What happens at a crime scene?

Answer 1

Lets start with the prints!

26105 PROCEDURE - CRIME SCENE FINGER MARK

COMPARISON & SPECULATIVE SEARCHING

Version: 7 Last Updated: 09/07/09 Review Date: 09/07/12

ECHR Potential Equality Impact Assessment: Low

1. About This Procedure

1.1.Finger marks recovered from crime scenes or developed /

photographed by the Chemical Treatment Unit are submitted to the

Fingerprint Bureau. This procedure outlines services available to

investigating officers from the Fingerprint Bureau and how they

should go about using those services.

2. Risk Assessments / Health & Safety Considerations

2.1.Normal health and safety considerations apply.

3. Procedure

3.1. General

3.1.1. Finger marks will only be accepted at the Fingerprint Bureau if

an occurrence number, or an explanation as to why an

occurrence number is not given, is supplied.

3.1.2 Where finger marks are received at the Fingerprint Bureau and

the occurrence is shown as detected on the Records

Management System (RMS), no work will be undertaken as a

matter of course. The Investigating Officer will be advised that

no action will be taken unless they specifically request it. Such

requests should be sent to the Fingerprint Bureau via the

appropriate occurrence on RMS.

3.2. Suspect(s) Nominated For Comparison

3.2.1 Officers should be aware that Fingerprint examination is a time

intensive process and that submission of speculative nominated

'suspects', not supported by strong intelligence, has a negative

impact on the ability of Bureau to provide an effective service to

investigators.

26105 PROCEDURE - CRIME SCENE FINGER MARK

COMPARISON & SPECULATIVE SEARCHING

3.2.2 Officers must use an intelligence led approach to nominating

suspects for comparison against crime scene finger marks. The

below should be used by officers as guidelines when nominating

suspects:

a) suspect stopped in the vicinity of the crime and information

recorded on C12;

b) suspect sighted in vicinity of crime and recorded on an

intelligence log;

c) provenanced intelligence log stating suspect is responsible

for crime;

d) suspect previously arrested for crime at same address /

immediate vicinity;

e) crimes either linked forensically or by a defined MO.

3.2.3 Officers can request the comparison of suspect(s) fingerprints

against crime scene finger marks by sending a task to the

Fingerprint Bureau via the appropriate occurrence on RMS,

stating:

a) the Scientific Services Department reference, if known,

otherwise the occurence number;

b) the full name, date of birth and Criminal Records Office

(CRO) number of the suspect(s) to be compared;

c) the provenance / reason for the nomination / request.

3.2.4 Fingerprint Examiners arrange and compare finger marks in a

hierarchical order of apparent evidential value (for example,

finger marks recovered from the inside of a stolen vehicle will

be compared before those from the outside). Once a finger

mark has been identified to an individual, comparison work will

cease. The fact that other finger mark(s) may remain

unexamined will be stated on an Identification Notification

issued by the Fingerprint Bureau.

3.2.5 This serves as 'primary disclosure' under the

Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (CPIA) and it is the

responsibility of the Investigating Officer to inform the

Fingerprint Bureau of any other work that they require to be

undertaken, e.g. the examination of other finger marks against

other suspects etc.

26105 PROCEDURE - CRIME SCENE FINGER MARK

COMPARISON & SPECULATIVE SEARCHING

3.3 Speculative Computerised Searching (Automated

Fingerprint Identification System - AFIS)

3.3.1 Finger marks suitable for speculative searching on AFIS will be

compared against elimination (aggrieved, legitimate access,

witnesses) fingerprints, if supplied, and also the fingerprints of

any nominated suspect(s).

3.3.2 Any suitable marks which remain 'unidentified' after this process

will be speculatively searched on AFIS. There is no need for the

Investigating Officer to request that this is done.

3.4 Resulting

3.4.1 If finger mark(s) are 'identified' to an individual as a result of

either AFIS searching or suspect comparison, after appropriate

verification the Bureau will advise the Forensic Intelligence Unit,

who will record this on RMS and pass the information to the IMU

for the appropriate OCU.

3.4.2 Negative or inconclusive suspect comparisons will be resulted by

Bureau Staff directly to RMS.

3.5 Terminology

3.5.1 The Fingerprint Bureau uses the terminology below when

analysing finger / palm marks ("friction ridge detail") from

crime scenes. These terms are applied beforeany comparisons

are undertaken and indicate the quality / potential of the crime

scene impression(s).

a) AFIS - Sufficient degree of friction ridge detail present for

comparison and identification purposes. Also suitable for

speculative searching on an Automated Fingerprint

Identification System (AFIS).

b) SUFF - Sufficient degree of friction ridge detail present for

comparison and identification purposes. Not suitable for

speculative searching on an Automated Fingerprint

Identification System (AFIS).

c) FEPO (For Exclusion Purposes Only) - Sufficient degree of

friction ridge detail present for comparison purposes,

however insufficient for identification purposes. It may be

possible to compare such impressions against those on a

fingerprint form and exclude the possibility that they were

26105 PROCEDURE - CRIME SCENE FINGER MARK

COMPARISON & SPECULATIVE SEARCHING

made by that person. The only possible results from a

comparison will be either NOT IDENTIFIEDor

INCONCLUSIVE (see below). As such, marks analysed as

FEPO are not compared routinely, but only upon specific

request by the investigating officer.

d) INS - Insufficient degree of friction ridge detail present for

comparison purposes. The finger / palm marks from the

crime scene contain too little detail to be of any use.

3.5.2 To assist officers in their investigation, Bureau Staff also use the

above terminology to post a "Status" working sheet to RMS for

each submission received from Scenes of Crime or the Chemical

Treatment Unit. Officers should be aware that the "Status" is

effectively indicative of the "best" impression within each

submission and, therefore, impressions of lower standard /

potential may well also be present.

3.5.3 The Fingerprint Bureau uses the following terminology when

resulting the comparison of finger / palm marks from a crime

scene against impressions on a fingerprint form. These terms

are applied to crime scene marks after they have been

compared and so are the "result" for the person whose prints

have been compared:

a) IDENTIFIED - The same person made the finger / palm

impression on the fingerprint form and the mark from the

crime scene.

b) NOT IDENTIFIED - The person who made the finger /

palm impression on the fingerprint form is not the person

who made the finger / palm mark(s) from the crime scene.

c) INCONCLUSIVE - The finger / palm mark(s) from the

crime scene may or may not have been made by the person

who made the finger / palm impression on the fingerprint

form. It is not possible to give a definitive positive or

negative result.

d) Unable to make comparison due to the poor quality of the

fingerprint form. Some impressions on fingerprint forms are

not suitable for comparison. Results from the Fingerprint

Bureau will make it clear if this applies.

3.6 Elimination Fingerprints (Aggrieved, Legitimate Access,

Witnesses)

3.6.1 Officers are requested to obtain elimination fingerprints,

wherever practicable, and submit them to the Fingerprint

26105 PROCEDURE - CRIME SCENE FINGER MARK

COMPARISON & SPECULATIVE SEARCHING

Bureau to prevent unnecessary AFIS searching and / or

comparison of non-offenders finger marks. See 26104

Procedure - Taking and Submitting Fingerprints, Section 3.7.

3.7 Fingerprint Identifications

3.7.1 Full details of how officers should deal with fingerprint

identifications are set out in FPP 26116 Dealing with Fingerprint

Identifications

3.7.2 Specifically, FPP 26116 includes advice on interview strategy

(Section 3.4) and on the confirmation of identifications after

arrest using the evidential fingerprints (Section 3.5)

4 Roles And Responsibilities

4.1 The Officer shall:

a) provenance all suspect nomination requests;

b) where practicable, obtain and submit elimination fingerprints

to the Fingerprint Bureau.

4.2 Fingerprint Bureau Staff are responsible for undertaking comparisons

against crime scene finger marks, speculative computer (AFIS)

searching and liasing with the Officer as necessary.

5 Administration

5.1 Investigating Officers should use RMS tasking for all requests and /

or suspect nominations.

5.2 The Fingerprint Bureau will strive to undertake crime scene finger

mark comparisons and / or speculative computer (AFIS) searching

within the timescales stated in 26100 Policy - Scientific Services.

6 Monitoring / Evaluation

6.1 Monitoring the Bureau's performance against the Service Level

Agreement standards for crime scene mark processing set out in

26100 Policy - Scientific Services is the responsibility of the

Supervisory Fingerprint Officers.

6.2 Evaluation of the Fingerprint Bureau's performance is undertaken by

the Scientific Services Support Units Manager.

26105 PROCEDURE - CRIME SCENE FINGER MARK

COMPARISON & SPECULATIVE SEARCHING

7 Review

7.1 An annual review of this procedure is anticipated to ensure currency

and accuracy of the instructions provided.

8 Other Linked Procedures, Policies And Information

Sources

8.1 26100 Policy - Scientific Services

8.2 26116 Procedure - Dealing with Fingerprint Identifications

8.3 26106 Procedure - Requesting Fingerprint Evidence

8.4 Scientific Services Department Internal Procedure ISO/03:

Processing Fingerprint Case Submissions (available from Fingerprint

Bureau)

8.5 Contact Fingerprint Bureau: 71-1162 or 71-2055.

Origin: Scientific Services

Answer 2

MUCH depends on what type of crime is being investigated - however, basically - victims and witnesses are identified and undergo an initial interview. As much evidence (physical and fingerprint) as possible is a gathered and, if appropriate, a neighbor canvass in conducted.

Answer 3

Take it from one who knows first-hand. This is NOT a skill that can be taught or learned from a textbook. You either have it or you don't.

Answer 4

Police secure the crime scene and determine who they need at call to the scene. When CSI arrives they collect and document evidence, and take pictures before it is disturbed.