Four Important Actions to be Taken at a Murder Scene

Four Important Actions to be Taken at a Murder Scene

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Due Date   Four Important Actions to be Taken at a Murder Scene

Crime scenes are the most important source of information that inform investigative decisions and conclusions. As a result, they must be protected and approached systematically to capture all the necessary information. The current scenario is a homicide scene in which a young deceased male shows signs of several stabs with a knife on the floor, and the deceased’s roommate is present with his shirt covered with blood. Uniformed officers have already secured the scene and the roommate. In order to create a sense of beginning and conclusion on the crime scene, the crime scene should be appropriately analyzed and interpreted systematically. The current paper focuses on the four vital actions taken at the described crime scene.

The Four Important Actions

            The four actions taken by an investigative officer at the crime scene include interviews, examination, photographing, and sketching of the crime scene (Lasley & Guskos, 2014). These steps are followed systematically to ensure that each action taken at the crime scene is documented and does not interfere with evidence collection.

Interview

            The interview involves establishing preliminary facts about the crime scene by talking to people who may have committed or witnessed the crime and the first officers to arrive at the scene. In this case, the deceased’s roommate is the first person the detective should interview. The roommate has a shirt covered with blood and was found in the room where the crime occurred. Interviewing the roommate helps establish a potential theory through which the homicide can be explained. Information collected during the interview is not factual but gives the investigating team a base from which to begin establishing relevant facts (Lasley & Guskos, 2014). Further, interviews can help save on investigative resources, mainly where the provided information paints an actual picture of what led to the homicide and how the homicide occurs. Apart from the roommate, the investigative officer will interview people who may have been close when the crime occurred, such as neighbors, the building security team, and the first respondents to the scene. In the latter and the case of medical respondents, the investigative officer determines whether the body or other items in the room have been touched or moved. Interviews are important because they provide first-hand information, and failing to conduct them denies the investigative team fresh recollections that could shape conclusions. These recollections may be ineffective with time since the human memory is not always 100% accurate.

Examine

            The examination is the second of the four core steps to be taken. According to Lasley and Guskos (2014), examination strives to substantiate the th...