Published On:Monday, September 28, 2009

By NATHANIEL

SANTINE III

Ret. New York

Police detective

THE cause, manner, and mechanism of a death is important to the family, as well as to law enforcement and the courts, often for different reasons, yet equally important. The proper identification of an accidental death vs a homicide will profoundly affect a family and in some cases, it has the potential to affect an entire community.

But, it is often the first responder's first impressions and interpretation of the evidence or information at a scene which can direct the initial course of an investigation. Successful investigations often depend on the initial actions taken by patrol officers responding to any given scene. The scene must be secured and cause is never determined or categorised at first sight, but only after careful investigations have been completed; the responding officer's duties in the preliminary investigation may simply be to arrive at the scene, observe enough to know that assistance from investigators is required, and protect the scene so that evidence is not destroyed, changed or removed.

What should have been done?

Responding officers at any crime scene should:

* Secure the scene

* Cordon off the area

* Take witness statements

* Document the scene (both written and photographic)

* Collect evidence - bag everything

* Where a body is found, photograph the entire area; measure and document positioning; photograph wounds

* Once the body has been removed, take photographs of the surrounding area

* Photograph shrubs, trees, tyre marks; the vehicle or room

* Photograph clothing

* Photograph any sight of blood (pool, spatter, droplets, smears, et cetera)

* When a body is found in a vehicle, once the body is removed, seal the vehicle and transport it on plastic tarp on a flatbed towing truck to preserve evidence.

* Record in writing whatever is being said or done at the scene; be observant

* Convey findings to superior officers

* Dispatch a team to inform next of kin

Any item can and may constitute physical evidence; therefore, it is imperative that nothing be touched or moved at the scene before the arrival of the investigators. Officers handling the evidence must document its location, appearance, condition, and any other feature that might affect the investigation, ensuring that it does not lose its evidentiary value. Good basic crime scene procedures are to be followed, especially when the cause of death is not abundantly clear.

The investigation starts at the point where the body is originally found. The primary crime scene is where most of the evidence will be retrieved. In scenes that appear staged, there may be two or more crime scenes in addition to the location where the body is found. They include:

* Where the body was moved from

* Where the actual assault leading to death took place

* Where any physical or trace evidence connected with the crime is discovered

* The vehicle used to transport the body to where it is eventually found (tyre tracks, oil leaks, should be photographed).

* A point of forced entry or where the vehicle was cut off by another vehicle

* The escape route

* Suspect clothing

The police are usually called to this location by the person who discovers the body, a witness to the crime, in isolated cases the victim, or even a potential suspect.

What was done wrong in the Preston Ferguson case from an investigators viewpoint?

The article claims that all DNA evidence, including clothing and hair samples, were missing; this should never happen. Barring a collision between two or more vehicles - an obvious accident - the evidence should remain intact and available.

The vehicle should have been sealed and impounded for the forensic team to comb for any evidence. Obviously, this was not done and the authorities need to explain why.

Proper procedures should have been taken to determine the number of prints found in the vehicle, and to isolate those which should not have been in the vehicle.

The blood evidence is actually what is going to win this case. It is obvious that the blood on the floor of the vehicle was not from a victim of an accident, but instead is conclusive with a person bleeding and being laid or slumped on that portion of the vehicle. The velocity of the blood also created a pattern that trickled onto the driver's side. The carpet of the floor after being sampled should have been removed to reveal the settling pattern of the blood on the metal floor and gear shift.

The glass evidence cannot be explained away; it is impossible by the law of physics for a traffic accident to occur, smashing a side glass and finding broken glass under the victim, who was said to be sitting on top of the glass and not having any on his person, including fragments in his wound.

If a collision is violent enough to cause a fatal injury, the wound must be explained. This has not been done. Furthermore, the body would not be found in an upright position, but instead would be found thrown from the vehicle or tossed within the cab of the vehicle.

The positioning of the dent on the driver's door seems to be the result of the vehicle being struck from the side. It is impossible for an accident to occur on the side, unless the vehicle was hit by an oncoming force from the side of impact.

There was more than enough evidence from the photos alone to suggest that an in-depth investigation should have been ordered following the preliminary scene investigation. It is obvious that proper protocol was not followed in investigating this matter. It appears as if the responding officers, in their haste to categorise a traffic accident, missed or ignored some key steps.

Incompetence played a role in what looks like a botched investigation. This is not a petty crime where the consequences are minimal; this crime resulted in a death and beyond the failure to capture of the perpetrators, the investigators failed to secure evidence to protect the rights of the victim.

This is a level of incompetence as it relates to inefficient police investigations should not go unrecognised or unpunished; the responsible officers and their superiors should be held accountable. Obviously a patrol officer cannot close an investigation, it goes beyond that officer.

The justice system of a country, if proven to be out of sync or imbalanced enough to allow this kind of action to go unchecked, will only serve to erode the moral fiber of a community. Indeed, it will spread to affect an entire nation and destroy the rule of law established to cultivate a standard for all citizens, residents and visitors to be law abiding, and when they knowing and willingly fail to conform, be made aware of the relevant punishment.

Clearly, the perpetrators of such crimes are comfortable in their actions and are confident that law enforcement agencies/officers are not equipped or knowledgeable enough to detect their actions. If this is allowed to go unchecked, it leaves an open door for hurting families to refuse the help of crisis advocates and resort to vigilantism as their means of seeing justice carried out. This will erode a society like the plague. This is a serious matter.

*For legal reasons, The

Tribune cannot allow posts accusing individuals or authorities of committing a

crime or wrongdoing to remain on this site. Any comments naming possible

suspects, providing initials or any other specific information that could

identify a person will be removed immediately. Please be aware that you can be

held legally accountable if we do not do this.