Paul Roland - Crime Scenes

This edition published in 2012 by Arcturus Publishing Limited
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ISBN-13: 978-1-84858-687-1

Copyright 2006 Arcturus Publishing Limited

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person or persons who do any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The author gratefully acknowledges the use of interview material from The New Detectives and The FBI Files from The Discovery Channel as the basis for the 'Forensic Profiles' featured in this book. Thanks also to Court TV's Crime Library (www.crimelibrary.com ), Forensic Solutions LLC and CNN's The Real CSI.

Illustrations reproduced with the kind permission of the following:

Corbis, Empics, Getty, Helga Luest, Institut de Police Scientifique, Switzerland, Kobal Collection, Rex Features, Sara Foster, SPL, The Pantagraph, University of Tennessee, West Australian Newspapers Limited. For more information contact info@arcturuspublishing.com

Chapter 1
WRITTEN IN BLOOD

Chapter 2
SCENE OF THE CRIME

Chapter 3
MATERIAL WITNESSES

Chapter 4
CRIME LAB

Chapter 5
ANATOMY OF A MURDER

Chapter 6
FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Chapter 7
DEADLY FORCE

Chapter 8
SUSPECT SCIENCE

The partially clothed body of an unidentified woman is discovered on the front lawn of a house in a quiet, respectable suburban neighbourhood of Florida on a Sunday morning by a man walking his dog. The police are called to the scene, which they secure with yellow perimeter tape printed with the warning 'Crime Scene Do Not Cross'. An officer ushers the swelling crowd of curious onlookers to the other side of the street, his partner radioing in for a homicide detective and a team of forensic investigators to comb the area for evidence.

The scene will be familiar to regular viewers of the popular US TV series CSI Crime Scene Investigation, which pulls in an audience of more than 50 million in the US and millions more around the world. But this particular crime was real, one of many thousands of homicides reported every day of the year in towns and cities across the globe. The language and the uniforms may differ depending on the country but, sadly, murder is universal and a feature of life that goes all the way back to the day when Cain killed Abel.

Popular TV series like CSI Miami have done much to increase public awareness of forensic crime and the techniques now used to catch criminals

Chalk markings on the road record the location of bullet casings

MODERN FORENSICS

In the past the authorities have had to rely on fingerprints, eye witnesses and occasionally the culprit's compulsion to confess, but in recent years forensic science has made incredible advances with the advent of DNA analysis and trace evidence identification techniques that have given investigators what appear to be infallible tools for identifying the guilty and putting them where they belong behind bars.

In the fictional TV show a single hair, fibre or flake of paint is sufficient to identify the killer, arsonist, robber, rapist or terrorist and place them at the crime scene. With their gleaming laboratory and state-of-the-art, high-tech diagnostic equipment at their disposal, it is usually only a matter of hours before one of the glamorous CSI techs matches the fatal bullet to the suspect's gun or reveals the full history of the deceased from a single hair, leaving the detective in charge of the case to take the 'perp' into custody as the closing credits roll.

If only it were that easy in real life, all the criminals would be in handcuffs and law-abiding citizens could sleep soundly in their beds. While it is true that 'the evidence never lies' and that a single fibre is often sufficient grounds to secure a search warrant or make an arrest, rarely is one item of evidence enough to send someone to jail or the electric chair. In the real world the law demands irrefutable physical evidence backed up by eye-witness testimony and preferably a confession too, if a conviction is to be secured. However, suspects are rarely as cooperative in real life as they appear to be on TV. They don't give up their liberty without a fight and the police never underestimate the ability of a smart lawyer to undermine witness testimony and discredit evidence in the hope of raising the spectre of 'reasonable doubt'.

The sterile atmosphere of a forensic science lab

Fortunately forensic science is continually developing, making it increasingly difficult for criminals to get away with their crimes. But unlike their elegant, ever-active fictional counterparts, the real CSIs crime scene investigators rarely get the chance to confront a suspect unless they are called to testify in court. Many are laboratory technicians who specialize in one area of forensic science. Forensic biologists scrutinize human trace evidence such as blood, hair and saliva. Forensic chemists analyze chemical residue for traces of drugs, explosives, paint and so forth. Forensic anthropologists can evaluate the sex, age and identity of a person from their bones and there are even forensic meteorologists who can supply vital clues regarding the weather at the crime site at a given time or day. When there are no eye witnesses, science can become the silent witness which places a criminal at the scene of the crime. A notable example can be the car which carries traces of mud from the location or is found in the killer's garage covered in rain droplets although it hasn't rained in his neighbourhood for days, but has done so miles away at the scene of the crime.

Unfortunately, although procedural police shows have increased public awareness of forensic techniques they have not dissuaded habitual criminals, and it could be argued that it has actually created an unrealistic expectation in the public mind regarding the speed and infallibility of forensic detection. It must be remembered that CODIS, the criminal database, can only produce a positive match if a criminal's DNA or fingerprints are in the system. A killer without a record remains anonymous and at large. As one forensic expert ruefully admitted, 'We have an imperfect human being using imperfect science striving for a perfect conclusion.' Killers can elude the police for years until they make a fatal error, or are caught in the act by chance because they reoffend. It is only then that all the carpet fibres, fingerprints, flakes of paint and other forensic evidence can be presented in the hope of forcing the perpetrator to confess to their crimes or cut a deal with detectives to give up their accomplices, or offer leads in other cases, if they have any.