Course Description

Course objective is to train the patrol supervisor, officer and other first responders how to approach and manage a homicide or suspicious death scene prior to the arrival of scene investigators. This level of management is called assessment and many times most mistakes are made during this phase. Many patrol officers lack the training, experience, and basic understanding of managing the scene of a homicide and avoiding too much traffic and cross contamination awareness, while at the same time establishing safe boundaries that will encompass all of the circumstantial evidence.

Crime scene management begins with the arrival of the first officer on scene and continues through both scene and homicide investigators. We all have certain responsibilities at various levels of a homicide investigation as it applies to the scene. The most important and often overlooked are the responsibilities of patrol. Know what to do before critical errors and possibly the loss of vital evidence takes place. It’s always been a simple rule in homicide investigation: how the initial scene is handled by patrol has a profound effect on the entire investigation. This one-day class is designed to benefit those in patrol so they may understand what role they play not only in the initial securing of a homicide scene, but also provides them with a good understanding of circumstantial evidence recognition, preservation, and documentation.

Because patrol officers do not often have days off for training, resulting from manpower restrictions, this course has been condensed to 8 hours to make it easier for them to attend. The instructor for this course is Inv. David Newman (Ret.) from the Norfolk Police Department Homicide Section in Virginia.

Course Topics Include

*The objective mindset during the initial response

*Initial scene assessment outlined by S.O.P and protocol

*Significance of scene preservation, documentation & accountability

*Review of the key responsibilities during the active phase assessment

*Responsibilities outside of the defined crime scene boundaries

*Crime scene contamination issues and sources

*Update on DNA resources and genealogy

*The suicide scene

*The infant death scene

*The initial assessment safety issues

*Evaluation of the 911 phone call during the active phase through case review

*Searching the crime scene and 4th Amendment issues during assessment

*Establishing proper crime scene boundaries

*Define through examples the primary crime scene and related secondary scenes

*How to handle circumstantial evidence during the cursory search in both proactive and reactive scenarios

*Definition of circumstantial vs. direct evidence broken down into categories

*How to handle first responding paramedics regarding the pronouncement of death and the differences between presumptive & positive I.D.