Processing of crime scene

• Once entry has been made to crime scene property, law enforcement officers will be in charge of taking necessary steps to ensure safety and security of people and evidence present.
• Though there is always concern for the victims, the initial concern on crime scene should always be safety of responding officers and all other subsequent responders.
• Once, area is secured, documentation begins.
• Documentation of crime scene occurs in phases:

1. In first phase, condition of crime scene upon arrival is documented. It will be carried out through photographs and possibly video of exterior and inferior portions of all areas of property covered under search warrant.
2. In next phase, documentation of animals and their environment takes place. First step in this phase is to identify animals in critical condition. This is referred as “critical triage”. There is visual sorting of animals for examination and treatment based on their medical condition. If animal is found in critical condition, it should be immediately given a unique animal identification number, documented insitu, remove from scene in expeditious manner to provide timely medical treatment and further documentation of animal’s condition.

• Documentation should include photographs as well as written notes. It should be remembered that each animal is individual piece of evidence and if there are multiple animals present, each animal should be assigned a unique identification number.
• Since clinical forensic exam doesn’t occur in field, but brief examinations should be conducted in field to provide necessary treatment before transport, as well as to document transitory evidence, such as mild dehydration.
• None living animals condition be altered until they have been observed by a veterinarian, documented as photographed.

• Once critical animals are identified, documented and receiving medical care, non-critical animals should be assessed closely and their environments should be documented. This is referred as “intake triage”. During this assessment, identification of animals needing through examination, application of treatments required before transport or documentation of transitory evidence and possible collection of trace evidence may occur.

• As living environment will hold information that will contradict or agree with animal’s physical examination findings, it is important to accurately illustrate the living conditions from which animal came and demonstrate how the environment directly affected the animals. All animals should be photographed insitu and their location on scene documented by sketch or other mapping technologies.

• Deceased animal are considered non-critical and often given a unique non-animal physical evidence item number, rather than animal identification number. Numbering differently of deceased animals helps to eliminate confusion.

• Deceased animals, as with live animals should be photographed insitu before being altered in any way, their location documented on scene sketch or otherwise mapped.

• Written notes should also be taken to document how the body was found and immediate environment.

• Forensic necroscopy can’t be performed in field due to lack of equipment and uncontrolled environment. However, cursory external examination may be conducted in the field to document transitory evidence, such as rigor mortis, and to identify and collect any obvious trace or entomological evidence.

• Law enforcement should question any potential owners, witnesses or suspects concerning when the animal was last seen alive and found to be deceased and by whom, any available medical history or records should also be obtained.

• Following removal of each animal, thorough documentation of scene should be done. As it is difficult to capture all elements of living space when animal is still in situ, midrange closeup photos of living space should be taken after removal of animal. These photographs should include presence of food or lack of food, water , shelter construction and possible hazards, faeces, urine, vomits, wire flooring and additional photos as requested by forensic veterinarians.

• In addition to recognizing and documenting animal evidence, the forensic veterinarian or pathologist can assist law enforcement with identification of non-animal medical and non-medical evidence. This could include items such as medication, supplement, surgical supplies and fighting paraphernalia.

• Some items may be overlooked by law enforcement officers who are not familiar with particular crime type.

• Forensic veterinarian or pathologist can assist law enforcement with potential evidentiary value of an item. Officers may not be aware of full evidentiary value of evidence in some case. Example, Anabolic steroids recovered from dog-fighting crime scene.