The Forensic Casebook
Chapter One
THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
The Scene of the Crime Versus the Crime Scene
For novelists like Agatha Christie, the scene of the crime was
obvious-a blood-splattered drawing room or the gaping wall safe
in a society grand dame's bedroom. Modern law enforcement
officers, criminalists, forensic scientists, and even the often maligned
private investigators, however, have quite different definitions.
The "scene of the crime" might be a room, an entire
building, a wharf and surrounding harbor, the three-mile path of a
disintegrating airplane, or just the keypad and receiver of a public
phone booth. However, the actual "crime scene," to use the language
of forensic investigation, often bears little resemblance to the physical
layout visible at the scene. And, surprisingly to most, the size of
the scene often has little relation to the time required to work it. For
example, a phone booth regularly used by a stalker in Kingston, Australia,
required eight technicians working for three full days. The first crash scene
David Kellerman of the Aeronautics Investigative Unit ever worked required
dozens ... read full excerpt from: The Forensic Casebook ebook
