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Joe Shark
Mrs. Hensel
English III
07 March 2015
Crime Scene Procedures
Without police procedures the world would be chaos. Every 25.3 seconds a violent crime
occurs. Although police procedures go unnoticed they are still important. To catch a criminal,
police have many procedures they must follow when dealing with a crime scene.
When arriving at a crime scene, the responding officer has a lot of responsibilities. One of
the first procedures the responding officer must do is to detain the person who reported the crime
to keep them safe and away from the crime scene (Lyle). According to Lyle, the author of
Forensics: Assessing the Scene of the Crime, after the responding officer detains the person who
reported the crime, he or she must then secure the crime scene using crime scene tape or creating
a barrier. As the responding officer is doing these procedures, other officers arrive at the scene.
The main responsibility of these officers is to determine if the scene is primary or secondary
(Lyle). The arriving officers also have another job which is to control the crowd and the media
(Lyle).
When entering a crime scene police have certain requirements they must follow. When an
officer enters a crime scene no food or drink is allowed because it can damage the crime scene
(Schiro). This does not mean officers cannot eat or drink when working crime scenes. Areas
called command posts are set up for eating and drinking. They must be located away from the
crime scene and can be anything from a vehicle to a picnic table (Schiro). If an officer leaves the
crime scene to go to the command post, he or she must reenter the crime scene. After the crime

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scene has been secured a security log must be established by an officer to record the names of
people who enter and leave the crime scene (Lyle). Officers also need to know who is allowed in
the crime scene. The only people allowed in the crime scene should be personnel who are
absolutely necessary for processing the scene (Lyle). People who are not needed at the crime
scene will be asked to leave. Non-essential people such as district attorneys, federal agents,
politicians, and media should not be allowed in the crime scene because additional personnel can
cause problems in protecting the crime scene (Schiro).
Police have a lot of procedures before they can collect any evidence. First officers gather
information by interviewing potential witnesses and others who might know the victim or
suspects (Yeatts 7). Witnesses can include the person who called in the crime, neighbors, and
anyone who heard or saw anything suspicious at the time the crime occurred. Officers then
search records to find out if any similar crimes have been committed in the same area (Yeatts 7).
Officers also photograph the evidence and the crime scene. Before moving evidence, police
must photograph the crime scene (Yeatts). When taking pictures of the crime scene, officers
should include the area the crime took place, important areas adjacent to where the crime
occurred, overview photos of entry and exit points, and (if there is one) the bodys position and
location in relevance to the whole scene (Saferstein 33). Officers take pictures of evidence to
show the position and location and how it is relative to the scene (Saferstein 41). Notes of the
crime scene are significant as well. Officers should write down anything that is important to the
crime scene such as the condition of doors and windows, lighting, if any odors are present, the
location of physical evidence, and a detailed description of the scene (Schiro).
Processing evidence is very important at a crime scene. Evidence must be handled in a
way that prevents any change from the crime scene to the crime lab (Saferstein 41). When

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collecting evidence, officers must wear gloves so they do not contaminate the evidence. If
evidence is adhered to a large structure it must be removed with forceps (Saferstein 41). As
officers collect physical evidence they must bag it. Officers use packaging material bought in by
the evidence collector and label it (Saferstein 41). Police must then send off the evidence with an
evidence submission form to the crime lab (by mail or personal delivery) to help the lab analyst
make complete examination of the evidence (Saferstein 44). Officers have to wait to get results
from the lab because the scientists must analyze the DNA and compare the samples they have
which takes time. Even though forensic scientists have DNA, it does not mean they can match it
to a suspect because not everyone has DNA information stored in the database (Yeatts 122).
Sometimes the only way to link a suspect to a crime is for police to get a sample from him or her.
Once forensic science has confirmed a DNA match to one of the suspects, then he or she will be
interrogated and possibly arrested in connection with the crime.
No matter what crime is committed, crime scene procedures are important. If one
procedure is missed, a whole crime scene and the case itself could be ruined. More crimes have
been solved since police began using formal regulatory procedures. Without crime scene
procedures police would not have any suspects because the evidence would be damaged,
destroyed, or contaminated, which means the crime would go unsolved, putting others, including
police officers, in danger.

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Works Cited
Lyle, Douglas. "Forensics: Assessing the Scene of the Crime. Forensics for Dummies. John
Wiley and Sons Inc, n.d. Web. 23 Jan 2013.
Saferstein, Richard. Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall Inc., 1995.
Schiro, George. "Protecting the Crime Scene." Crime Scene Investigator. Crime Scene
Resources, n.d. Web. 23 Feb 2013.
Yeatts, Tabatha. Forensics: Solving the Crime. Minneapolis, MN: The Oliver Press Inc., 2001.