When a crime has been committed and there is evidence from the scene that needs to be collected in order to be analysed, Scene of Crime Officers are sent out to the scene in order to gather up the evidence. When SOCO's arrive at the scene it is their role to take leadership. Firstly they need to observe the scene to get a brief understanding of what has happened. Then they will begin to search the crime scene fro evidence that is relevant to the crime and decide on what is the best way to obtain the type of evidence.
Before obtaining the evidence they will firstly take a photograph. However within the photograph need to be a evidence card that should be filled out by the SOCO, an evidence indicator from the CAP and a L shaped scale, than the photograph can be taken. The evidence card is extremely important as it specifies what the type of evidence is it, where it was found t the crime scene and who it was found by so if any other investigators on the scene have any questions about a particular piece of evidence they can ask the SOCO who found it. The scale is present so that from the photograph you can roughly see the size of the piece of evidence. The evidence indicator from the CAP is also important as this too can help to specify where the piece of evidence was found at the crime scene.
Once the piece of evidence has been photograph it can than be obtained within the correct packaging such as paper bag, plastic bag or plastic container etc. Once the item is packaged, there will be information to fill out about the piece of evidence on the packaging itself. Then the packaging is taped numerous time and the SOCO will half write on the packaging and half write on the tape in order to prevent anyone from opening the piece of evidence as if someone does who is not authorised to do so it will be noticeable as the writing will not match up.
When the item of evidence is than packaged and labelled it is than logged in to the chain of custody. The evidence is than delivered to a forensic laboratory where it can be analysed by forensic scientists and analysts.
O.J. Simpson Case
Within the Orenthal James Simpson case of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, there was very sloppy forensic work done by the Scene of Crime Officers. As the First Attending Officer at the scene did not set up a Common Approach Pathway this lead to emergency services and police officers walking in blood from the scene which than contaminated with other pieces of evidence at the scene making them unnecessary to collect from the scene.
Scene of Crime Officers at the scene were very unorganised and efficient due to the lack of professionalism when it came to packaging the items of evidence at the scene. Two pieces of evidence were being bagged together causing cross-contamination between the two pieces of evidence therefore making the evidence useless and unworthy to be presented within a court room. Wet evidence was also not left to dry before being packaged which caused critical damage to the change of the evidence. Mark Fuhram who was lead detective at the crime scene and therefore in charge of the Scene of Crime Officers made a foolish mistake in a panic. As the media arrived and surrounded the scene it was Furham who decided to go in to Nicole Brown's house and grab a blanket and throw it over the bodies of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. Therefore this meant that any vital evidence such as the suspects blood could not be taken from the bodies as evidence as it had now been cross-contamintaed with the blanket.
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