Specialist Criminal Investigations

• Specialist criminal investigations involve professionals collecting evidence when crimes are committed.
• Criminal investigation has evolved into a highly specialized field necessitating intensive training due to the heavy demands of evidence collection.
• Criminal investigators roles and responsibilities have changed in the past 20 years.
• Advancement in technology, science, law, media and new communication technologies (internet and mobile phones) have prompted that change.
• A few decades ago, officials would just respond to crimes and keep the peace.
• Police officials must now be well-trained professionals with the knowledge and skills to effectively respond and investigate crime.

Definition of key concepts

• Criminal investigation is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of specialties.
• Criminal investigation is a process revolving around the gathering of information.
• The sources of information in a criminal investigation can be objective (indirect) or subjective (direct).
• Objective information = factual proof: weapons, fingerprints, tire marks, hair, bodily fluids.
• Subjective information is testimonial evidence offered by those directly or indirectly involved in the crime (victims or witnesses).
• Hans Gross coined the term criminalistics and is regarded as the father of forensic criminalistics.
• Forensic criminalistics comprises specialized lab examinations by experts (physicists, chemists, pharmacologists, odontologists, etc.).
• Forensic criminalistics has two sub-systems: forensic tactics and forensic techniques.
• Forensic tactics combine the study of the study of methods and techniques used by the CRIMINAL in the perpetration of crime.
• The study of criminals' modus operandi (habits) is an important technique to classify and identify them.
• Emphasis is placed on the skill and proficiency of the CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR to solve the crime.
• Methods include: crime scene searching, interrogation, surveillance, observation, personal identification techniques, and photography/sketches.
• Forensic techniques are analytical methods of certain sciences and the utilization of modern technological aids (lab exams by experts).
• Analysis of objective physical clues that are tangible has the potential to determine the link between an between its victim; crime perpetrator, the instruments used and the crime.
• The collection and safeguarding of these physical clues is the responsibility of the criminal investigator.
• The examination and assessment thereof is the task of the expert who works in the lab.

The crime scene as a source of information

• According to Lochner and Zinn, it is the "scene of the incident".
• A crime scene is the location of the aftermath that is legally considered to be a crime.
• A criminal investigation begins with a criminal act and the crime scene is the starting point for any forensic investigation.
• Crime scenes can be indoors (Oscar Pistorius, Jason Rhode) or outdoors (Franziska Blochlinger – Tokai).
• Crime scenes can either be expansive or small, and in violent crimes, the body of the victim is also a crime scene.
• A crime scene is usually one easily identifiable site.
• Sometimes there may be multiple locations that are involved.
• Some crime scenes may be less obvious such as cyberspace where child pornography is distributed via the internet.
• Crime scenes can be classified as primary or secondary crime scenes.
• Crime scenes can be classified based on size: a house can be a macroscopic crime scene while rooms can be microscopic crime scenes.
• Crime scenes and offenders are also classified as organized, disorganized or mixed.
• In South Africa, the Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) members of the SAPS are responsible for collecting physical clues at the crime scene.
• Crime Scene Examiners (CSE) receive in-service training in the principles that apply to the collection of evidence.
• CSE are responsible for processing the crime scene for fingerprints, photography, sketching, and video recording.
• Evidence is sent to the Forensic Science Lab (FSL) for analysis.
• Specialized units of the FSL send out their staff to certain types of crime scenes that require experts such as arson investigations, ballistics and serology.