Dear rossawilson-ga,
Thank you for your clarification.
The investigation of a crime scene is indeed very similar in most
countries as police forces share the same techniques and nowadays
learn from each other as to the most effective methods of criminal
investigation, especially in respect of the great strides being taken
in forensic science and specifically DNA analysis.
When police arrive at a major crime scene the priorities are:
Immediate detention and arrest of the suspect(s) if they are still in the vicinity.
Ensure the safety and medical treatment of any injured person(s) at the scene.
Establish the extent of the crime scene.
Secure the crime scene from interference and loss of evidence.
Find witnesses in the area.
Obtain forensic and photographic evidence of the scene.
Only when these are completed can the crime scene be opened to the
public. The decision to do this must be thought about very carefully
as once the scene is opened to the public, the integrity and value of
any evidence found at the scene will be almost worthless as it is open
to all types of evidential challenges in court.
So, a short answer to ?how long does it stay a crime scene stay open??
is that it depends on the seriousness of the crime, the complexity of
the crime scene and other factors. Each investigating police officer
or investigating Magistrate, in the case of France, will consider all
these factors and make their decision. A decision which they may have
to justify in a court if any person is charged with the offence. Often
there can be a great deal of pressure to have the scene re-opened.
Imagine the case at the moment of the London bombings. Closure of the
stations, roads, underground trains and buses as they are part of
crime scenes are causing immense problems to the everyday life and the
economic life of London. I am sure the officer in charge of each
investigation is under pressure to have these open as soon as
possible. However, they must ensure that the investigation is not
rushed, or in any way compromised, or mistakes made, and all possible
evidence is obtained.
I should mention here that in the UK the police have powers under the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act and other Statutes to have the power
to secure the crime scenes and seize evidence. Other countries will
have granted similar powers to their police.
Claims for loss of business or other losses would be a matter for
insurers of the business suffering the loss. Here in UK if the police
caused damage to a property during the course of the investigation
they may consider paying compensation for the damage. For instance, I
know cases where doors and windows were damaged to gain entry to
locked rooms. Compensation was paid for this - not for loss of
business.
I will now discuss further the priorities with reference to your scenario.
The police officers would probably arrive at the crime scene as a
result of a emergency telephone call. If there are several people at
the scene it is often a chaotic situation, especially if it is the end
of the evening and alcohol has been liberally consumed! The officers
must try and establish as soon as possible what has happened. They
will assess whether they require immediate assistance from colleagues.
They must establish the identity of the suspect and whether they are
in the immediate vicinity, if so cause his arrest. They will arrange
medical attention for any injured person; establish the extent of the
crime scene and then remove all persons from the scene. They must also
find witnesses in the local area.
Once the area has been secured an officer will be deputed to log the
name and details of each person who then enters the crime scene.
Access to the area would be kept to a minimum and it should be secured
for 24 hours a day.
Contamination of the scene must be prevented at all costs, and where
possible, accidental transference of material from an arrested suspect
to the scene must be prevented. It has been known in the past for a
suspect to be arrested some distance away and for the arresting
officer to return to the scene of the crime. It was alleged in court
that fibre evidence found at the scene which was said to come from the
suspect was in fact transferred there by the arresting officer.
By this stage a senior investigating officer will probably have
arrived and assessed the crime scene. A doctor will be called to
certify death. Then a forensic examination team will be instructed to
examine the scene (which will include the body itself). The team will
include the disciplines of a photographer, a fingerprint expert and
forensic scene examiner. The scene will be split into areas and dealt
with systematically. First the body which then can be removed, then
the rest of the scene. The photographs are intended as a record of
what the scene looked like. They will be very detailed and extensive.
It is often the case that at a later time clues are seen on the
photographs which were not noticed at the scene. The forensic scene
examiner will try and find samples of blood, fibres, seminal stains,
hair, glass, paint, footprints, in fact anything which may link the
victim to the suspect, or the suspect to the scene, or witnesses to
the scene, or to establish cause of death. The fingerprint expert will
recover items which have possible fingerprints on. These can be
examined at the scene or taken back to his base for examination.
Fingerprint examination will link the suspect to the scene or identify
possible witnesses. In a bar there are potentially several hundred
fingerprints to be found so the examination could take several days.
Additional information on the forensic team appears below in the links
to various articles.
For continuity reasons, police rarely in the UK have different
forensic teams working in shifts 24 hours on a scene. Only one team
will deal with a scene, thus their work is often restricted to 8 - 10
hours each day. Delays can occur if experts in particular fields are
required at the scene e.g. blood pattern analysis. (see
forensic.gov.uk case file link below)
To help you with your question, I have been involved in murder
investigations in pubs where the pub has been closed for up to 5 days
for forensic examination. If you intend having your murder victim
found just outside the pub/bar then that could greatly shorten the
period it is closed to a possible 24 - 48 hours.
Misc. sources
This case file shows how an expert was called out to the scene of a crime.
http://www.forensic.gov.uk/forensic_t/inside/news/list_casefiles.php?case=5
Other case files
http://www.forensic.gov.uk/forensic_t/inside/news/casefiles.php
ACPO advice on DNA.
Page 13 and 14 relevant
http://www.forensic.gov.uk/forensic_t/inside/news/docs/DNA_Good.pdf
FBI Crime Scenes Instruction Manual
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/april2000/twgcsi.pdf
Other crime scene documents and information
http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/crimescene/1.html?sect=21
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:SUfkEZuQqQUJ:www.cji.net/CJI/CenterInfo/fscec/Contamination-2.htm+%22The+issue+of+contamination+of+physical+evidence+has+painfully+brought+notoriety%22&hl=en
Searching and Examining a Major Case Crime Scene
http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/searchingandexamining.html
http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/
(I regret I do not known French, but this is the Gendarmerie Forensic
Science Branch)
l?Institut de recherche criminelle de la gendarmerie nationale (IRCGN)
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/sites/gendarmerie/decouverte/missions/police_judiciaire/ircgn/ircgn.
I hope this answer has assisted you. Do not hesitate to ask for
clarification of any part of the answer, or if something is unclear.
Finally, I found this quote by Sherlock Holmes which I thought was
most appropriate:
?Oh, how simple it would all have been had I been here before they
came like a herd of buffalo and wallowed all over it.?
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
Conan Doyle
http://www.web-books.com/Classics/Doyle/Holmes/Adventures/Adventure04_6.htm
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