2. The Seven S’s used to solve a crime scene Ali, Brett, Kayla, Tara and Steph November 2011 Extra Credit Project

3. Secure the Scene First S: The Crime Scene has to be secured in order to continue with the rest of the investigation. Securing the scene ensures that anyone who isn’t authorized to come into contact with the scene won’t. Securing the scene also confirms that all the evidence found in the scene was originally there and wasn’t placed there by an individual to throw the whole investigation off.

4. Second S: Separate the Witness’s First things first, is to take any injured witness’s found at the scene to the hospital. After this procedure takes place, all witness’s present must be separated. The reasoning behind this is that if all the witness’s are separated, each witness will have his or her own story. When placed together, the witness’s might come up with one story that they’ll all tell, whatever the motivation may be, and therefore investigators lose eye witness accounts as help in solving the crime.

5. Third S: Scan the Scene Scanning the scene is important to determine what parts of the scene need to be looked at immediately and how extensive the crime scene is. Scanning the scene also gives the first responders an idea of what other units need to be called in to help in analyzing the scene such as ballistic experts, DNA analyzer, etc.

6. Fourth S: See the Scene Seeing the Scene helps the investigators see what happened first hand and helps in determining the nature and manner of the crime right off the bat. For example, if an investigator walks into a scene and sees a dead body with blood everywhere, he or she will obviously know right away that the victim didn’t die from natural causes.

7. Fifth S: Sketching the Scene Sketching the Scene is an important element in solving a crime because it captures every placement of evidence, the body, the whole room and other important aspects before the scene is cleaned up and the evidence is sent out to be analyzed. The sketch is a vital element to investigators in case they ever have to go back and look again at the placement of something

8. Sixth S: Searching for Evidence Evidence is one of the key elements of solving a crime. Evidence includes fingerprints (which we know most of the time are always left at a crime scene due to Locard’s Exchange Principle), hair, blood samples, DNA, fibers and any other materials that would give the investigators insight to the crime such as a license, USB drive, purse etc.

9. Final S: Secure and Collect the Evidence The last and final step is to collect the evidence and make sure it’s secure. When collecting evidence, one must do it carefully in order to avoid any breakage or damage to the evidence. An investigator also needs to be aware of the climate around them; if it’s a colder environment than it’s okay to send the evidence out in a plastic bag. However if it’s warm, the evidence should be sent out in something different due to the lack of air in a plastic bag which can grow mold and therefore damage the evidence.

10. Using these seven steps, investigators can get on the right track to solving a crime. THE END!