Crime Scene Investigator: Career, Skills, and Reality

Introduction: CSI Beyond the Television Screen

The life of a crime scene investigator (CSI) has been dramatized by movies and television shows, including the popular CSI series. Although much of that fiction is rooted in fact, television cannot capture the real world of crime scene investigation. Similarly, shows like CSI and its offshoots cannot accurately describe the life and career of a crime scene investigator. Crime scene investigation is not totally devoid of drama, but it lacks the glamour usually attributed to it in fictionalized accounts. Moreover, a crime scene investigation involves several people, each with their own area or areas of expertise. Crime scene investigators are alternatively referred to as crime scene technicians, evidence technicians, forensic investigators, crime scene analysts, and several other terms that generally refer to the same basic job description (Baldwin, 2006). The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (2007) classifies crime scene investigators as forensic science technicians.

The ultimate objective of crime scene investigation is to determine exactly what happened at a crime scene and to identify both the perpetrators and the victims. Crime scene investigation usually entails what is known as crime scene reconstruction: a process during which investigators use clues and evidence to determine the most likely sequence of events. Physical evidence such as blood, fingerprints, weapons, and environmental disruption are the primary clues used to reconstruct a crime scene. Familiarity with emerging technologies that aid crime scene investigation — including DNA gathering and analysis and specialized photography — is a requisite part of the job.

Core Duties and the Crime Scene Investigation Process

Crime scene investigators frequently make inferences and develop theories based on the evidence. They cannot simply collect everything they see at a crime scene, take a few photographs, and hope to solve the crime. Rather, careful collection of evidence requires years of training and experience. Crime scene investigators must also recognize good evidence when they encounter it; an experienced investigator will notice clues that novices would miss ("Crime Scene Response Guidelines," 1993). All five senses may be engaged at a crime scene because some types of evidence must be smelled or heard. Crime scene investigators take copious, detailed notes and later compile those notes into cohesive formal reports that are transmitted to other members of the law enforcement team. The exact procedures vary from location to location, state to state, and precinct to precinct.

Once evidence is gathered, the crime scene investigator also works on developing at least one theory of what might have happened. At this stage it is imperative that the investigator keeps an open mind — one trained on expanding rather than limiting the possibilities of what may have occurred. This is arguably the most difficult stage of any crime scene investigation because it requires a careful analysis of the collected evidence as well as a detailed, thorough, and trained observation of the entire crime scene.

Moreover, the crime scene investigator must be able to rely on a trusted team of assistants and specialists, and sometimes serves as team leader. Assistants must know how to properly collect evidence and remove it from the crime scene without damaging it, neglecting to document its context, or compromising its value for use in a court of law. Timing is also crucial. Evidence is often time-sensitive: fingerprints and footprints will fade; blood will dry; gunshot residue will dissipate; water will evaporate ("Crime Scene Response Guidelines," 1993). Crimes that took place outdoors yield evidence that is especially sensitive to the passage of time.

The Five-Step Protocol

Baldwin (n.d.) outlines the five-step protocol generally followed at every crime scene: interview, examine, photograph, sketch, and process. The interview stage mainly involves greeting and addressing the commanding officer at the scene and gathering information directly from that officer and whichever other law enforcement personnel were the first to arrive. Crime scene investigators can glean a considerable amount of information at this stage that helps them formulate theories later.

The examination stage is straightforward: observing the scene, documenting evidence, and determining what most likely took place. In addition to gathering physical evidence, crime scene investigators observe details of the scene that cannot be taken to a laboratory — for example, whether lights or appliances were on or off, whether doors or windows were forced open, and which points of entry or exit were used. All of these details offer important clues for crime scene reconstruction.

Photography is essential at this stage to preserve the scene as close to the time of the crime as possible. No crime scene investigator, however experienced, can remember every detail of a scene. Photographs allow for detailed analysis long after the scene has been disturbed and evidence has been removed. Digital photography, in particular, allows for even more refined examination. Sketching covers what photographs cannot — for example, an overall layout of a room. Finally, processing is the heart of crime scene investigation: the careful and meticulous gathering of physical clues.

Conclusion: The Reality of Crime Scene Investigation

Crime scene investigation is not limited to murder cases. All types of crimes — from simple property crime or robbery to aggravated assault to rape — demand the presence of crime scene investigators. As Baldwin notes in an autobiographical account of the profession, "It isn't unusual for the call to come after the crime scene technician is asleep in bed, sometimes after having worked a 12-hour day." Crime scene investigation is thus demanding work requiring rigorous attention to detail unparalleled by most other careers.

The stakes are high. A successful crime scene investigation leads to the arrest and apprehension of the right person, while lazy or incomplete work could result in the identification of faulty suspects. The puzzle-solving aspect of the profession is what glamorizes it in the public imagination, and indeed it appeals to the innate sense of curiosity found in all people. But the reality is one of careful, methodical, and often unglamorous labor — a far cry from what appears on television screens, yet essential to the functioning of the criminal justice system.

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