Crime File: CSI in the real world goes under the microscope...

Apr 29 2010 By Rebekah Oruye

PICTURE the scene – a young woman lies dead on the ground, a tyre mark across her stomach, items fallen out of her purse lie askew around her and a bag filled with white powder is propped against her limp body.

What happened?

When it comes to solving mysterious crimes, forensic scientists play a significant role by painstakingly scrutinising evidence in an attempt to discover who the victim was and what they died of.

Four final-year students studying a BSC in Forensic Science at Staffordshire University have had experience of handling and examining evidence.

At their university, a mock-up crime scene house provides a base for students to develop and hone their investigative skills.

They were drafted in to share their expertise with budding sleuths getting to grips with the CSI: Experience based at the Bullring.

At the exhibition, visitors are tasked with finding clues scattered around three different scenarios and then analysing the data in a lab.

According to the specialists, programmes like CSI are a “glamorised” version of the real-life workload faced by crime scene investigators.

One of the most important factors to remember at a crime scene is that absolutely everything can be used as evidence.

Forensic student Sara Walker said: “Anything can be evidence in a crime scene, blood splatters, drugs, documents, paint, bike marks. Everything has to be considered. That’s why forensics is just such a broad spectrum.”

Sara said a common mistake people made was to think that forensic scientists would go out to the scene of a crime when they are in fact lab-based. It is a team of Scene Of Crime Officers (SOCO) also known as Crime Scene Investigators (CSI) that would be called out to collect evidence, which would be examined in a lab.

The team explained how they would conduct a risk assessment when they first arrived to a suspicious circumstance.

Fellow student Lauren Holley said: “We conduct an initial observation and write up notes. They need to be contemporaneous and everything needs to be documented and labelled at the time. We sketch and photograph everything in the crime scene. If for any reason the crime scene needs to be replicated, we can use the photographic evidence to do that.”

Part of analysing suspicious circumstances includes looking out for unusual situations or misplaced items in a room.

Sara said: “We look out for things that don’t fit or that you wouldn’t expect to see in a house. Things that might be dirty or tipped over – for example wine bottles or cups on the floor, weapons, blood or fibres. We would note everything down and mark where items were found in relation to the room.”

Throughout the process, all investigators gathering evidence ensure they maintain the “integrity” of the evidence collected.

“Whoever comes into contact with a piece of evidence needs to sign and date it. If there’s a break in the chain – say for example if there is a gap of four hours where the evidence can not be accounted for – then it would become less reliable evidence in court. We need to be 100 per cent careful with what we are doing.”

Lauren, who wants to specialise in fire and explosion, said that protection of evidence was the reason for investigators to be covered from top to toe.

“We need to make sure we are not contaminating scenes as we go along. We cover everything from hair, clothes and shoes and wear masks.

“We don’t want to be taking anything into the crime scene, just like we don’t want to unintentionally take anything out.”

DNA evidence is a crucial part of the work of investigators when it comes to arresting suspects for a crime.

Fellow student Nicola Horridge said once DNA samples were collated, they would be compared with those on a national database.

“The database only has known people on it. If the victim is not someone on the database, forensic scientists can use their DNA to look for familial links and try and find out who the person is through family members.

“Some people find it unethical as it’s going through people rather than direct, but it’s always a possibility if there is no other option.”

Another well-known method of identifying suspects and victims is through fingerprinting.

Leigh-Ann Green said prints were collected by dusting areas and preserving them using special tape, so that they don’t age.

“Scientists believe no two fingerprints are identical. Once in the lab, they can identify characteristics in fingerprints.

“Tests show all the ridge patterns – whorl, loops and arches that makes each print unique.

“If a finger print is found, it proves a person was at the scene – but not when they were there.

“Ultimately it’s for the courts to decide who committed the crime.”

* CSI: The Experience, runs until May 31.