be greater than that considered to have the highest priority.

Initial Actions on Arrival at the Scene of a Crime.

Investigation success involving a definable crime scene depends heavily on the initial observations and actions of the first military police at the scene. This statement is generally true, regardless of the type of crime. While the circumstances of the case will govern the actions of the military police to protect and preserve the physical evidence, the following are generally valid guides:

If injured persons are found at the scene of the crime, giving them aid is first priority.

If enough police personnel are available, immediate measures to protect the crime scene should begin along with giving aid to injured persons, or examining apparently deceased persons.

Immediate protection measures include roping off certain critical exits or openings, posting guards to control spectators around areas expected to have high potential for physical yield, and covering any area that would be affected by the elements.

In extreme cases, it may be necessary to move objects having evidence potential from areas where they would otherwise be destroyed or affected by the elements. However, movement of evidence prior to the time it has been fully examined and processed should be avoided whenever possible.

The intent to protect the scene of a crime is to preserve its physical aspects for review in detail by the crime scene investigator(s) assigned to the case. Thus, the major task of the military police preserving the scene is to prevent certain actions:

• Unnecessary walking about. Particular precautions must be taken to avoid walking in areas that are likely to bear foot or tire print impressions.

• Moving items or disturbing the bodies of deceased persons.

• Touching items or surfaces that are likely to yield latent fingerprints.

• Allowing any item to be removed from the scene, to include bodies of deceased persons after they have been pronounced dead by a medical doctor, without the specific permission of the crime scene investigator who is in charge of the search.

• Restraints must not be lifted until the investigator in charge has specifically released the crime scene, or at least until the search has been completed.

• As soon as possible, note the time of arrival on the scene, weather conditions, persons present at the time of arrival on the scene, and any circumstances that will aid the investigation.

Initial Action by Military Police Patrol.

The role when processing a crime scene can best be said "protect, preserve, and present", since you are in charge prior to the investigators' (military police investigator (MPI) or criminal investigation division (CID)) arrival.

• Protect the crime scene from destruction or contamination.

• Preserve everything of evidentiary value at the crime scene.

• Present the findings made from crime scene processing.

The first military police at the crime scene must cooperate with the investigators, laboratory examiners, and other specialists who may later search and process it. Military police who secured the scene should make all information immediately available to any investigators who later arrive to take charge of the investigation or to conduct a crime scene search. Details are important. For example, if an item was touched or moved by the military police who secured the scene, notify the investigators or laboratory examiners. The crime scene may undergo some physical change from weather or some other action after the arrival of the military police officials who secured it and before the arrival of investigators or the crime laboratory specialists. If so, the military police who arrived first should pass on their observations of such changes.

PART B - PROTECTION OF THE CRIME SCENE

Military police who arrive on the scene first will take all measures to get the names and addresses of witnesses and suspects present at the scene.

Onlookers must be restrained and kept out of the immediate area to avoid loss, altering, rearranging, or concealing of evidence.

The type of protective measures used to seal off the area depends upon the location, size, and type of area and may be accomplished by:

• Roping off the area.

• Setting fixed and/or roving dismounted patrols.

• Using motorized patrols.

It may be necessary to reroute traffic or set up checkpoints. The identity of individuals entering or leaving the crime scene area should be noted.

Medical aid has priority over evidence. However, if any evidence, is moved, mark its position or outline with white chalk for future reference. Record changes to the scene by medical personnel.

If a victim is pronounced dead at the scene, do not cover the body of the victim before processing for evidence.

Protect evidence that could be destroyed by rain, snow, fire, or other causes before being processed. Examples:

• Cover prints in the snow with a box and prints in the soil with a raincoat.

• Items which may melt should be protected from the sun and all other sources of heat.

• Perishables such as food should not be contaminated or destroyed.

Leaving the Crime Scene.

Military police patrols will remain at the crime scene until released by CID or MPI. They will assist investigators as needed in controlling traffic and unauthorized personnel, and provide all recorded information.