Regarding Cops and Crime Scene

Jonathan.Bentz said:

Okay, I've gotta ask this: how often do detectives actually get assigned a case and be at the crime scene before the CSU and ME techs are done? Do they actually visit the original crime scene when its still fresh, or is that only with the following ones?

Just want to make sure since I'm reworking my "Shadowed Vengeance" book. Seems it can be rewritten to be better, something I hadn't expected (after three weeks of no fresh ideas for reworking it, I put it on Amazon. Now nearly 3 months later, I do have a better idea of where to change things as well as to expand it).

Also, what's the general CSU/ME spiel? DO they actually use a whole bunch of ridiculous jargon, or do they actually use regular words?

"The stabbed the victim through the chest, shot her, and then finally cut her throat."

vs

"A bladed instrument was shoved through the stomach and internal organs and came out between the 24 and 25th vertibrae. The victim was then shot with a crude projectile in the right ocular orifice and finally her throat was severed across the jugular, opening up the major artery within the neck."

I have a semi-decent understanding medical jargon, but I don't see anyone saying that stuff aloud. In a medical report, yes; in a conversation, no. Am I wrong to think this?

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Your first depends on a lot - department size, location, time of the incident, who's around, etc. Mostly yes, detectives will absolutely go to a scene and work it. If it's a large enough department to have detectives to go around, they'll be called out by the cops or commander first to the scene.

As to your second, again depends - on who, who they're talking to, etc. In general, a combo I'd say would be your safest bet. I mean there's general 'strangled' but someone talking to a detective could also say 'manual ligature,' or 'asphyxiated,' and they'll both know what they're talking about, yeah. There's a reason for some specifics, you know?

Jonathan.Bentz said:

Okay, I've gotta ask this: how often do detectives actually get assigned a case and be at the crime scene before the CSU and ME techs are done? Do they actually visit the original crime scene when its still fresh, or is that only with the following ones?

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Hugely variable, would be my take. I would think in many cases the techs get called in only after requests from homicide detectives have surveyed the scene. Techs generally work under direction and supervision of homicide officers. Sensible uniformed officers not part of specialist homicide units will secure the crime scene and get the homicide personnel there as quickly as possible. Only then is it likely that technical forensic examiners will get called upon.

But it's unfortunately not unusual for evidence at homicide scenes to be compromised by failure of police officers or investigators to exercise due diligence in securing the scene. The still-unsolved JonBenet Ramsey travesty is a prime example of such a screw-up.

caw

As far as the speech patterns, it depends upon who the officer is talking to, how exact the officer needs to be, and also the officer's personality.

There was a new officer on a police force that I loved to have on the witness stand, the prosecutor less so. Most police officers have a "testifying" speech pattern, which tends to be a bit off to the jury. But this guy brought it to a new degree, filling it with jargon, formality, and unfortunately for the State, rather like a foreign language to the jury.

For example, when asked:

"What was your assignment that night?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Prosecutor, sir, on that night, the fourteenth day of August, 2010 A.D., at sixteen hundred hours Eastern Standard Time, or twenty-three hundred hours Greenwich Mean Time, my Lieutenant, the watch commander for the aforementioned shift, John Smith, assigned me to traffic law enforcement in the northwest quadrent of the City of Concord, County of Merrimack, State of New Hampshire, specifically on Pleasant Street between 120 Pleasant Street and 240 Pleasant Street, specifically requiring me to utilize a Stalker X-series LIDAR XLR long range portable speed acquisition device, so that I could monitor and ascertain the exact vehicle momentum of the vehicles using said Pleasant Street with the understanding that should any of said vehicles exceed a preset parameter vis-a-vis said momentum I was to stop the aforementioned vehicle, through the proper activation of my vehicle's notification devices.

After a few hours of listening to him, the jury would tend to forget that my client had been stopped for speeding, reeked of alcohol, failed the field soberiety test, and blew a .21 of the BAL. Result would be a not guilty.

Problem for the other officers on the department was he spoke like that all the time. Drove them crazy. (And no, he didn't work for Concord PD.)

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1582974551/?tag=absowrit-20

-cb