CHAPTER 4

HOW TO RESPOND TO A CRIME SCENE?

The most significant task of initial responders to a crime is to preserve life
and to identify and locate suspects and secure witnesses. Then, shifting
their focus somewhat, responding officers must take steps to preserve the
integrity of the crime scene’s physical boundaries.

While this may not be a problem for those officers who were once taught
the importance of protecting crime scenes, others including supervisors,
media relations personnel and administrators sometimes have trouble
leaving well enough alone at the crime scene
A crime scene policy should contain the following elements:

• The officer assigned to the crime scene’s main entry must log in all visitors,
including name, rank, stated purpose, arrival and departure times.
Absolutely no undocumented visitors should be allowed in the crime scene
area.

• Every officer at the scene must complete a standard report describing their
involvement and their specific actions while at the scene.

• All visitors must make available any requested exemplar such as hair, blood,
shoeprints, fingerprints and the like intended for elimination purposes.
• The highest ranking officer entering a crime scene must assume responsibility for all subsequent
visitors to the scene.

• This final aspect means that any supervisory officer who visits the scene to “to have a look around”
must stay at the site until either the crime scene technicians finish their work or a higher ranking
officer arrives.

• An officer attempting to secure a crime scene who finds the post regularly overrun by curious
commanders must have the means to protect the scene, enforce guidelines and rules and deal with
superior officers. A clearly – written , well enforced policy helps to counteract and level the playing
field.

• While awaiting reinforcement and the SOCO team, a first responder if possible after verification of
death and notifying command, should be able to protect the crime scene by cordoning off the area.
An ideal cordon should be composed of three barriers, the first barrier is reserved for the crime scene
technicians, the second barrier is intended for police officers and the investigator on case while the
outermost cordon should be established to ward – off media and onlookers from the crime scene.
Reconstructing the Crime Scene:

Crime scene reconstruction refers to the use of

physical evidence , scientific method, deductive
reasoning or logic and their interrelationship to
acquire definite and clear knowledge of the series of
events and circumstances that surrounds the
commission of a crime. Crime scene reconstruction
looks at the physical evidence and attempts to
determine “What happened ?” and “How did it
happen?”
Early in their careers, most law enforcement officers recognize that the
police work they see and depicted by mass media in print, broadcast and
even the movies bears a little resemblance to their jobs. It is something of
a variance, therefore many of such officers seem to believe that crime
scene work should be performed as it is on the screen murder scenes fitted
with loitering blue uniforms and a number of detectives hovering over
bodies , with crime scene personnel appearing just long enough to snap an
occasional picture or to dust a piece of furniture for latent fingerprints.
Law enforcement officers who work under this misconception do not seem
to realize and understand that the crime scene is not a place for a crowd.
The biggest predicament that crime scene technicians encounter on the
job is crime scene contamination. More often than not, curious onlookers,
first responders to the crime scene , detectives and supervisors are the
usual culprits. Whether called evidence technicians, identification bureau
officers or laboratory specialists, either civilian or uniformed personnel
most responsible for the processing of the crime scene evidence find the
same problem repeated by the same culprits. This unintentional
contamination of crime scene appears to be a problem that will continue
to persist unless written departmental policies reinforced by a strong
foundation in police training is undertaken.
It is significant to reconstruct the crime prior to profiling the
offender, until the police investigator determines what
occurred and how did it take place, police officers have no
basis for attempting to determine the motive why the crime
took place and who are the likely perpetrators.
TYPES OF RECONSTRUCTION

Five (5) types categories of reconstruction;

 one deals only with the amount of reconstruction to be undertaken,

 and another lists a number of activities including criminal profiling.

 Specific Incident Reconstruction – to cover traffic accidents, Homicide and bombing

incidents.

 Specific Physical Evidence Reconstruction which treats and deals with firearms, blood,
semen, glass fragments and the like.

 Specific Event Reconstruction which deals with the sequence, direction, condition,
relation, and identity.
In any given scene, it may be probable to a total or only partial
reconstruction , and the reconstruction may use more than one technique for
example both trajectory and blood stain pattern reconstruction to determine
the position of the victim relative to that of the offender. Some scenes offer
themselves to reconstruction better than others. Traffic accidents are
ordinary scenes to reconstruct and often can be thoroughly reconstructed.
Vehicles are rather massive objects that they obey the laws of motion and
often leave a wealth of physical evidence behind, before, during and after an
accident. It may be possible to show the entire sequence of events from the
time the vehicles first initial contact and enter the area of accident until they
come to rest following the accident.
Scenes involving the movement of people are more complicated. While it
may be possible to say where a person was in the scene at several points in
time, the conduct in which they moved in the scene cannot be
reconstructed. People may move quickly, hesitantly, slowly , jump up and
down , skip , ran , fall down , etc. all without leaving any particular trace
behind. That said there are of course the odd cases where the amount and
type of physical evidence does allow the paths of the participants to be
tracked with some accuracy ; however, the vagaries of facial expression,
gestures and body language are simply impossible to reconstruct at all.
Examples of types of reconstruction:

Blood and Blood Stain Pattern

Analysis  May identify the location of the scene
(if the victim is removed and left
Identity of victim/offender. elsewhere)

 May indicate a staged or secondary

Position and location of the victim
scene.
Position and location of the offender  Minimum number of blows struck

Movement by the victim/offender in  Type of weapon used.

the scene
 DOCUMENTS
 Reassemble torn/shredded papers
 Recovery of obliterated writing.
 FIREARMS
 Trajectory
 Shooting distance
 Position and location of the victim
 Position and location of the offender
 Sequence of shots
 Direction of shots
 Possibility that the wound(s) could have been
self-inflicted.
 Identification of weapon used may link serial
cases.
 FUNCTIONAL EVIDENCE  GLASS  IMPRESSION EVIDENCE

 such as fingerprints , shoeprints, and tire tracks

 Does the weapon or  Direction of break (from
vehicle function which side of the glass)  Identity of victim/offender
properly?  Place victim/offender at the scene and at
specific sites in the crime scene
 Sequence of shots (it should  Fingerprints may indicate where the
 Semi-automatic with be noted that current victim/offender was in the scene or how an
slide locked back may research indicates that object was held.
indicate last round sequencing of shots through  Shoeprints may show location in and movement
was fired. laminated automotive glass through the scene.
is not reliable.)  Tire tracks may show vehicle position and
direction of travel and may indicate the type of
vehicle driven
 LIGATURE  Bombs

 Type of ligature used (if missing)  Vehicle lamps, mirrors and

 Use of similar/same ligature can windows
be used to link serial cases.  Aircraft which have crashed
 Type of ligature used may and/or exploded.
indicate suspect’s occupation or
interest such as rope tied with
knots commonly used by
climbers or dock workers.
 Physical Match and Reassembly
of broken objects
PATHOLOGY

 Manner of death whether Suicide, Homicide, Natural or Accidental

 Approximate time of death
 Cause of death
 Weapon used
 Approximate time before incapacitation from wounds
 Whether injuries were sustained pre-or post mortem (before or after death)
 Identity
 Approximate age of the victim
 Was the victim sexually assaulted and in what manner?
 Possibility that the wound could have been self-inflicted.
Relational/Positional Evidence

Blood drops on the threshold of a door indicate that the door was open when the blood was
shed.
Location of other objects and their condition may also indicate an assortment of things
depending on the specifics of the crime.
Trace Evidence
Trajectory of projectiles based on retention of material through which they have passed.
May point to suspects occupation
Place the victim/suspect at the scene and at specific sites in the scene.
Describe the environment of an unfamiliar crime scene.

Vehicle position, speed, sequence, of accident events.

Information Needed for Reconstruction:

Generally it is vital to go to the crime scene , if possible immediately

after the incident was reported. Information may come from physical
evidence, witness statements, and the reports of other experts. The
reconstructionalist should examine all scene photograph , autopsy
protocol and photographs, measurements, drawing, notes, reports and
items of evidence. Complete and accurate documentation of the scene
is essential. Depending on the type of reconstruction being undertaken
this may include some different things such as height and
vertical/horizontal angles of shots into a wall , or the length and width
of a bloodstain.
Steps in Reconstruction:

Recognition of Evidence
Documentation of Evidence
Collection of Evidence
Evaluation of Evidence
Hypothesis
Testing
Actual Reconstruction
Recognition of evidence is the most significant unless the potential evidence can be
acknowledged no further reconstruction can be carried out.

Recognition, documentation and collection of evidence are the core any successful crime scene
reconstruction and form the basis of reconstruction.

Evaluation of evidence, the possibly following laboratory analysis scrutinizes and looks what
information the evidence provides and how reliable it is. At this point any witness statements
should be compared to the evidence to see which parts of the statements can be supported or
refuted by the evidence.
Hypothesis refers to the formulation of an idea of how the event or
portions of it took place. This is not merely an inference and should be
firmly supported by the evidence.

Testing stares how the hypothesis is developed and it can be validated.

This is consummated by checking the evidence against known physical
laws or devising a test to attempt to repeat the event or any of its
relevant segments.
Actual reconstruction

Refers to the reporting of the results of the analysis. The results are reported as
a range, where the event or portions of it:

Can be shown to have occurred in a given manner.

Can be shown to be likely to have occurred in a given manner.
Can be shown to be improbable to have occurred in a given manner.
Can be shown not to have occurred in a given manner.
APPLICATION TO PROFILING:

The reconstruction forms the basis from which the profiler can begin. The
reconstruction gives answers about what happened and how did it took place?
From there the profiler can start asking “Why?” questions which are not
answered by reconstruction such as questions pertaining to intent and motive.

Attempts to answer such queries may be useful in investigation, but lack the
firm support of evidence required of reconstruction. Experts on both
reconstruction and profiling speak of mentally re-enacting the events of the
crime ; again, this can be valuable for investigation , but it is not
reconstruction. As profiling is anticipated as an investigative tool, it attempts
to go beyond the reconstruction , and answer questions of intent and
motivation. From these admittedly subjective answers it can provide a clearer
picture of the offender.
Criminal profiling refers to the application of psychological theory to the
analysis and reconstruction of the forensic evidence that relates to a suspect’s
crime scenes, victim’s and behavior. Criminal profiling assesses the physical
evidence and the reconstruction and tries to determine “Why this may have
happened?” and “What does that tell us about Who may have done it?” It is
significant to keep in mind that only those directly involved in the crime know
for sure what happened and why, and they may be unable or reluctant to say.
Working through the scene in this approach will also serve to highlight both Modus
Operandi and crime signature of the suspects. Modus Operandi refers to the
“method of operation”, those things that the offender performs which are
necessary for the completion of the crime such as mode of entry, use of a weapon
to control the victim and the like. Signature aspect of the crime may be defined as
those things done by the suspect which are not necessary for the completion of the
crime, but which the suspect must do to satisfy himself such as the use of complex
ligature, sadism and other highly peculiar and distinct characteristics.

The reconstruction may show a sequence of events or actions that are unnecessary
in the commission of the crime. In serial cases the recurrence of the same or
similar sequence at multiple scenes or the modification of parts of it may also
significantly assist in this determination.
THANK YOU!
 CDI 2- 46354
Members:

Dungog, Marjie

Enguito, Felicete

Ebasan, Angel Vian

Estrellanes, Chenlie

Enanoria, Reshia