Special Crime Investigation with Legal Medicine
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Questions and Answers

What are the three to six hours after death referred to?

  • Molecular or Cellular Death (correct)
  • Somatic Death
  • Apparent Death or State of Suspended Animation
  • Which evidence is also known as real evidence?

  • Autoptic or Real Evidence (correct)
  • Documentary Evidence
  • Experimental Evidence
  • Testimonial Evidence
  • What is the type of evidence which helps the investigator in locating the suspect?

  • Tracing Evidence (correct)
  • Associative Evidence
  • Corpus Delicti
  • Explain what the Manikin Method does.

    <p>It's a miniature model that represents a crime scene or a human body. It displays various aspects of the items to be preserved.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the two categories of evidence needed to support a conviction?

    <p>Direct evidence and circumstantial evidence.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In a civil case, the burden of proof is on the defendant to prove their innocence.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Rigor Mortis is the most noticeable sign of death.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The cooling of the body after death is referred to as Livor Mortis.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a sign of death as mentioned in the document?

    <p>Loss of Reflexes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the most reliable method of determining heart action?

    <p>Electrocardiograph</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the condition that is NOT a true death, but rather a transient loss of consciousness due to factors like disease?

    <p>Apparent Death</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of Post- Mortem Lividity in an investigation?

    <p>All of the above</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term used to describe the stiffening of the body after death?

    <p>Rigor Mortis</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What happens to the body once Rigor Mortis has fully developed?

    <p>It may last from 18 hours to 36 hours.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term for the stiffening of the body due to heat?

    <p>Heat Stiffening</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What occurs to the body when it's exposed to cold temperatures?

    <p>Cold Stiffening</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a term used for Cadaveric Spasm?

    <p>Generalized rigidity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the process called in which complex proteins break down?

    <p>Putrefaction</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which part of the body is the first to be putrefied?

    <p>Brain</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The uterus is a part of the body that putrefies early.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is NOT a special modification of putrefaction?

    <p>Decomposition</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Describe the process of Adipocere Formation.

    <p>It is the transformation of fatty tissues in the body into a soft, brownish-white substance called adipocere.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The average decomposition time in the Philippines is around 24 to 48 hours.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main factor which allows us to determine if a death has happened more than 24 hours?

    <p>The presence of maggots</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In a drowning case, a flea cannot survive submerged in water for more than 24 hours.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The presence of what can be a helpful indication of a crime?

    <p>The presence or absence of soft tissues</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The external appearance of a body cannot provide clues about the manner of death.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a category of wounds?

    <p>Chemical Wound</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is considered a Mortal Wound?

    <p>Wound to a major artery</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A bruise is referred to as a lacerated wound.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a Coup Injury?

    <p>It's a physical injury that occurs at the precise location where force was applied to the body</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Explain Contre- Coup Injury.

    <p>It refers to a physical injury that occurs on the opposite side of the body from where the force was applied, such as a blow to the head.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the term used to describe a physical injury that occurs in the area that offers the least resistance to force?

    <p>Locus Minoris Resistencia</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A wound that penetrates the body but doesn't exit is called a superficial wound.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A wound that completely passes through the body is called a perforating wound.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of wound is often the result of self-defense?

    <p>Defense Wound</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A self-inflicted wound intends to end the person's life.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a petechiae?

    <p>A small, pinpoint hemorrhage beneath the skin's surface</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a contusion?

    <p>Both A and B</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A hematoma is another term for a deep wound.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the three elements of the fire triangle?

    <p>Fuel, heat, and oxygen</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A diffusion flame is a flame in which the oxidizer combines with the fuel by diffusion.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the five stages of fire?

    <p>Incipient, growth, flashover, fully developed, decay</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the three ways to extinguish a fire?

    <p>Cooling, starving, blanketing</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the four elements of the fire tetrahedron?

    <p>Fuel, oxygen, heat, self-sustaining chemical reaction</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A fire that is intentionally set under circumstances where the person knows the fire should not be set, is which type of fire?

    <p>Incendiary fire</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A person is guilty of arson even if he sets fire to his own property for the purpose of committing the crime. What is this type of arson?

    <p>Burning one's own property as a means to commit arson</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the three major factors a fire investigator concentrates on in determining motive?

    <p>Points of origin of fire, modus operandi of the arsonist, identify persons who benefit from fire</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A fire investigation should be confined to the specific area of the fire itself.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is NOT a prima facie evidence of arson?

    <p>A child playing with matches started a fire.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the purpose of the BFP's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) # 2008-01?

    <p>To ensure a uniform and systematic procedures for managing fire and arson investigations, to provide clear guidelines for conducting investigations, and to ensure quality and value in all investigations.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    • Special crime investigations involve cases requiring unique training for understanding broad significance
    • Examples include homicide, robbery, rape, sexual offenses, kidnapping, carnapping, bomb threats, illegal recruitment, terrorist activities
    • Legal Medicine is a branch of medicine concerned with the application of medical knowledge for legal purposes, applying medicine to legal cases.
    • Forensic Medicine is a medical science branch dealing with medical knowledge for legal issues arising in courts.
    • Medical Jurisprudence: A legal branch where the medical profession's organization and regulation are governed to promote justice. It illustrates legal knowledge relevant to the medical field.

    Medical Evidence

    • Physical evidence interpretation, not the evidence itself, can be flawed. Human error in finding, studying and understanding evidence affects its value.
    • Medical evidence comprises proof presented, including witness testimony, records, documents, physical items, etc., to convince a court of an issue's truth.

    Types of Medical Evidence

    • Autoptic or Real Evidence: Evidence directly perceived by the senses of the court
    • Limitations to presenting autoptic evidence. Factors to consider include indecency, impropriety, and repulsiveness to sensitivities.

    Testimonial Evidence

    • A physician can be called upon to give testimony in a court setting.
    • Ordinary witness: A physician who presents testimony based on personal observations during patient care
    • Expert witness: A physician can give opinions based on training and experience, determining cause of death or other medical facts.

    Other Types of Evidence

    • Experimental Evidence: Court-allowed medical witness testimony to confirm or support previously expressed opinions.
    • Documentary Evidence: Written records (documents, letters, figures, marks) which are presented to assist in legal cases.
    • Physical Evidence: Found items related to an investigation, pertaining to perpetrator identification, the crime's context, or assisting in a criminal trial.

    Different Types of Physical Evidence

    • Corpus Delicti: Objects or substances related to a crime and possibly part of the victim's body.
    • Associative Evidence: Physical evidence connecting a suspect to a crime.
    • Tracing Evidence: Physical evidence helping investigators locate a suspect.

    Methods of Preserving Evidence

    • Photographs/audio/video recordings, microfilms, photostats, and voice recordings
    • Accurate sketches of the scene/object to be preserved, including measurements
    • Written descriptions of the person or object in precise detail
    • Miniature recreations of scenes/human body parts, highlighting prominent features

    Special Methods

    • Whole body preservation using embalming, blood refrigeration in sealed containers with preservatives.
    • Preserving stains using drying and sealed containers for preservation purposes
    • Poison should be stored in sealed containers.

    Kinds of Evidence Necessary to Support Conviction

    • Direct Evidence: Proof directly establishing a fact without inferences, precisely addressing the issue at hand.
    • Circumstantial Evidence: Indirect evidence from which a particular disputed fact can be inferred as a consequence, either singly or collectively.

    Weight and Sufficiency of Evidence

    • Preponderance of Evidence (civil cases): The burden of proof lies on the party establishing a case with superior or stronger evidence. Factors, like witness credibility, intelligence or opportunity to witness facts, are substantial.
    • Proof beyond reasonable doubt (criminal cases): Accused is entitled to acquittal unless guilt is proven beyond doubt. Moral certainty is required.

    Homicide Investigation

    • Homicide is the unlawful killing of a person, excluded from parricide, murder, or infanticide. The crime requires specified circumstances.
    • Elements:
      • The killed person
      • Offender killed without justifiable circumstances
      • The offender intended to kill (presumed)
      • The killing wasn't a qualifying circumstance (e.g., murder, parricide, or infanticide).

    Murder

    • Murder is the unlawful killing of a person, not defined as parricide or infanticide. Specified qualifying circumstances in the law are present.
    • Elements:
      • A person was killed
      • The accused killed the person
      • The killing had qualifying circumstances
      • The killing was not parricide or infanticide.

    Circumstances Constituting Murder

    • Treachery: Taking advantage of superior strength or using means to weaken defense or security
    • Premeditation: Deliberate intent and planning
    • Cruelty: Deliberate increase in victim's suffering
    • Taking advantage of a calamity (natural disaster)
    • Reward or promise for committing murder

    Parricide

    • Parricide involves killing a parent, child, some ancestor, or spouse, specifically legitimate descendants, ascendants or spouse.
    • Elements:
      • A person was killed
      • The accused killed the person
      • The deceased is the father, mother, child, etc., of the accused (legitimate family relationship)

    Infanticide

    • Infanticide is the killing of a child under three days old, regardless of who the killer is.
    • Elements
      • A child was killed
      • The child was less than three days old (72 hours)
      • The accused killed the child

    Homicide Investigation Procedures

    • Homicide investigation involves discovering and documenting facts related to death type, deceased identity, the cause of death, and perpetrator motivation.
    • The process involves examining the corpse, crime scene, and conducting post-mortem examinations.

    Establishing the Facts of Death

    • Medical professionals, not law enforcement, determine death to avoid errors.
    • Death is the irreversible cessation of all vital functions.
    • Dying is a continuous process, while death is a specific event.

    Kinds of Death

    • Somatic Death: Total, persistent cessation of brain, heart, and lung functions.
    • Molecular/Cellular Death: Death (often gradual) of individual cells (occurs hours after somatic death)
    • Apparent Death: Transient loss of consciousness or vital functions due to medical conditions

    Signs of Death: Cessation of Heart Action and Circulation

    • Palpating for a pulse at the wrist or neck
    • Listening for heart sounds using a stethoscope
    • Observing body parts in order to locate the heart and determining its rhythmic contraction and relaxation using a fluoroscopy method.
    • Conducting electrical recordings of heartbeats using electrocardiography (ECG). This method is also known to have very little practical advantage for determining heart actions.

    Examination of the Peripheral Circulation

    • Magnus Test: Applying a ligature to a finger to test circulation.
    • Opening of artery: Observing blood escape from a small artery.
    • Icard's Test: Injecting fluorescein solution subcutaneously (under the skin).
    • Pressure on fingernails: Observing paleness/lividity when pressure is applied.

    Cessation of Respiration

    • Voluntary breath-holding periods (divers, swimmers), up to two minutes.
    • Cheyne-Stokes breathing: Apneic intervals limited.
    • Apparent drowning, newborn infants

    Methods of Detecting Cessation of Respiration

    • Observing chest/abdominal movement
    • Examining for breathing sounds using stethoscope.
    • Observing movements with mirror.
    • Using feathers/cottons to detect slight signs of breathing
    • Magnifying breathing movements by observing reflections in a liquid (Winslow's test)

    Cooling of the Body (Algor Mortis)

    • After death, metabolic processes stop, and the body loses heat through evaporation/conduction.
    • Rate of cooling varies but is initially rapid.
    • Post-mortem caloricity: Increasing body temperature due to putrefaction

    Insensibility of the Body and Loss of Power to Move

    • After death, the body becomes insensible, unable to move voluntarily.
    • Condition is observed alongside heart stoppage and breathing cessation.

    Changes in the Skin Post-Morte

    • The skin's appearance changes after death (pale, waxy).
    • Loss of skin elasticity (flattened appearance over contact areas).
    • Skin becomes opaque.

    Changes in and About the Eye Post-Mortem

    • Loss of corneal reflex (response to touch).
    • Cornea clouding.
    • Pupil position (fixed).
    • Ophthalmoscopic findings ("tache noir" coloration)

    Action of Heat on the Skin Post-Mortem

    • Applying heat to a limb.
    • A dry blister forms without fluid.
    • No surrounding redness observed indicative of the body's death condition.

    Identifying the Cadaver

    • Establishing victim's identity is crucial for investigations.
    • Identification uses records and post-mortem findings.
    • Identifying potential motivations and tracing the perpetrator are related to the task of determining and associating background information to the victim.

    Methods of Identification

    • Comparison with records or post-mortem results
    • Identification based on exclusion

    Points Taken into Consideration When Finding a Corpse Elsewhere

    • The location where the body was found
    • Time/date of discovery
    • Cause of death
    • Time of death estimation
    • Estimated age of victim
    • Potential occupation
    • Comprehensive description of the body

    Points of Identification Applicable to a Living Person

    • Easily changeable characteristics (hair/beard/mustache growth, clothing styles, professions, frequent visit locations, body decorations)
    • Relatively unchanging characteristics (mental memory, speech patterns)

    Gait Characteristics

    • Gait abnormalities (e.g., Ataxic, Cerebellar, Cow's, Paretic, Spastic, Festinating, Frog, or Waddling Gait), indicative of disease.
    • Mannerisms in walking patterns associated with disease or birth traits

    Facies Characteristics

    • Hippocratic (pinched nose, hollow temples, sunken eyes, cold lips, livid skin) indicative of impending death
    • Mongolian (almond-shaped eyes, pale skin, pronounced cheekbones)
    • Leonic (deeply furrowed, lion-like appearance)
    • Myxedema (pale, swollen face, slow speech, tremor).

    Degree of Nutrition

    • Evaluating nutrition levels

    Points of Identification Applicable to Both Living and Dead Before Decomposition

    • Race (skin color, facial features, skull type/shape)

    • Occupational marks

    • Stature

    • Tattoo marks

    • Weight

    • Deformities

    • Birthmarks, injuries

    • Moles, Scars

    • Tribal marks

    • Identifying sexual organs- Males with previous circumcised penises

    • Identifying sexual organ for females with signs of previous pregnancies (uterine/breast conditions)

    • Intersexuality

    Light as a Factor in Identification

    • Best visibility for identifying people in moonlight and starlight (ranges and limitations)
    • Broad daylight recognition ranges
    • Flash of firearm
    • Flash of lightning
    • Artificial lights relative to identification/visibility ranges

    Determination of Time of Death

    • Post-Mortem Lividity (Livor Mortis): Discoloration due to blood settling in dependent body areas
    • Time of appearance (often 2-6 hours) and development/progression
    • Identifying possible causes of death through lividity color

    Types of Lividity

    • Hypostatic and diffusion lividities - describing these forms of post-mortem lividities
    • Importance/significance in determining time of death, body position after death, and potential cause/manner of death from lividity coloration

    Post-Mortem Rigidity (Rigor Mortis)

    • Body stiffening occurs 2-3 hours after death, fully developing 12 hours later.
    • Rigor mortis lasts up to 36 hours before disappearing.
    • Conditions that mimic rigor mortis, such as violent/heat exposure

    Cadaveric Spasm (Instantaneous Rigor)

    • Instantaneous muscular rigidity occurring at or near death
    • Distinguishing it from rigor mortis
    • Occurrence time
    • Involving muscles
    • Significance/importance

    Autolytic/Autodigestive Changes After Death

    • Autolytic/autodigestive changes occur immediately, starting with only particular muscles.
    • Changes may be asymmetrically distributed. Significance in medico-legal cases and crime investigation.

    Putrefaction of the Body

    • Putrefaction is the decomposition of complex proteins into simpler components; this results in foul smelling gases.
    • External/internal changes during putrefaction in chronological order (examples/locations of early putrefaction).

    Special Modification of Putrefaction

    • Mummification: Dehydration
    • Saponification (adipocere formation): Fatty tissue transformations
    • Maceration: Tissue softening in liquid mediums (often related to fetal death/stillbirths)

    Onset of Decomposition

    • Decomposition time ranges from 24 to 48 hours in tropical countries, due to body softness, and emission of foul smelling froths
    • Entomological/insect (e.g. flies) stages can estimate time of death

    Changes in the Stomach

    • Time taken for the stomach to empty its content in normal conditions (3-4 hours)
    • Presence of live fleas in clothing (24 hrs submersion limit).
    • Blood clotting/decoagulation timeline
    • Soft tissue disappearance time (1-2 years after burial)

    Examination of the Cadaver at the Crime Scene

    • External post-mortem characteristics (lividity, wounds) are important to determine position after death, nature of the crime, the murder weapon, and manner of use.
    • Determining defense wounds from self-protection
    • Absence of defense wounds not automatically excluding possibility of self-defense attempts

    Physical Injury Causes

    • Physical injury effects from different damaging stimuli on the human body
    • Physical/violent injuries, heat/cold, electrical/chemical/radioactive/pressure changes, infections

    Wound Classification

    • Mortal wounds (causing immediate death due to location). Examples include heart, major blood vessels, brain, spinal cord, stomach, lungs, liver, spleen, intestine

    • Non-mortal wounds (not leading quickly to death)

    • Classification by instrument used (e.g., blunt, sharp, pointed)

    Wound Classification by Depth

    • Superficial wounds: Affect only skin layers
    • Deep/penetrating wounds: Reaching beyond skin to internal structures
    • Perforating wounds: Wounding agents passing through hollow organs

    Wound Classification Concerning Force Application

    • Coup injury: Injury directly at the force application location
    • Contre-coup injury: Injury on the opposite side of force application
    • Locus Minoris Resistencia: Injuries where the soft tissue/body part offers the least resistance against a certain force/violence

    Special Wound Types

    • Defense wound
    • Patterned wound
    • Self-inflicted wound

    Types of Wounds - Closed Wounds

    • Superficial wounds (bruises/blemishes)
    • Petechiae (small pinpoint hemorrhages)
    • Contusion (bruise due to blood vessel rupture).
    • Hematoma (blood collection in a cavity beneath the skin).

    Gunshot Wounds

    • Gunshot wound characteristics (entry/exit wounds, damage, explosive gas, distance to target). In cases involving criminal activity (vs. accidents or suicides), the site, distance, and signs/disturbances of other struggles may be good clues.

    Determining Gunshot Wound Type

    • Suicidal:
      • Single shot wounds (mostly to head region)
      • Burning/singeing near wounds indicative of proximity to a firearm
      • Decedent's ability to inflict further wounds after an initial wound is a significant factor (particularly with gunshot wounds in the head region, which suggests that the person may not have enough control after the initial wound to be able to inflict the additional wound).
    • Homicidal:
      • Entry/exit wounds without indication of the firearm's location on the crime scene.
      • Signs of struggle on the victims.
      • Lacking the presence of a firearm in the crime scene.
    • Accidental:
      • Location of the entry/exit wounds consistent with the body's movement and the firearm's position
      • Absence of violent signs on the crime scene

    Death by Hanging and Strangulation

    • Determining if hanging is suicide, homicide, or accident. Factors include ligature type, body position, and defense wounds
    • Locating the fibers of hanging ropes
    • Presence of struggles (wounds/body position)
    • Location of injuries

    Accidental Hanging

    • Hanging as a non-common form of accident (usually caused by entrapment)

    Rape and Sex Crimes Investigation

    • Rape investigation poses special challenges to investigators regarding the victim, witnesses, and offenders' psychological well-being.
    • Interviewing requires compassion and skill.

    Rape: When and How it's Committed?

    • Definition (carnal knowledge with specified circumstances)
    • Circumstances of rape (force, threat, unconsciousness, other)

    Elements of Rape

    • Legality of the offender (specific category of people)
    • Carnal/sexual knowledge of victim
    • Circumstances of rape (force, threat, unconsciousness)

    Statutory Rape

    • Statutory rape occurs when the victim is below a specific legal age, and consent is immaterial.

    Acts of Lasciviousness

    • Lascivious acts committed against a non-consenting party

    Qualified Seduction

    • Seduction of a virgin under age limits by authorized/trusted individuals

    Simple Seduction

    • Seduction of a non-virgin (or virgin of lesser repute/under guardianship/in an unsuitable context)

    Forcible Abduction

    • unlawfully taking away of a woman with sexual intent

    Consented Abduction

    • Legally-acceptable taking away of a woman with her consent

    Concepts about Sex Crimes

    • Common sex crimes' origins/motivations (e.g., gratification via unusual methods)
    • Common themes among sex criminals (including those relating to objects, rituals, fantasy, etc.)

    Determining the Condition of Virginity

    • Determining physical conditions (breasts, vaginal canals, labia majora/minora, fourchette, hymen)
    • Methods of examination/observations

    Types of Virginity

    • Moral Virginity: Not knowing sexual nature and experiences
    • Physical Virginity: Non-experienced sexual intercourse

    True Physical/False Physical Virginity

    • True physical virginity: Hymen intact with small opening
    • False physical virginity: Hymen intact with wide opening, or prior sexual experiences

    Demi-Virginity

    • Not rupturing the hymen, allowing other sexual contact

    Virgo Intacta

    • Truly virgin; no signs of prior sexual intercourse

    Determining the Conditions of Virginity - Breasts

    • Breast conditions, associated with reproductive system, showing milk production
    • Condition not totally reliable for virginity determination

    Determining the Conditions of Virginity - Vaginal Canal

    • Virginal vaginal canal characteristics (tight rugosities, resistance to penetration)
    • Factors associated with changes in the vaginal canal: Previous sexual intercourse, force used, insertion of foreign objects

    Determining the Conditions of Virginity - Labia Majora and Minora

    • Characteristics of labia (pulp, stretching elasticity, and gaping)
    • Factors leading to altered labia condition (other than sexual contact)

    Determining the Conditions of Virginity - Fourchette

    • V-shape aspect of fourchette
    • Changes in shape could be due to other factors (trauma, physical exercise, other)

    Determining the Conditions of Virginity - Hymen

    • Laceration or rupture of hymen as a result of sexual intercourse;
    • Other non-intercourse-related destructions of hymen
    • Vaginal canal changes;
    • Hymen and vaginal canal changes not totally indicative of virginity

    Theft and Robbery Investigation

    • Robbery involves unlawful taking of another person's property using violence or intimidation, with intent to gain.
    • Elements: personal property of another, taking without consent, intent to gain, use of violence or intimidation.
    • Types of robbery: Force upon things (breaking a door, window) or violence/intimidation upon a person (hold-ups, snatchings, violence towards property owner).

    Investigative Techniques in Robbery Cases

    • Initial steps at a crime scene- Value assesment of robbed properties/material evidence collected, and determining entry/exit points
    • Obtaining/collecting/documenting physical evidence, modus operandi analysis, suspect identification
    • Contacting/coordinating with law enforcement agencies and pursuing investigative leads

    Other Special Crimes

    • Piracy
    • Highway Robbery/Brigandage
    • Anti-Cattle Rustling
    • Anti-Fencing
    • Kidnapping and Illegal Detention

    Article 267 - Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention

    • Elements: Offender, Act of unlawful taking, and specific circumstances

    Important Factors in a Kidnapping Case

    • Victim's safe return or the case's discovery/body finding;
    • Suspect identification and apprehension
    • Thorough interviews with victim
    • Interviewing witnesses
    • Identifying modus operandi
    • Identifying possible victim/suspect connections

    Kidnapping with Ransom Investigation

    • Important procedural elements: Maintaining contact with victim's family, news blackout, examination of ransom notes, investigating if victim is alive, interviewing family members, investigating household personnel, possible motivations.

    Fire Technology and Arson Investigation

    • Fire as a result of a chemical reaction

    Fire Facts

    • Fire Triangle
    • Fire Tetrahedron elements
    • Modes of heat transfer (conduction/convection/radiation/flame contact)
    • Three stages of fire (flash point, fire point, kindling point)
    • Four types of fire (A-ordinary materials, B-flammable liquids, C-electrical fires, D-combustible metals, E-flammable gases)
    • Different extinguishing agents
    • Factors affecting fire spread rates (wind velocity, humidity, temperature, vegetation, construction)

    Fire Investigation-Ladder Use

    • Types of ladders (rigid, rope, extension, turntable)
    • Ladder terminology (bed, fly, butt, heel, halyard)
    • Parts of a ladder

    Arson Investigation

    • Definition/meaning of Arson- willfull damaging, malicious burning
    • Investigation stages/actions, team members, duties/responsibilities

    Arson Motive

    • Potential motives for arson (financial gain, concealment of other crime, punishment of another)
    • Importance of motive in identifying arsonists

    Arson Motive vs. Intent

    • Motive is the cause; intent is the purpose for commission

    Arson Motive Examples

    • Profit (insurance fraud)
    • Concealment of crime
    • Punishment of another
    • Intimidation/economic disabling
    • Public disturbance
    • Vandalism
    • Extremist behavior
    • Pyromania
    • Cases involving alcoholics, drug addicts or sexual deviants
    • Cases involving the hero type of arsonist

    Prima Facie Evidence of Arson

    • Simultaneous fires in a premises

    • Substantial flammable materials/substances in a premises

    • Presence of flammable materials/chemical traces

    • Over-insurance amounts

    • Repeated fires in a specific area/under the same control

    • Removal of insured property

    • Financial demands linked to the fire.

    Fire Scene - Preserving and Searching

    • Protecting the fire scene and securing the area to avoid further interferences and contaminations.
    • Gathering evidence and traces (footprints, clothes, fingerprints, etc.).

    Fire Report Classifications and Reporting System

    • Spot Investigation Report (SIR). Immediately reporting/detailing incidents.
    • Progress Investigation Report (PIR). Follow-up report after an investigation.
    • Final Investigation Report (FIR). Summary of all investigations.
    • Submission times

    Level of Authority to Conduct Fire Investigations

    • Municipality - limited damage amount;
    • City - intermediate damage amount;
    • District - higher damage amount;
    • Province - higher damage amount;
    • Regional Director - highest damage amount;
    • Chief, BFP National HQ - highest overall damage amounts.

    Presidential Decree 1613 & Arson Penalties

    • Penalties associated with arson, particularly for those buildings, or property locations listed previously.

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    Explore the intersection of law and medicine through this quiz on special crime investigations. Focused on cases like homicide, robbery, and terrorism, it delves into the role of legal medicine and forensic science in these investigations. Test your knowledge of medical jurisprudence and how it aids in the pursuit of justice.

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