Crime Scene Investigation Essay

To avoid any contamination the team must make sure none of the evidence gets contaminated. To ensure this, all members of the team must use clean protective gear and equipment for each scene. Control samples are always needed in order to include or exclude evidence being tested. Each piece of evidence should be packaged and stored ready for transport and each piece of evidence should be separately packaged. These precautions are very important to have a successful crime scene investigation (A Guide for Investigating Bomb and Explosion Scenes: Evaluating the Scene, 2001).
To decrease the risk of contamination the scene must be investigated as soon as possible. Fire accelerants and explosive powders can evaporate within hours or days of the explosion.
Small fragments are useful to the investigators in many ways. One example of small fragments leading to the identification of bomb was the case of Pan Am Flight 103. Investigators found a fragment of a circuit board in a burned shirt left behind. The fragment of the circuit board proved to be a vital piece of evidence. In cases with small fragments may help the investigators identify what the bomb was constructed with, such as the type of watch used as the timer of the bomb, or the glue, tape, or pipe used to make the bomb (Wickman,
Evidence such as a bag or backpack or clothing left behind may contain valuable information, all items behind should be tested for trace evidence such as fibers, hairs to help determine where the bomber came from, or where the bomb was made. A cell phone or a similar object left behind and should be collected and analyzed; the cell phone may be the source of the detonator or contain valuable information about the place the bomb was made or other suspects in the bombing. All of the different ways listed about are different ways to connect the bomber to the bomb by the use of identification of the bomb, traces from different types of evidence left behind, or possibly by finger prints or touch DNA (Wickman,