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989 Questions

Last Answer on July 21, 2022

Oh, also how can you tell if someone makes a new account?

Asked by Sam almost 5 years ago

I don’t know.

Hi! I was wondering something about timing. Say a kidnapping takes place in a hotel room. How long is the room cordoned off? At what point is the evidence collected and taken away? When can the room be let again? (Working on a novel!)

Asked by Nico over 5 years ago

We’ll hold the scene as long as we need to get everything done, and that could be a day or two or three, but for a kidnapping it probably wouldn’t be more than a day, just enough to collect all the victim’s stuff, and collect fingerprints, hairs, fibers, anything that might belong to the kidnapper. We eventually get tired and want to go home (though we can go and come back, so long as it hasn’t been ‘released’) and the police department don’t really want to hold it longer then absolutely necessary, because they have a cop or two sitting there doing nothing but guarding the scene, and it takes them off the road. Hope that helps!

428 Votes

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If fingerprints are collected from evidence that can be bagged, does this happen on the scene or later, at the lab? Has this procedure changed over time?

Asked by Satoko over 5 years ago

It hasn’t changed. In general it’s best to process an item at the scene so that handling and possible smudging is kept to a minimum, but it depends on many circumstances. If there isn’t a clean dry place to do it or if the person at the scene doesn’t feel their expertise is adequate for the particular item or mostly if the item needs other processing than the simple black powder or mag powder. If it’s a porous item like plastic or vinyl or paper and might need to be superglued or sprayed with dye, then it should be transported to the lab.

427 Votes