Terms:
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Perimeter – Outer, Inner. The area surrounding an area where a crime has been committed. The Inner Perimeter would be the immediate area around the crime scene, and the Outer Perimeter would be the area surrounding the Inner Perimeter. Perimeters are normally established and marked with yellow crime scene tape. In the case of a shooting, you can expect the outer perimeter to be quite large, since spent ammunition must be accounted for and found.
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Evidence – Anything at the scene of a crime that can be used to solve a crime or lead to the conviction of the perpetrator of the crime. It may be dust, hair, threads, footprints, fingerprints, papers (and their arrangement), or anything.
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Chain of Evidence – The trail that carries a piece of evidence from the scene of the crime to the courtroom and trial. Every person along that trail must account for the evidence while it is in his possession. If you pick something up, you must be a part of the chain of evidence if that is evidence. (To stay out of court, and out of trouble, do not touch or pick up anything at the Crime Scene . You do not need to spend time in court, and the Department does not need to lose a case because you got involved with evidence. There is not much spiritual ministry involved in touching evidence!
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Scene Supervisor – That person in charge of the action at the scene. This may be the responding officer, the Sergeant who arrives later, or the person of higher rank that assumes responsibility for the scene later. It can also be the Crime Scene Investigator or Crime Scene Technician while they are investigating the scene.
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Crime Scene Search – A group of highly trained technicians who gather evidence, prepare it for storage, catalogue it, and file it for others to review in preparing the case for trial and presentation at the trial. Cases are won and lost based on the efficiency and completeness of the work of the Crime Scene Technician.
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Media – Person or persons who are a part of the working press. They may be from the newspaper, radio or television stations, or from publications in the area. They have their agenda, which is gathering information and facts for publications. Be friendly but not informative. The Scene Supervisor, or the Department Media Representative is the only person authorized to give information to the Media. Do not even tell them what you are doing at the Scene! You can give confidentiality as the reason for your silence. (Remember the slogan from World War II, "Loose lips sink ships!" In our case, loose lips could sink the ministry of the Chaplains.)
The Chaplain at the Scene:
We can help or hinder the process at the Crime Scene by our actions. If we disturb evidence, pollute the scene, make the CSS team's work harder, we can be the cause of a criminal getting off when prosecution could have occurred. This could cause the department to look critically at the work of the Chaplains. (Remember the main reason O.J. Simpson was not convicted in Criminal Court was improper handling of the evidence by the Police Department. Enough doubt was raised to cause a question in the minds of the jurors. We do not want that to happen in the CMPD.)
Precautions
You will usually arrive at Crime Scenes in two ways.
- Riding with an officer , you will be sent to a location where a crime may have occurred. You can pollute a scene before you know that a crime has happened. Extra footprints, fingerprints, handprints, etc. make the work of CSS much more difficult, if not impossible. (Paul mentioned Touch Not, Taste Not, Handle Not in Colossians 2:21, and said it was an over-reaction to the law. In Chaplain work at a Crime Scene, it is the law!) Be careful! The carpenter's rule of measure twice, cut once is a good one to follow. If in doubt, stay clear of the area! When yellow tape is put up, respect it.
- Called to the scene , whether by Communications, a supervisor, or another Chaplain, you will be approaching a scene where a crime has probably been committed. Do not cross the outer or inner perimeter without permission from the scene supervisor. Most of our work will take place outside the yellow tape. When called to go inside either Outer or Inner Perimeter, remember you are on "Holy Ground". Spent ammunition, matchbooks, buttons, threads, blood drops, etc. are all important where they are . If they are moved, they may be useless!
When called to the scene, please do not feel that you are being dispatched as an emergency responder. The scene is secured by emergency responders, and you do not have to drive Code Three to get there. (Remember, any accident you have is charged to you and your personal insurance. Your personal vehicle is not considered an emergency vehicle. Police officers or fire/medics, driving city vehicles may have an accident excused from their insurance if they were following procedures responding to scenes. Chaplains drive their own vehicles, and provide their own insurance. An accident could be very costly, and could damage the Chaplain program as well as a car, a body, a life.) Police Chaplains do not use red or blue lights on their personal vehicles and do not run red lights responding to call outs to Crime Scenes.
If you have any reason to believe that you will come in contact with blood at a Crime Scene, ask the officer for latex gloves, or better yet, carry a pair in your pocket or somewhere on your person. It is too late after contact to find out that the blood was infected with HIV or some other contaminant.
REMEMBER : Our mission as Police Chaplains is a spiritual one. We are not auxiliary Police Officers or Crime Scene Technicians. |
