Processing the Crime Scene/Systematic Searches

What is the primary goal for processing the crime scene?

• To protect the crime scene

• To analyze evidence

• To understand the events of the crime

• To arrest all guilty parties

Which of the following is the first step crime scene investigators should take when arriving on a crime scene?

• Photographing evidence

• Sketching the scene

• Collecting evidence

• Interviewing first responders for details about the incident

Which of the following is NOT a duty first responding officers should perform on the scene of a crime?

• Set up perimeters

• Log individuals who visit the crime scene

• Collection information from the scene

• Gather witnesses together to obtain a collective statement

What is the reason for preventing witnesses from colluding?

• To avoid any changes to their stories

• To protect innocent individuals from suspects

• To detect guilty individuals

• To locate evidence

How should final sketches be drawn?

• Approximated, on paper

• Measured, in notes

• To, scale, on a computer

• Estimated, on a computer

Which of the following is NOT something investigators must take note of during a search?

• Anything on the scene which was altered after the crime

• Presence of narcotics

• Witnesses names and numbers

• Potential murder weapons

Under what circumstances is the spiral search method best used?

• Large area with a specific point identified from which to search

• Large area looking for a small item

• Small enclosed area

• Small area looking for a large item

What is the possible downside to using the wheel search method?

• Requires a large amount of people

• The further from the point of origin, the large the area an individual must search becomes

• Need to search an area twice

• Evidence contamination becomes more simple

When using the strip method, how large will each search lane for individuals be?

• 10 feet wide

• Depends on the number of individuals available to search the area

• 34 inches

• No wider than each person's wingspan

Based on the victim's testimony, investigators know the perpetrator threw a tool used to break the window of the victim's house into the woods at the edge of the backyard. Which search method should be used to find the tool?

• The spiral method using the victim's best estimate of where the tool would be as the starting point

• The wheel method using the broken window as the point of origin

• The zone method dividing the crime scene into indoor and outdoor zones

• The strip method starting in the front yard