Scene of the Crime

by Anne Wingate

  You may be thinking, now, that you don't need to make these drawings, because you're not working a real crime; you're writing a book.

  Oh, yeah?

  I've found that if I don't make a realistic drawing of every one of my fictional crime scenes, I wind up forgetting where things are, which direction doors open, and even where the body was. While I'm about it, I make maps of every location I made up, and get out maps of every real place I'm talking about. It's easy—and sloppy— to say it doesn't matter that much, it's only fiction. And it may be true that no more than one reader out of a thousand will catch you on the errors. But you'll know the difference. Martin Cruz Smith, who began as a mystery writer, says to writers' groups that integrity in writing is critical, and if you don't have it, you'll know it, and your work will show it.

  Giving your fictional crime scene the care you'd give a real one is one way to maintain that integrity.

  The final sketch (see Figure 1-2) is still not terrific, but that's okay. This is as good as it needs to be, most of the time. If you get Melvin Belli as a defense attorney you might want a much better drawing, but in that case you might have to ask a professional artist to do it. Most detectives—public sector or private —aren't extremely good at art.

  In some cases, nothing outside is of immense importance. How-

  ever, in this case, although the killing almost certainly took place indoors, the body was found outside. That means measurements and a sketch of the exterior also are necessary (see Figure 1-3).

  Notice that the position of the body is triangulated—that is, measured from two fixed points, so that its location can be described absolutely accurately.

  Now, you've got all the photographs and all the sketches and measurements you need to start with. Tell the EMT's they can move the body.

  What do you mean they'd just as soon not? Do they expect it to stay here till next January? Hey, fellas, come and take it away.

  Now.

  It's gone. The place doesn't smell appreciably better.

  TABLE I_

  Who Does What When?

  Dispatch—

  • Receives initial telephoned complaint.

  • Responds calmly to emergency situations.

  • Provides help as possible over the phone.

  • Sends patrol units and other essential personnel to scene.

  • Receives reports from patrol units.

  • Sends additional personnel to scene as need is reported.

  • Coordinates car chases or foot chases, keeping units advised of each other's situation and location at all times.

  • Maintains log of all calls.

  • Retains tape recordings of all significant matters until they are disposed of.

  • Knows whereabouts of all officers at all times.

  • Prepares and dispatches updated lookout bulletins.

  • On officers' requests, checks National Crime Information Center and other computerized data bases for wants and other information.

  • As necessary, coordinates own department's efforts with efforts of other departments.

  • Testifies in court as necessary. Patrol Division—

  • Gets the initial call.

  • Goes to the scene and determines the situation.

  • Gets initial information from complainant.

  • Asks dispatch to send whoever else is needed.

  • Contains witnesses.

  • Controls scene.

  • Makes arrest if perp is immediately visible.

  • Chases perp if perp is attempting to escape.

  • Assists detectives when they arrive.

  • Makes initial report.

  • Testifies in court as needed. Detective Division—

  • Goes to scene of major crimes.

  • Asks dispatch to send whoever else is needed that patrol has not sent for.

  • Interviews witnesses at scene.

  • Instructs patrol division in more ways to help.

  • Canvasses area to look for more possible witnesses.

  • Arranges transport for witnesses to headquarters.

  • Takes written statements from witnesses.

  • Does follow-up investigation, which may take days, weeks, months or years.

  • Prepares necessary search warrants and/or arrest warrants.

  • Maintains case files.

  • Writes follow-up reports as needed.

  • Usually makes subsequent arrest.

  • Coordinates with prosecuting attorney to be sure case is adequately presented.

  • Testifies in court as needed. Crime-Scene Division —

  • Goes to scene of crimes and accidents.

  • Takes photographs as appropriate.

  • Develops photographs or arranges for them to be developed at secure facility.

  • Makes measurements as appropriate.

  • Makes initial crime-scene sketch at location.

  • Makes detailed crime-scene drawing at headquarters.

  • Collects physical evidence.

  • Maintains legal integrity of physical evidence by

  1. Keeping evidence locker secure

  2. Maintaining chain of custody

  3. Keeping unauthorized people out.

  • Prepares laboratory requests.

  • Transports evidence to laboratory or arranges for its shipment certified mail, return receipt requested.

  • Looks for fingerprints at scene and on evidence transported to headquarters.

  • Maintains inked fingerprint and palm print files.

  • Compares latent fingerprints to known prints of suspects.

  • Searches unknown latent fingerprints through files, using all means available including computers.

  • Prepares fingerprint charts.

  • Testifies in court as needed. Emergency Medical Technician—

  • Examines victim at the scene, if there is any possibility the victim is alive.

  • Provides emergency medical care.

  • Transports victim to hospital, if victim is alive.

  • Stays on hand to transport victim to morgue, if victim is dead.

  • Testifies in court as necessary. Coroner and/or Medical Examiner—

  • Pronounces victim dead at scene.

  • May make initial medical examination at scene.

  • Arranges for and/or performs autopsy.

  • Determines cause of death.

  • Provides as much information as possible to investigating officers.

  • Makes formal autopsy report.

  • Testifies in court as necessary. Coroner's or Medical Examiner's Investigator—

  • Investigates cause of death, coordinating efforts with those of other investigators.

  • Makes any necessary follow-up investigations as to exact cause of death.

  • Testifies in court as necessary. K-9 Unit-

  • Dog may track apparent victim who has left scene.

  • Dog may track perp who has left scene.

  • Dog and trainer may help to control the scene.

  • Dog may help to capture perp who is resisting arrest.

  • Dog may sniff out drugs.

  • Dog may sniff out explosives.

  • Trainer testifies in court as necessary.

  Secretary—

  • Types and files reports dictated by officers.

  • Types search warrants and arrest warrants, under direction of officers.

  • Types and files written statements of witnesses, victims and perps, under direction of officers.

  • Helps keep witnesses calm while statements are being taken.

  • Deals with telephone and face-to-face inquiries from reporters, relatives and other interested persons.

  • Testifies in court as necessary.

  Crime-Laboratory Technician—

  • May go to scene if crime is unusually serious.

  • Receives evidence from crime-scene technician, m
aintaining proper chain of custody.

  • Keeps evidence legally secure.

  • Performs necessary chemical, radiological and/or microscopic examination of physical evidence.

  • Makes detailed report to jurisdiction(s) involved with case.

  • Testifies in court as necessary.

  Records Division —

  • Maintains mug shots and arrest records of all people arrested.

  • Maintains copies of all initial and subsequent crime and accident reports, making them available to appropriate people including victims and their families, insurance companies, and officers from other jurisdictions.

  • Makes out intake sheet on all arrestees.

  • Fingerprints and photographs all arrestees.

  • Microfilms old files so that the paper files can be placed in

  long-range storage or discarded.

  • Testifies in court as necessary.

  • Keeps track of disposition of cases, so that records remain up to date.

  District Attorney—

  • Coordinates with investigating officers to be certain warrants are not taken before the case is adequately investigated.

  • May provide additional investigators to work with police investigators to ensure that all legalities are dealt with appropriately.

  • Prepares and presents case in court.

  Be aware that not all jurisdictions have all of these positions, and that some of the names may differ from place to place. A person who investigates a crime may be called a detective or an investigator; that person may carry the rank of patrol officer first class or lieutenant, and the office that person works in may be called the Detective Division, the Detective Bureau or the Investigative Section. A person who goes to the crime scene for the purpose of taking photographs and measurements, sketching and fingerprinting may be called an identification officer, an identification technician or a scene-of-crimes officer.

  As a writer, you have the responsibility of checking with the appropriate police department, district attorney's office, sheriffs department, or whatever to determine precisely what is done in the kind of department you are writing about.

  Failing to look into these matters can result in your looking extremely stupid—in print.

  Dr. Hans Gross, professor of criminology at the University of Prague, has the distinction of having written the very first book of criminology that was a major influence in the Western world. Originally titled Handbuch fur Untersuchungsrichter als System der Krimi-nalistik (A Handbook on the Criminal Sciences for Examining Magistrates) and published in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, it went through countless translations and new editions; the 1934 English translation of the third edition, which I quote here, was a very late version. Although almost everything in it is now outdated and superseded, it is still well worth reading because it was the first solid attempt to systemize investigation and turn it into a science.

  The situation Gross describes in the preceding passage has not changed in the slightest. Some of the unlikely places my friends and I have found evidence include a hole in the outside wall of a house on the escape route of a robber, a residential garbage can in the alley two blocks from where the crime occurred, the inside top of a lipstick tube (an Avon special, made for holding solid cologne as well as a lipstick), inside sugar and flour canisters, inside refrigerators and freezers, inside an ornamental clock, and inside curtain rods. Narcotics officers once searched a house for marijuana and hashish without success, but totally missed the six marijuana plants growing in small pots on the kitchen counter. (Dell Shannon—in real life, Elizabeth Linington—put that one in a book, after I told her about it.)

  Secret documents, jewels and drugs have been smuggled inside baby's diapers, inside corpses being returned home for burial, in balloons swallowed or thrust up the courier's anus, inside linings or hems of clothing, in cameras and film containers, inside ballpoint pens or fountain pens. Disassembled weapons have been smuggled disguised as camera components; assembled and disassembled weapons have been shipped in bags of flour, meal or powdered milk, in barrels of missionary clothing, in crates of tools and hardware. In fiction, hide contraband anywhere you like. You can be sure some real criminal has thought of it before you.

  Collecting evidence deserves a special chapter—or more—of its own. In real life, it is critical that evidence be collected and treated correctly, if it is to tell what it can tell. In fiction, you have to know what you can and can't do with evidence—but bear in mind that this is something that changes. Keep track of court decisions and technical developments to keep your writing current.

  A person searching a crime scene is less likely than someone searching a suspect's house to find evidence deliberately hidden, unless the scene also involved narcotics, smuggling, the concealment of stolen property, or something like that. Also, a person searching a crime scene doesn't need a search warrant if someone who has control over the area is willing to sign a consent-to-search form.

  If no one is willing, or legally able, to sign a consent-to-search form, then a search warrant is essential.

  Searching With a Warrant

  For clarity, let's assume again that you are your fictional investigator. Here is how you get and use a search warrant:

  1. You must be a law-enforcement officer. No search warrant can be issued to anyone who is not a law-enforcement officer.

  2. You must prepare an affidavit, in duplicate, describing the area

  to be searched, the items you intend to search for, and why you expect to find those items in that location (probable cause). Prepare a search warrant, in triplicate. Take the affidavits and warrants to a judge and swear to the affidavits. At that time, if the judge thinks your cause is probable enough, the judge signs the search warrants. The judge keeps one copy of the affidavit; you keep the other, along with all three copies of the search warrant.

  3. You and however many more people you need go to the scene. Unless the scene is already under the control of the police, as it usually is when you're searching the scene of a crime, or unless you have a no-knock warrant—which is issued only if there is strong reason to suspect evidence will be destroyed in the time it takes for someone to open the door, or strong reason to fear for the safety of the officers serving the warrant—you knock on the door, announce yourselves as police officers, and wait for somebody to come to the door.

  4. Usually one officer (or more, if necessary) will corral all people on the scene and keep them confined to one area. It is courteous and good public relations, though not a legal requirement, to avoid frightening children or other innocent people unnecessarily.

  5. Search for the items on the list. Make a list on the warrant itself—in triplicate, because that's how many copies of the warrants you have—of everything seized whether or not it was on the original list of items sought for.

  6. You are not responsible for restoring the premises to their presearch condition. However, you should avoid unnecessary damage and take all reasonable precautions for safeguarding property that belongs on the scene.

  7. Leave one copy of the warrant, complete with detailed list of items seized, with the people in control of the place you searched. If nobody is there, leave a copy of the warrant displayed in a prominent place. Keep one warrant for your files, and return one to the court that issued the warrant.

  Be aware that when officers are searching with a warrant (and remember that your private eye or your brilliant amateur cannot get a search warrant), the warrant must describe the places they may look and the items they may look for. Among other things, this means that unless the warrant mentions "the house and all outbuildings" instead of just "the house" nobody may search the garage or the lawn mower shed. Unless the warrant also mentions vehicles, officers may search the garage but not the car parked in the garage. If the smallest item mentioned on the search warrant is a refrigerator, no one may search the junk drawer in the kitchen—and if someone does search the junk drawer
in the kitchen and find a pistol, that's tough. It is tainted evidence, not admissible in court, even if it is the weapon that was used to kill that officer's closest friend. However, an officer looking for a pistol who finds a stolen refrigerator may use that evidence, because there is no place the refrigerator would have fit that it would not have been reasonable to look for the pistol.

  Furthermore—and this comes directly from the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights—the search warrant may be issued only on the basis of probable cause, listing what officers expect to find there and why they expect to find those items, and suspicion isn't probable cause. If an officer saw fifteen known drug wholesalers and twenty known dealers and thirty other people carrying cash and packages entering and leaving a suspect location in twenty minutes, chances are a judge will issue a search warrant. But if all the officer has is the fact that the owner of the house looks scruffy and there has been a lot of coming and going there in the middle of the night, almost certainly a search warrant will not be granted.

  In the case of a crime scene, a crime is known to have occurred in that location and officers are looking for all evidence having to do with the crime. Generally, this is sufficient probable cause unless a judge rules otherwise. Judges are highly unpredictable.

  The most common basis for issuing a search warrant in a situation not involving an obvious crime scene is the word of an informant. Although courts have ruled that the warrant, and the affidavit given in applying for the warrant, do not have to list the informant's name, the paperwork should specify that this is an informant whose information has in the past proven accurate. (This means that the first time or two that a particular informant is used, there must be some other source of the same information.)

  An officer working with an informant should try to get the informant to list as small an item as possible because, remember, the smaller the smallest item listed is, the greater the scope of places the officer may look.

  Exceptions to the Rule

  There are exceptions to the rule requiring search warrants. If there is strong probable cause and the place to be searched is highly portable—a car, a boat, an airplane—in some situations the officer may reasonably search without a warrant. But if the situation is such that the vehicle can be impounded while a warrant is issued, then the search may not proceed without the warrant. I wrote a novel, The Eye of Anna, in which an officer searched a house without a warrant because he had strong probable cause to believe that a murderer had been holed up in the house, a hurricane was in progress, and the officer had reason to believe the house might be blown away before he could finish the search. (It was.) In real life, could he have gotten away with that? Danged if I know, but it was fun to write.