Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice / Crime Scene Search Part Two, Reel 1

program is printed under Grant number 302 a.m. a burglar after a telephone call to this residence makes one last check to make sure that there is no one at home and then proceeds to a side door to slip the lock with a Celluloid strip for [Applause] okay thanks L I appreciate it see you tomor afternoon right take care yourself okay [Music] [Applause] hey what are you doing my room go me let me go let me go back before we start discussing the burglary and assault that we have just seen let's review some of the points that we raised during our last discussion when you the police officer arrive at a crime scene what are your duties one to render first aid if needed to to protect and preserve the scene of the crime when we talk about protecting and preserving the scene of the crime of course it depends on what one of the three different types of scenes that we are going to investigate you recollect we discussed the indoor crime scene the outdoor crime scene and the crime scene in or about a vehicle number one keep people away keep those unauthorized from coming into the building onto the crime scene and those in the building away from the crime scene and perhaps outside of the building also to give you an example I have in mind a case in which a particularly bad accident occurred and there were three deaths there are always people who are of course sensation Seekers or perhaps have a ghoulish sense and in this particular case actually pieces of bone from the bodies were taken by them and carried away or I am thinking of another example where the police officer completed his duty did it properly he protected the scene but as often happens another police officer who had no connection whatsoever with this particular incident came there was curious he was allowed to enter on the scene it so happened that this was a very apparent suicide the weapon was alongside the body the medical examiner had already proclaimed that it appeared to be a suicide while waiting for the investigators this particular officer picked up the suicide weapon carried it a distance of 10 or 12 ft and placed it on a shelf up against the wall about 7 or 8 foot high now you can readily see when the investigators appeared at the crime scene what great difficulty they are going to have an apparent suicide the weapon itself at a great distance from the body now suppose you were the first police officer to arrive on that scene we saw a few minutes ago what would you do first aid of course if it is apparent to you body is lying there with three bullet holes right in the center of the forehead is reasonable to assume that you have a dead body you know then that you will have to notify the medical examiner if on the other hand there's a possibility of applying first aid not too much of an injury at least to your eye do apply the first aid the second thing and of great importance of course is getting the people who are either at the crime scene or about the crime scene outside of the building but remember do not allow them to disperse request that they remain in one particular spot however if there may be several people and possible Witnesses keep them apart if you can so do it and don't forget also that in all probability the person who originally phoned the complaint in to the police headquarters is also there and to this person while you are waiting for the medical examiner perhaps or waiting for the investigators to come in it would be a good opportunity for you the police officer to get a running account from him what exactly did he the complainant observe did he notice anything unusual about the height or perhaps the shortness of the individual who ran from the house can he give a description in regard to the clothing the color of skin perhaps or if there was a vehicle perhaps he can tell the type of vehicle that color the vehicle with this information you the police officer can instantly radio in two headquarters and in all probability the sergeant might decide to issue an AP an all points bulletin now if we you have done all these things we've mentioned you know that you have done a complete job as the first officer at the crime scene now you must wait for the investigators it is at this point that the investigators take over remember the first clue that fingerprint that footprint of course a footprint we'll get to the fingerprints later instantly the investigator knows that he needs a technician a specialist particularly in the field of Mage now if he the investigator is lucky he is a able to call upon the services of a specialist like L catalo deputy sheriff Bible County Massachusetts and director of the crime laboratory and the sheriff's County school at bonsel thank you very much George we're interested now in footprint and mullage and uh as professor swidler as the naturally the initial investigating officer is the most important individual because without him there to protect the scene the uh evidence that is found there by the technician could be confused by virtue of having other officers Footprints present or for that matter a police cruiser leaving its tracks there and the technician certainly would have a terrible time to distinguish between what was left by the suspects and those of legitimate Footprints at the scene so uh therefore we say that the initial investigating officer certainly is most important then the technician of course arrives and uh the first thing he does is to photograph that scene and in it of course he includes a measurement stick of either a ruler or a yard stick to get the size of the footprint left at the scene and now of course uh the technican has got this photograph taken he's ready for the mullage and uh let's explain briefly what a mullage is Mage is a very uh simple thing to to do uh matter of fact it's a you a try several of these just so that uh to see just how simple it is uh it mainly take a uh probably a small bucket or a container of this size fill it half full of water uh for an ordinary uh size footprint of say of this size here and uh then you take your plaster Paris cast pour it into the water not the reverse but have your water first pour your plaster Paris cast uh Pastor Paris in there and make your cast by taking and stirring the Mage until it reaches the consistency of custard and then of course you pour the uh the consistency into a form that is made to fit the desired footprint to be taken and uh before you know it in short time it uh you have it set and you'll come up with the actual footprint now I'd like to uh point out as far as the uh footprint evidence itself this some distinguishing characteristics that are somewhat similar to The Very principle of ballistics with the striation of the bullets as well as fingerprints in the ridge friction ridges well so too therefore on a footprint cast you'll see some distinguishing characteristics but let's go through four disting distinguishing things that we look for first of all we're interested in the size of the footprint so that therefore we get an idea of the the average height perhaps and uh whether or not there was two sets of FO prints left this tells us a little something to begin with then of course we look for the pattern and in the pattern of the actual sneaker print as this is you might find some that are completely one pattern and of course you have on a shoe perhaps the heel will be different from the soul all of this of course is good area that's pattern then we come of course to imperfections that is to say the uh footprint that is the shoe could have picked up uh broken glass or shot rocks or sharp Stones I should say inside which would cut a piece of that Footwear so that when the imprint was left you would have uh the impression would show the actual uh actual opening that was made by that particular thing so of course as far as the cast is concerned it's absolutely no good unless you get the suspect to compare it with and I strongly urge that uh you uh get a suspect as soon as you possibly can because naturally the wear and tear also tire marks the same thing uh occurs there you make a tire mark cast if you don't uh apprehend the suspect as soon as possible while that TI Mark of course is going to we by natural being on the road now don't get discouraged if after making a number of cast that you're not successful in making identification because the time is going to come when you do and you'll get a complete satisfaction as in this particular case where the only evidence at the crime scene was a footprint now I'd like to point out in this chart several factors not only do we have the size we also have the the uh wear and tear which shows up both in the Footwear and in the actual cast but we also have a most remarkable identification by virtue of the fact that in the InStep is a bent common pin and if we move over here to the Chart you'll see that in impression of the bent common pin has showed up in the plaster Paris cast now it's difficult enough in in the best uh conditions to make a cast uh probably say soft sand and U it's a little easier of course if it's hot and surface I might point out that this cast was made in the snow so you see it can be done it's simple so that uh I think you'd have a lot of fun just trying it so I'd like to close by merely pointing out as professor swidler says important that the initial investigating officer is most important there the fact that to see to it that he doesn't allow anyone to add anything to that crime scene and of course above all not to destroy any evidence while the Mage expert is doing his work the photographers are taking the picture and again I remind you counterclockwise and clockwise the overall scene the the investigator is scanning the room very carefully in the same manner and sketches are being made entering into the room itself of course noticeable instantly is a body and in the clasp of the body in one hand is a piece of cloth now this cloth when properly removed and looked over evidently comes from a man shirt probably torn from the collar down to the waist much can be done with fibers and cloth of this type when properly processed at the laboratory eventually the type of fiber or hemp the mill that us it that wo it the parties that purchased it the jobbers the wholesalers and finally the retailers it's a long process but well worthwhile and you can narrow down almost to the neighborhood and perhaps even the store where the particular shirt was purchased and in this way possibly get a valuable clue also found on the floor near the body you will notice a hat now of course the hat itself it can be very simple to determine whether it belongs to the victim or to the as salant a quick check of the hats within the house for one thing May disclose that however within the hat is also a tag with a number and a name and of course this could be a very direct clue to determine where the Hat came from who brought it in and who took it out at the same time in a very high percentage of cases a person who wears a hat even a new hat will pick up some hair naturally from the head now much can be done in the comparison of hairs again in the laborat if you have a suspect identification can be made as to whether that particular hair or hairs within the Hat belong to your suspect on the opposite side of the body would notice some glass fragments and what appeared to be blood stains the glass appears also to be rather thick and curved now in the field of glass and GL fractures much can be done uh frankly I I've seen more done in this particular field than perhaps any other field as to identification and of course as to many other Clues and I don't intend to go into that in some detail in regard to the blood stains however the apparment question here is one is it blood number two whose blood is it is it the blood of the victim or the blood of the as salant the blood typing and of course again a comparison with a suspect at the proper time to determine whether it is the same type of Blood on the fifth slide which is of course a dresser you may have wondered why I haven't mentioned fingerprints except for that one slight time during this discussion of the handling of evidence after all there would seem to be lots of opportunities to find fingerprints on such items as the ransack draw the reason is that I feel a little self-conscious talking on this subject when there is someone here with a knowledge that comes from years of experience as superintendent of the Mass state Bureau of Education Bob Roth he is at present a professor at North Eastern University in the Department of Law Enforcement you did notice in the slides that there were fingerprints you saw the offended touch objects in the scene I'd like to address myself to you as an officer first arriving at the scene or perhaps to you as an investigator understand that we have read in the manual sometimes fingerprints are overemphasized as evidence and I'm not here to convince you that I should overemphasize any particular aspect of identification but draw from it this parallel fingerprints have been found in many areas you as the investigator must be aware of where they can be found but most of all how they might help you in your investigation you saw the draw that was touched I'd like to call your attention to a particular case that actually figured in the solution by pointing out to you here a kitchen drawer this was a kitchen drawer that contained ordinary utensils and in this particular space was the knife that became the murder victim uh murder weapon down here if you will notice the draw pull and on this curved surface in the back is where the fingerprint was retrieved you might not believe it but being able to retrieve a fingerprint from that area produced this enlargement and in this instance this is the Curve of the draw pole these are marks drawn to the characteristics that establish the identification of the offender would you have found this on the back of the draw pole I wonder but understand that we have had fingerprints in many strange locations I draw your attention to one more print since we can find them on cloth not ordinarily not all the time but it is possible since we can find them on skin and I wonder if that startles you maybe you haven't seen the textbooks that have indicated that this is a fact but here if you will is an arm this is a bracelet and in this area is a perfectly identifiable fingerprint it's not charted but I'm sure that you can see on your screen the lines that depict the cor the pole openings the configuration of a fingerprint now where do we look well we look anywhere at the scene the technician is to make a complete examination you read again in the manual that in many instances you have to compromise you've got the pressure of time on you so certainly you go to the obvious you do try to look for the tool of Entry the location of Entry the weapon the objects that were sought for the ones that were CED you're looking for fingerprints anywhere but my message to you is that they don't always tend to convict the offender they may identify the victim they may tend to identify a person who was at the scene that you would not otherwise have known there are many values and we're not trying to evaluate the evidence at the scene there are many processes certainly you can try field techniques you might phot gra the object because there is a fingerprint already visible you might further dust or powder use chemical methods for field research but the point to be made is you as the investigator or you as the officer at the scene must realize much more can be done back at the laboratory so we're talking about taking the evidence back for further processing we're not just talking about everything that you do at the scene and that's the end of your ability as a matter of fact we're not suggesting that you would second guess the technician but you have a role to play sometimes you are aware of things or objects that should be examined that the technician arriving at the scene has not had time to assertain why don't you be aware of those now why are we considering even fingerprints to this extent again looking at the manual we're not trying to overemphasize the fingerprint as such we're talking about trace evidence and if you will understand that many of the principles that have been applied to the identification the comparison of fingerprints are just as applicable to any other type of evidence you saw the mullage of the footprint We compare striations of tool marking we've compared documents the point I'm trying to make is that some of these are not apparent as you appear at the scene as the technician you do not always see what is to be taken away as evidence therefore if we're going to process evidence give us the chance give us the time but give us the cooperation my message therefore is that you are going to try and record this scene so it be can be reconstructed you are going to influence the individuals that are there with your knowledge of the skills of the trade certainly as a profession you've got to be conversent in this as a long-established tool but most of all when you turn over your evidence to the technician you're not turning over your responsibility it's cooperation this is a team effort and therefore let me suggest to you that you're part of the team and in that way together perhaps as technicians and investigators and members of law enforcement we can make some progress if not all solutions of crime inadvertently I state that Bob was a supervisor with the Mass Department of Education in a way this is true because he is very well known in the field of Law Enforcement Education but actually all of his years of experience have been as supervisor with the Massachusetts Department of identification I think that you can see now that the police officer who first arrives at the scene at the crime scene need not be a specialist or a technician in any of the fields that we have covered in the process of collecting evidence it is also evident that he must be well Tred in first aid and the necessary steps to protect and preserve the crime scene any failure to live up to the steps that we've described could well cost the loss of valuable evidence as well as misleading the investigators police officers who would like to ask questions of today's panel are invited to call collect if necessary area code 617 491 5600 the guests on today's panel are Captain James E Sullivan training director Worcester Police Academy Worcester Massachusetts Professor Robert Roth Northeastern University Department of Law Enforcement programs University College deputy sheriff Lewis kadalo director Bon County Bureau of criminal investigation and the barable County Police Academy Commonwealth of Massachusetts and George J swidler Northeastern University Department of Law Enforcement programs University College the moderator is James P Kelly executive producer of the law enforcement training project thank you we're back again to that part of the uh program known as the feedback hour like to thank our uh lecturers again Professor Roth and professor swidler and also deputy sheriff uh patalo for very excellent presentation there is one question that has come in and it did seem apparent on the program uh Sheriff that uh the mleage that you took or the cast that you took of that footprint was in the snow is there any special preparation that's made yes if I failed yes if I failed to mention we had a shellac spray that uh we sprayed uh in the insert of the uh uh area where the cast was to be made the shellac spray then solidifies that portion of it and makes it possible for the mullage to take place to harden up yes yes I'm sure Betty Crocker will come out with a mix story shortly that'll make a lot of that unnecessary uh is there anything else incidentally that is done to um in the continuity or chain of evidence that can be done at that particular time when you're making that mullage I'm glad you mentioned that Jim because uh we failed to get uh in the important fact that on the face of the uh mulli that is to say uh the uh pot that's staring you when you get through mixing uh and pouring that Mage into its uh position of the cast uh before it sets you take a sharp scribe perhaps maybe a Bent Twig and uh just simply uh mark on there before it sets uh the uh the CR crime uh the place of the crime the date and also your initials these are all good uh things to put into uh preserve the continuity and also for identification in court later on and I think a point that could be brought out here is that uh the use of the fingerprints which Professor rot so uh eloquently described and the mullage uh does two things it uh helps trace a suspect but it also can clear an innocent uh person too isn't that correct very much so yes and there are many instances where we're not at all concerned with to whom they belong and we find out that they in the end do clear an individual yes I guess you found that out too uh professor swiler in your army career of course when you have a great number of possible suspects the these things help to cut them down without any question whatsoever the same with the other objects for instance the hair it's not easy to make In the comparison but it can be done very definely applies also to another one of your um capabilities that the polygraph work used to eliminate suspects as well as to Define them well of course the polygraph which is a whole new lecture in itself it's a complete field uh question for again for Sheriff catalo when you photograph an impression like the footprint on the program I know you should include a ruler in the photo for scale are there other things to keep in mind in doing these uh photos do you follow the same rules for example for finger print photos not necessarily [Music]