Analyzing photographs provided I was able to determine several challenges that the investigating team could have faced while processing a crime scene. The crime scene appears very messy, which might cause certain difficulties and danger to process it. In this case the crime scene should be investigated for any hazardous substances and/or explosives to ensure the safety of the investigating personnel. After the crime scene was secured and personnel can safely process the scene their main concern is to protect evidence from destruction and/or cross – contamination. Finally, if there is a dead body discovered at the crime scene it should be investigated and collected first. Investigation of the dead body could give an approximate scenario of the incident and establish an overall flow of the investigation process.
Messiness of the crime scene not just cause difficulties to preserve and collect trace evidence, but it also may pose a danger to the personnel of the investigating team. Explosives, hazardous substances and many other dangerous objects could have been hidden underneath all of that mess. To reduce the investigation team’s risk of getting harmed the scene, first, should be investigated by specially trained personnel. Also, each and every individual entering the crime scene should wear appropriate protective clothing such as overalls, gloves, shoe covers, glasses, masks, and etc. to eliminate skin contact with poisons chemicals or any other dangerous/ hazardous objects/substances present at the crime scene. Also, the photographs of the deceased show some signs of minor decomposition of the face, which means that the body has been lying there for a quite while. It could have caused the excretion of putrid odor, which might obstruct the personnel’s breathing. In this case, the personnel should wear masks and walk out of the room to get fresh air as needed.
Next challenge that investigation team members could face while processing this crime scene is preservation and collection of evidence. As we can observe on the photographs the room is relatively small and extremely messy. The evidence might easily get contaminated in this case. To prevent contamination of evidence the minimum number of personnel should be allowed to enter the crime scene. They should wear appropriate protective clothing and nothing should be moved around or misplaced without urge. The object removed from its original spot should be either packaged or put back on. The gloves should be changed between handling each piece of evidence, or as often as possible. Also, as I mentioned previously the personnel should be allowed to leave the room to get fresh air if needed, thus they should consider changing protective clothing every time they go back into the room to prevent cross – contamination of the scene.
On the photographs we can observe miscellaneous items scattered around the room, almost covering the entire surface of the floor and sofa bed. Among other things on the floor, we can also observe a dead body, probably a man. Due to all the mess of the crime scene and irregular position of the deceased he is hardly noticeable on the first photographs. As I mentioned previously the dead body should be examined first to identify the cause of the death and the origin of the crime. This information would help to establish the flow of the investigation and determine what evidence should be looked for and collected. In fact, without knowing what to look for the criminalist would have had to collect and examine every piece of evidence presented in that room and that may have taken a great deal of time and work. Therefore, knowing the cause of the death can better organize the work of criminalists. Based on the postmortem lividity and minor decomposition we can conclude that the body has not been previously moved and has been lying there for quite a while. Therefore, the examiner should be very careful examining and packaging the body, and it is also very important to wear protective clothing while processing a dead body. Another, precaution that should be considered is preventing the evidence from the body contaminate with the evidence laying nearby. In conclusion, I would like to remind that there are no same crime scenes existing. Every crime scene is unique and should be handled accordingly. There is no definite uniform procedures presence to process a crime scene. However, there are some procedures that are common for every crime scene such as ensuring the safety of the personnel, protecting evidence from cross – contamination, and ensuring that the dead body is investigated and collected first.