Unit 4 Assignment A re-submission
Aimee Baish FSC year 1
M2-
Wearing PPE (shoe covers, gloves, goggles, hazmat suit and masks) means that there is no
contamination from the CSI to the evidence. This means that unless there is contamination between
two pieces of evidence (like a spill from a drinks bottle onto a piece of paper, which would ruin the
piece of paper’s integrity) the integrity of the evidence would be preserved. This is possible because
if there are Common Approach Paths (CAPs) in place you will also minimise the risk of stepping on
evidence or breaking it. These CAPs are put in place to make a crime scene easier to move and
navigate around. However, CAPs and PPE in combination mean that because contamination and
disturbance of evidence is minimised, the integrity of any samples which were seized was preserved.
Limiting contamination preserves the integrity of the sample by ensuring that the samples are in
their original condition, there has been no degradation of the sample, and there has been no
damage or changes to the sample. This means that the sample’s integrity was preserved. CAPs are
used to prevent disturbance to the evidence and the scene itself, this would ensure the originality of
the scene and the evidence in it. Using a CAP ensures the originality of the samples is maintained by
making a path that goes around the scene without trampling on anything except the path, meaning
that the evidence hasn’t been ruined, stood on, contaminated, or broken. This would mean that the
evidence would still be in its original form. Therefore, when CAPs are used, they are maintaining the
integrity of the samples. Wearing PPE is important because it keeps the CSI wearing it protected
from getting dirty, and it also protects the evidence from being contaminated by the CSI. This means
that any liquids like drinks and possibly poisons don’t get diluted or mixed with other substances,
and things like fibres, hairs, fingerprints, footprints and even DNA from the CSI can’t be left behind.
These things won’t happen if you wear the correct PPE, but if you didn’t wear the PPE properly, you
would have contaminated the scene and put the integrity of the evidence at risk which could mean
that it can’t be used in court. CAPs are important as if there is no way to get around the scene
carefully and swiftly, it may mean that the evidence could be ruined and completely unusable in
court.
Writing my contemporaneous notes at that stage meant that I was writing my notes as I was seeing
everything for the first time, and they are all at the moment, rather than then being done after I’ve
been at the crime scene and I’m back at the station. This also means that the scene is still being
processed in my head so it’s all fresh in my head instead of being almost forgotten. This means that
the notes are original and detailed as they could be when they are written at the crime scene, rather
than after. For example, when you’re writing your contemporaneous notes at the crime scene you
could write about the smell that you smelt as you entered the scene, however, if you wrote your
notes after, you might have forgotten that by the time you get back to the station. The detail and
integrity of your contemporaneous notes are important as you might not see the case file for a long
period of time, and then all of a sudden the case is going to court and the court is calling you to be a
professional witness. These contemporaneous notes will help you to remember the scene and write
your witness statement. However, they can sometimes be used in court as evidence`, as they prove
what you saw, and what you did at the scene, and so the more detail the better, because if you
include more details about the scene, it will help the judge and jury be able to envision the scene,
whereas if you missed some of the detail the jury may not fully understand the scene or the
scenario. Contemporaneous notes can also prove different things about the scene, when compared
with your pictures and other documentation. For example, lets say you had said in your notes that as
you asked in, in front of you was a table, and then your pictures that were taken from the entrance
