Forensic Crime Scene Investigator Perspectives

One of the main components of investigating property crimes is the crime scene investigation, which occurs once a crime has been reported and crime scene investigators are deployed to investigate the scene. This chapter outlines the many decisions made by crime scene investigators and describes how these decisions are influenced by factors at the macro, meso, and micro levels. The main issues addressed in this chapter are how forensic evidence is found, selected, and collected and what factors influence those processes, including psychological, procedural, and organisational factors. This chapter challenges the conventional wisdom that says forensic science is unbiased and totally objective, highlighting how the work of a crime scene investigator and the value of forensic evidence can be influenced by common psychological phenomena, such as confirmation bias and selective attention in their decision-making. By focusing on factors at the macro, meso, and micro levels, this chapter demonstrates how complex and difficult it is to understand and explain the decision-making of crime scene investigators.