Collecting the evidence Securing the scene

When investigating a crime scene, there are set procedures and practices that the investigation team should but don’t always follow. These are put into placed to obtain the best outcome for that case. These are also put into place to protect the investigation team and also the crime scene.

The first procedure the criminal investigation team will carry out would be securing the crime scene. This would usually be done with crime scene tape that warns individuals not to enter the crime scene. This procedure is put in place to stop individuals from entering the crime scene that shouldn’t, and also to protect the crime scene and evidence from contamination. This could also stop unwanted media from intruding and entering the crime scene and taking advantage.

The weather can also play a role in securing and cordoning off the crime scene. This may be if the crime scene is outside rather than inside. An example of this may be if a crime scene was in an open field and it was raining. In order to protect and cordon of the scene, the investigation team would put up a crime scene tent. This would surround the crime scene protecting it and the evidence from the weather and would also stop unwanted personnel from entering.

This is a beneficial procedure to crime scenes because if this procedure was not put into place, this gives everyone the ability to have access to the crime scene whether they are involved or not. This could cause false leads of the crime scene and could lead to a false prosecution of an innocent individual due to people contaminating the evidence that will be present in the crime scene. This procedure also protects the evidence from these individuals; if the individuals had access they may damage areas of the crime scene that could contain valuable evidence.

Using the Madeleine McCann case, we know that this procedure was not carried out at the first procedure to be carried out at the scene. By this procedure not being done when arrival on the scene this allowed 20+ individuals enter the crime scene. This would have meant that these individuals could have possibly left traces of themselves at the crime scene. This would have made it harder for the investigation team because if they were looking for just one specific individual’s trace, they would have other people’s traces to eliminate. With securing scene not taking place and individuals having the ability to enter the scene, these individuals not only could have contaminated the crime scene but they could have destroyed partial evidence or damaged that evidence.