Case

Case Study: Unsafe Situation

Roberto Rossi

(CCJS) Crime Scene Investigation

UMUC

In all crime scene cases there are a lot of safety measures that need to be taken when securing a crime scene and when securing the body and any other potential evidence found at the crime scene. Any mishandling of the body and evidence can completely ruin a case, certain measures have to be executed correctly. Securing a crime scene is not always easy because challenges and possible safety issues can arise and prevent investigators or CSI team from properly doing their job. In this case it’s up to the investigators or CSI team to overcome these challenges and process the crime scene safely and retrieve the body.

In the photos provided it shows a male body lying in a creek caught on some bushes. The body was discovered on mother’s day 2001 in Antietam Creek in Hagerstown Maryland between Eastern Boulevard and Mount Aetna Road where the scene took place at a power plant which was also an “old city Light Plant” (Kimberly Yakowski and Tara Reilly, 2001). There are two general issues we have here, one was trying to recover the body and evidence as quickly and efficiently as possible but in a safe manner and two was to find out what kind of power plant investigators are dealing with. These factors are game changers because those factors can really change how an investigator conducts their search. Before investigators can conduct their search however investigators have to know what kind of power plant they are dealing with. There are different types of power plants that generate electricity differently. In this particular case the power plant is a “hydro-electric power plant which the energy of the falling water is utilized to drive the turbine which in turn runs the generator to produce electricity” (electrical4u, 2015). What this means the turbines cannot turn off unless water stops flowing in the exception of a dam.

As we examine the photographs some of the risk factors...