Terminology
Any physical location in which a crime has occurred or is suspected of having occurred.
What is a crime scene?
This type of evidence consists of first-hand observations and oral or written statements of witnesses.
What is direct evidence?
These professionals are typically the first to respond to a crime scene and must secure the area.
Who are police officers?
This first S involves making sure individuals are safe, preserving evidence, and restricting unauthorized personnel.
What is securing the scene?
Clean paper creased to place evidence in the middle before folding its sides.
What is a bindle?
A person thought to be capable of committing a crime.
What is a suspect?
This classification of evidence narrows evidence down to one person or a single unique item.
What is individual evidence?
These team members are responsible for documenting crime scene details and collecting evidence.
Who are crime scene investigators (or CSIs)?
This second S requires keeping witnesses apart to avoid the creation of a collaborated story or collusion.
What is separating the witnesses?
This log and tracking mechanism is essential to determine who handled a piece of evidence.
What is the chain of custody?
A person associated with someone suspected of committing a crime.
What is an accomplice?
Also called indirect evidence, this is physical evidence that can be used to imply a fact but does not directly prove it.
What is circumstantial evidence?
These individuals include entomologists, forensic scientists, and toxicologists who assist the investigation.
Who are specialists?
This step involves identifying whether a location is a primary or secondary scene.
What is scanning the scene?
This crime scene mapping method requires 4 measurements to be done correctly.
What is the triangulation method?
A statement of where a suspect was at the time of a crime.
What is an alibi?
This classification of evidence narrows evidence down to a specific group rather than an individual.
What is class evidence?
This medically trained professional is responsible for identifying the victim and establishing the time and manner of death.
Who is the medical examiner?
This step involves taking overall photos and close-up photos with and without a measuring ruler.
What is seeing the scene?
These types of crime scenes cause problems because the physical evidence does not match witness testimony.
What are staged crime scenes?
An alternate location where additional evidence related to a crime may be found.
What is a secondary scene?
This subcategory of circumstantial evidence includes body fluids, hair, plant parts, and natural fibers, and is often more persuasive in court.
What is biological evidence?
This member of the team determines if search warrants are needed and obtains them from a judge.
Who is the district attorney?
This is two of the four walking patterns are used during the search for evidence step.
What are spiral, grid, linear, or quadrant patterns?
This crime scene mapping method requires finding the angle from a fixed point to the evidence.
What is the compass point (or polar/grid coordinate) method?