Crime Scene Investigation Notes

Introduction: From Crime Scene to Prosecutor's Desk

Objective

Introduce methodologies for investigating and reporting criminal offenses beyond initial response.
Includes a sample case for illustration.

Key Terms

Case file: Documentation compiled during an investigation.
Chronological order: Arranging events in the order they occurred.
Complainant: Person who reports an incident to law enforcement.
Corpus delicti: Evidence that a crime has been committed.
Credibility: The quality of being believable or trustworthy.
Elements: Specific legal aspects of a criminal offense that must be proven.
Fact: A statement that can be proven.
Investigation: Systematic and detailed inquiry to determine the truth.
Jargon: Words or phrases specific to a profession or occupation.
Linkage: Association among victim, crime scene, and perpetrator.
Locard's Exchange Principle: Every contact leaves a trace.
Modus operandi (MO): Method of operation.
Narrative: The story of the events.
Objective: Without bias, non-opinionated, fair, and impartial.
Opinions: Beliefs that may not be accurate or provable.
Reports: Permanent records of all important facts in a case.
Solvability factors: Statements crucial to solving crimes and prioritizing caseloads.
Suspect: A person considered to be directly or indirectly connected with the crime.
Victim: A person who suffers harm as a result of a crime.

Learning Outcomes

Describe differences between facts and opinions.
Explain the goals of an investigation.
Examine case narratives to determine investigative strategies.
Identify elements of the crime under investigation.
Review case file documents for accuracy.
Recognize areas for improvement in case files.

Introduction

Investigative case files are the tie that binds all phases of the criminal justice system together.
First responders initiate paperwork that progresses through various desks and courts.
The initial preliminary investigation sets in motion a comprehensive course of action.
A strategy must guide the development of the investigation.
Poor police reporting can jeopardize effective criminal prosecution.

Audience of Reports and Case Files:

Supervisor
Lawyers
Prosecutors
Judges
Jurors
Social workers
Government officials
Insurance adjustors and investigators
Citizens
Defendants
Media representatives
Crime lab analysts
Other investigating agencies
Reports and case files must be of sufficient quality to withstand scrutiny.
Information contained in reports and subsequent forms must be verified.
A person unfamiliar with investigative techniques should be able to read a report and develop a clear understanding of the documented events.
The publication assists investigators and students in constructing solid, factual investigative case files.
Cases are presented for review, along with required paperwork and informative narratives.
There is no “one size fits all” approach to acquiring the knowledge and skills for successful case prosecution.
Investigation is successful when all gaps are filled between the statements, alternative explanations are considered and eliminated, and a solid prosecutable case file is presented to the state’s attorney for review.
Not all investigations result in arrests, prosecutions, or convictions.
The goal is to achieve justice, identify and prosecute guilty perpetrators, and exonerate the innocent.

Overview

In the United States, more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies generate reports daily.
Since 1838, when the Boston Police Department became the first official police agency in the United States, crime and offense reports have been written.
After more than 170 years of compiling reports, there is still no uniform or consistent method of collecting information when officers are called to provide assistance and begin an investigation.
Most law enforcement agencies have now moved to the use of standardized reports, but there will always be reporting requirements for law enforcement functions.
There are not many proficient criminal investigators available for hire by police agencies.
The diverse skills that must be developed and honed for one to become a highly effective detective consume years of service and require a commitment, both of which are necessary to produce a high-quality, documented case file that accurately reflects every aspect of a case.
Depending on the circumstances of the event, a few routine forms may need to be completed and every action taken must be recorded.
If a crime has been committed, the appropriate response actions will be initiated.
Most actions taken by police officers and other first responders do not, in fact, involve criminal activity.
Regardless of whether the reports are completed on a keyboard or with an ink pen, the content must be complete, clear, concise, and accurate.

Investigative Case Files

Focus is on the investigative case file, which contains all the documentation compiled by investigators who are examining every aspect of the event to determine the truth.
The goal is to determine what happened and who is responsible.
The aim is to evaluate the circumstances to determine whether or not to proceed with a full investigation for a crime committed.
In this technologically advanced era of computers, digital images, and cloud storage, it is becoming more and more difficult to envision an investigative case file.
Yet it is essential that all activities are documented so that any authorized individual reviewing the associated records will arrive at an informed decision regarding the investigation.

Terminology Used Throughout The Book

Reports are permanent records of all important facts in a case.
A fact is a statement that can be proven.
Demonstration of the limited knowledge of an individual who was not at the scene and does not have first-hand knowledge with the events contained in the police report.
The activities and observations recorded in an official report must be accurate and all information must be reported.
Precise information could become vital in creating a linkage or association among a victim, the crime scene, and a perpetrator.
Accurately conveying the totality of the information in every instance will allow work to survive the scrutiny of a defense attorney in the courtroom.
An investigation is a systematic and detailed inquiry to determine the truth and let the facts prove or disprove allegations.
It also involves seeking to identify those responsible for the events and to eliminate the innocent from suspicion.
If a corpus delicti is established, a complete investigative file will present the best case possible for prosecution.
An investigator must establish elements of the crime, which are specific legal aspects of a criminal offense that must be proven.
If a suspect is charged with the offense, all elements must be established beyond a reasonable doubt or there can be no finding of guilt.
Determining the truth is more important than obtaining a conviction or closing a case.
State statutes vary regarding the specific elements of offenses, but in every criminal proceeding, each specific condition must be identified for an act to be called a specific crime.
This case studies book consists of carefully structured learning experiences that place you in the role of an investigator who is conducting an investigation and completing the paperwork necessary to build a criminal case file.
A good investigator will establish credibility by remaining unbiased and impartial, and those traits will be reflected in written work.
Credibility is hard to establish and easy to lose.
Many cases have insufficient evidence, no witnesses, and no informants to provide leads.
The responding officer will complete the initial report; an investigator will examine that report and determine the solvability factors.
The data are used for compiling statistics, and the victim (if insured) will provide a copy of the report for claim reimbursement; then the case is removed from active investigation.
A well-structured narrative focuses on content and factual statements.
There is never any room for your opinion in this type of report.
Always use the first-person, past tense, active voice, and present the events in chronological order.
Use short, clear, concise, and concrete words to explain the situation.
Jargon can create confusion and cause delays or dismissals of criminal charges and should therefore not appear in the reports.
Detailed notes can make or break a case.
Take notes on every step taken in every investigation.
Ensure the information provides a complete and accurate depiction of the scene, the victims, the witnesses, the physical evidence, and the results of all analyses.
Always carry a personal notebook to write down complete, accurate, specific, and factual information.
Opinions are beliefs that may not be accurate and not be provable, whereas facts are tangible things used to make solid decisions and that can be proven.
Documents and statements should display no bias, be non-opinionated, fair, and impartial.
Establish a timeline (sequence of the events) to assist in completing paperwork following the chronological order of the incident.
The importance and accuracy of the sequence can be used to establish the whereabouts of suspects, witnesses, weapons, and subsequent activities in relation to the victim.
Establish the corpus delicti, or “the body of the crime,” to proceed with an investigation. This does not literally mean that a body must be discovered, but it must be proven that someone has committed an offense.
The purpose of this book is to involve a different type of criminal offence in Each chapter.
Assume the role of investigator after reading the opening section of the case.
Identify the steps to conduct the investigation (investigative strategy) and the accompanying documentation that must be completed after reading the case narrative.
Identify the criminal offences that have occurred, along with the elements of the crime.
Create a timeline while reviewing the narrative.

Primary Goals of an Investigation

Discover the truth by determining whether or not a crime was committed.
Identify those responsible.
Eliminate the innocent from suspicion.
Legally obtain information.
Compile the best possible information for prosecutorial purposes.
An investigator must be able to interview and write reports and must be thoroughly familiar with crimes and their elements.
Each crime has elements that must be established throughout the investigation.

Important Information for Every Investigation

No two cases are alike.
Circumstances always vary, even with a serial offender.
A burglar who targets households in the daytime and enters through the backdoor has established a modus operandi, but every house is different, and each victim deserves an investigation.
Victims can be individuals, groups of people, or corporations.
They can be young, elderly, physically or mentally challenged.
There must be a corpus delicti for a crime to have occurred.
Actions that are in violation of local ordinances, state statutes, and federal laws are criminal acts.
Elements of a criminal offense are clearly identified in the state statutes.
The prosecutor will check your work to ensure you have established the corpus delicti, so material evidence and objective proof must clearly be included in the reports and statements contained within the case file.

Descriptor Information for Every Suspect

Collect as much data as possible.
Proof that a crime has occurred must be established as the first step.
A conviction is one of the final steps and cannot occur if reports are faulty or there is no investigative strategy that culminates in an arrest.
Your investigation should identify a person or persons who appear to be directly or indirectly connected with the crime.
Not everyone you encounter in the investigation will be a suspect, so remain unbiased and nonjudgmental.

Review of Basic Crime Scene Investigation

Edmond Locard’s exchange principle makes criminal investigation a reality: Every contact leaves a trace.
When a perpetrator enters a crime scene or interacts with a victim, the perpetrator leaves something at the scene and takes something away—that is, there is an exchange of physical evidence.
Types of physical evidence that must be documented, collected, and preserved should be identified.
Investigators must work closely with crime scene investigators (CSIs) as they process the crime scene or the victim.
Case files will contain some lists of evidence and show reports of scientific analyses performed on the items.

Elements of a Case File

Incident or offense report
Supplemental report(s)
Victim or witness statement(s)
Entry/exit log
Photo log
Crime scene rough sketch
Crime scene final sketch
Evidence/property sheet
Chain of custody log
Investigative strategy
Timeline
Miranda rights waiver
Field interview card
Affidavit for search warrant
Search warrant
Affidavit for arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
Suspect statement
Consent to search waiver
Request for crime laboratory examination
Crime laboratory analysis report
Polygraph examination report
Autopsy report
Arson investigation report
Photo lineup form
Vehicle inventory/tow sheet
Arrest report
Booking sheet
The book contains case files of commonly encountered types of crimes.
Accompanying each case is a narrative that will assist as you review the police reports that must be completed for every investigation.
Documentation will be provided so that you can see how witness statements and investigations are intertwined and become part of a case file.
This collection of documents begins with the first responding officer and concludes with a court trial if it is established that a crime occurred and that the suspect identified probably committed the alleged offenses.
Cases were developed by a group of graduate students studying criminal justice at Charleston Southern University.
Documentation, including photographs, crime scene sketches, statements, search warrants, lineups, and so on, were identified as necessary in order to build a case file that could be presented to the prosecutor’s office to press charges on behalf of the state.
Constructing a timeline of events will help to determine if additional steps are necessary or if documents are missing that need to be evaluated in order to close the investigation.
In the final chapter, it is your responsibility to generate a case narrative and a timeline to ensure you have identified all the steps necessary to take this investigation from the crime scene to the courtroom.

Sample Case: Critical Questions and Activities

Review the case narrative and construct a timeline.
Familiarize yourself with the forms and reports contained within the case file.
List the elements of each of the crimes contained in the case file.
Create a list of additional physical evidence you believe should have been collected and what type of scientific testing you would request from the crime lab.
Explain the key investigative strategies and describe how you as the case investigator would address those problem areas in this case file.

Scenario:

CSI Officer Roberts was called to respond to a street address adjacent to a location where firefighters were extinguishing a house fire.
The reporting officer, Lonnie Downs, had spotted a pool of blood in the street in front of the residence; the residence was on fire, but no victims had been located.
The amount of blood in the street indicated a victim should be found suffering from a severe loss of blood.
While Officer Downs began canvassing the neighborhood and knocking on doors, CSI Officer Roberts took photographs and created a crime scene diagram.
Officer Downs knew how to use string to map out the path of the blood droplets and determine where the indicators converge.
The measurements indicated that the point of impact was the front bumper of the fire engine.
Officer Downs questioned the fire truck engineer, who stated he had not seen anyone around the area when they arrived on the scene in response to the fire call.
The entire squad deployed immediately and did not treat any patients.
Both a fire supervisor and a police supervisor were summoned to the scene.
When the fire trucks were ready to clear the scene, the lead fire truck was pulled back to depart; a body was discovered underneath the truck.
The victim was struck by the lead fire truck and had crawled back under the vehicle where he later expired.
CSI Roberts had photographs, a sketch, and a stringing diagram of the crime scene.
Officer Downs had already begun to complete the preliminary investigation report and had identified all the first responders on the scene.
The victim was an opossum.

Outcomes:

Not all investigations are going to lead to criminal prosecutions.
Keep in mind that you may not know the outcome of an event or incident for many years.
Police officers encounter unexpected outcomes throughout their careers.
What appears to be a clear-cut suicide may actually be a well-staged homicide.
There is no room for second-guessing or taking shortcuts when conducting an investigation and building a case file.
Sometimes you will discover no crime was committed; however, every investigation demands that protocols and standard operational procedures be completed.

And Finally

The key to success is to allow the evidence to speak for itself.
An investigator does a thorough and ethical investigation and then hands that case file over to the prosecutorial branch of the American criminal justice system.
Criminalist Paul Kirk: However careful a criminal may be to avoid being seen or heard, he will inevitably defeat his purpose unless he can also control his every act and movement so as to prevent mutual contamination with his environment, which may serve to identify him.… Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves—even unconsciously—will serve as silent evidence against him. Not only his fingerprints and his shoeprints, but also his hair, the fibers from this clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen that he deposits or collects—all these and more bear mute witness against him.… Physical evidence cannot be wrong; it cannot perjure itself; it cannot be wholly absent. Only in its interpretation can there be error. Only human failure to find, study, and understand it can diminish its value.

Discussion Questions

List four people outside the law enforcement agency who may review police reports.
What are three differences between facts and opinions? Why do you need to be able to provide this explanation?
Where are the elements of each specific crime identified? Why is it important to document the elements of a crime in the case file?
Why is it necessary to develop a timeline for every investigation?
Criminalist Paul Kirk tells us that physical evidence cannot be wrong, but the interpretation of that evidence can leave room for error. Why is that statement important to criminal investigators?