Crime Scene Investigator Read Online Free

bottle at the office. I completed my notes and diagrams, which took some time, before leaving the scene. This was the discipline which was to become the template for my professional life. My first crime scene examination had taken me well over an hour, nearly two, to complete. If this were to continue I was never going to see home again. As we left, I handed the bottle of wine on which I had found the finger marks back to the owner. He gestured that I could keep it and I said I would give it to the CID. Although there are rules about accepting gifts, this seemed harmless. Despite now being covered in grey aluminium powder and quite unappealing on the exterior, it was certainly drinkable and very acceptable for the CID!
    The other crime scenes I examined that day merged into what I can only recall as a long day, at the end of which I had a headache. After our last scene, Norm and I returned exhausted to City Road and to the CID Office. We had examined eighteen crime scenes and had bags of evidence, paint and glass samples, shoe and finger marks. All of which had to be processed and documented before the start of a new day tomorrow. I presented the unopened bottle of wine to the detective inspector, who promptly placed it in the office drinks cupboard.
    Two months or so later I got a call over the radio from a detective to say that the marks which I had found on the bottle had been identified. I had received my first ‘Ident’ and it meant I had to buy everyone a drink, or so I was told, which I duly did. It was all the sweeter because it had been my very first scene. A few weeks later I was asked to write a statement and the officer in the case knew that the bottle and what was or was not left of its contents was in the inspector’s drinks cabinet. My statement read (from my notes) how I had found the finger marks ‘on a full unopened bottle of wine endorsed “Hock” twelve inches high, the marks were above the front label, seven inches from the base, two inches to the right pointing to four o’clock.’ The problem, the detective pointed out, was the bottle was now most definitely open and empty. I was ribbed by the all the detectives in the office for days. How was I to explain how the contents had disappeared in the intervening time? In the end it didn’t matter. The bottle itself was never an exhibit, nor did it need to be. In normal events I would have left the bottle at the scene as I had tried to do, relying on my notes and diagrams and the finger mark lift I had taken. That was more than sufficient and quite proper within the law. I reminded myself that the bottle itself was no longer relevant, that it was not recorded as recovered property as there was no evidential reason to record it. That didn’t stop the ribbing I received, and I had learnt that I could expect plenty of banter from my detective colleagues and this sharpened my attention to detail.
    The ribbing did not overshadow my feeling of success. I had become what many colleagues call a ‘thief taker’. Someone was going to be brought in for questioning and I had played an important part in the process. The individual I had helped identify was later convicted of the burglary. The finger mark I had found had been the spark the CID had needed to find more evidence and resulted in the recovery of some small items of property and the solving of the case.
    It was probably from that start that I realised I was not just conducting a crime scene examination. I was part of a process of crime scene investigation, where each component plays a part in the overall outcome and I would have to understand and develop my craft to ensure its full impact. It would be a few years before I could convince my colleagues that we were moving from examining crime scenes to investigating them, but I for one had started that day.

3. Forensics: So What’s it all About?
    Any schoolchild studying science for the first time will quickly understand the principle of scientific