crime scene follow-up investigations

Vocabulary

Chain of custody

The documentation of everyone who handled evidence as well as when, why, and what changes, if any, were made to the evidence.

Showup

A one-on-one identification of a suspect in the field by a victim or witness orchestrated by a law enforcement officer a short time after the commission of an offense.

Scale or identifier

An object used to establish the original positions and draw attention to relevant objects or evidence at a crime scene; used to illustrate size and other information. Examples include a ruler, cards with rulers on them, a Miranda card, a dollar bill, or a coin.

Documentary evidence

Anything written or printed which is offered to prove or disprove facts pertaining to a case.

Crime scene log

A record that documents the name, rank, and agency of each person entering or leaving a crime scene, the date and time of the person’s entry or exit, and the reason the person was at the scene; provides proof of security and validates the evidence collected at a crime scene.

Photo array

A selection of photographs compiled to show to a victim or eyewitness in a non-suggestive manner for identifying a suspect.

Strip line

A search pattern often used outside in which the search area is divided into lanes that are searched by one or more people in both directions until the entire area has been examined.

Admissibility of evidence

The legal requirements that must be met before a jury can see or hear about evidence.

Zone quadrant

A search pattern often used for vehicles, or an area that is large, in which the area is divided into four different sections and searched using an alternative search pattern (grid, spiral, or strip/line).

Eyewitness

A person who can identify another person by sight as someone involved in a criminal proceeding.

Indirect or circumstantial evidence

Evidence that requires an inference or presumption to establish a fact.

Latent prints

A type of fingerprint that is invisible to the naked eye and is the most common evidence found at crime scenes; they result from body residues left behind when the friction ridges of the hands or feet make contact with a surface.

Patent prints

Fingerprints that are visible to the naked eye and are transferred from the friction ridges on fingers by a foreign substance like blood, paint, or dirt.

Field contact

Any person with whom an officer has contact while on patrol, such as concerned citizens, anonymous callers, confidential informants, and other law enforcement officers, who do not necessarily generate an incident report.

Evidence

Anything that tends to prove or disprove the existence of a fact.

Photo lineup

A procedure that displays an array of photographs to a victim or eyewitness so they can identify the perpetrator of a crime and eliminate suspects.

Physical or real evidence

Actual objects offered to prove or disprove facts about a case.

Rule of sequestration

A judge’s order that forbids all witnesses from discussing any aspect of a case with anyone but the involved attorneys.

Fruits of a crime

The objects obtained by the defendant as a result of committing a crime.

Grid

A search pattern often used indoors and which overlaps a series of lanes in a cross pattern, making the search more methodical and thorough.

Plastic print

A molded or embedded fingerprint made by touching a surface that is impressionable, such as fresh paint, wax, bar of soap, or mud, that you can easily see.

Crime scene

The location that a crime occurred; an area that contains evidence from the crime committed; can be a location, a person, place, or object associated with criminal behaviors.

Direct evidence:

Evidence which proves a fact without an inference or presumption and which, if true, conclusively establishes that fact.

Live lineup

A procedure that displays a group of people to a victim or eyewitness so they can identify the perpetrator of a crime and eliminate any suspects.

Elimination prints

The physical evidence that allows a fingerprint analyst to distinguish between prints belonging to the victim or witness and possible suspects.

Testimonial evidence

A witness statement that tends to prove or disprove facts about a case.

Spiral

A search pattern often used outside in which the searcher begins at a certain point and walks in increasingly larger circles to the outermost boundary of the search area.

Modus operandi

A Latin term meaning “the mode of operating” that refers to a distinct pattern of criminal behavior or procedure that is used to identify someone.