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aspects of human endeavour. What makes these events evidence in a criminal trial is the context in which they are found. The finding of forensic evidence can indicate the presence, actions and consciousness of an individual at a time or place which supports their involvement in the commission of a crime. It can also exonerate, which is often its most important use.
    The Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory opened in 1935 at Scotland Yard and marked the beginning of a planned use of forensic science in criminal investigation in the UK. Home Office laboratories followed to serve provincial forces. By 1959 a new profession of forensic science was establishing itself, prompting like-minded individuals to form the Forensic Science Society. Its aims were to ‘advance the study, application and standing of forensic science and to facilitate cooperation among persons interested in forensic science throughout the world’. It has been doing that pretty effectively ever since.
    The specialised examination of the crime scene is an even more recent event. Until the 1950s in the UK and North America, the examination of the scene was the domain of the detective. Only rarely, in numbers which could be counted on one hand, would forensic scientists themselves examine a crime scene and then for a single purpose, most commonly for something like blood splashing. Pathologists had for many years examined the scene of sudden or suspicious death but their domain was that of forensic medicine and toxicology. It didn’t stop many of them from stepping into areas in which they had no training or experience. In the absence of dissent, their medical expertise in all matters forensic was accepted unopposed.
    The regular and routine examination of crime scenes for fingerprints by specialists began with the Metropolitan Police in London with the introduction of civilian fingerprint officers in 1954. Up to that time it was the sole domain of detectives with varying degrees of interest and skill. In 1966 Humberside Police employed the first civilian scenes of crime officers, followed by the Metropolitan Police in 1969. Other police forces in the UK followed suit using a mixture of civilian and police personnel. The term scenes of crime officer or SOCO became synonymous with the role. Other police forces (such as Durham) used the term scientific aids, but soon came in line with the rest of the UK.
    The role was seen as one of crime scene examination for a number of years, which belied its full impact within the investigation process. That was not good enough as far as I was concerned because it failed to recognise the integration of science within the whole investigation. Dave Werrett (a pioneer in the introduction of DNA technology into forensic science and who later become head of the UK Forensic Science Service) used the phrase which I always liked. He referred to the ‘continuum’. This aptly describes the seamless process from crime scene to court. Many players take part in the process but it should have one purpose and goal. To me it was always a matter of escalation, from the first patrol officer who attended the crime and realised there was something more than they could handle, to the detective and the specialist crime scene person, to the specialist scientist in a particular evidence type. Each adds his or her own knowledge, training and expertise to the problem until a definitive answer can be found. The crime scene investigator is in real terms a compromise. They are the eyes and ears of the expert scientist in every conceivable field. It isn’t possible or practical to regularly bring every expert to the scene to conduct their own examinations. This is not to say that experts never attend scenes and examine areas specific to their expertise. They do. They are called as part of the escalation process when the scene investigator establishes that the scene is beyond their own skills. As a crime scene investigator I needed to maintain