Securing the Scene

Securing the crime scene is a vital part of any investigation as this means that only authorized personnel will be able to enter which can drastically reduce the chance of contamination taking place and pieces of evidence disappearing without knowing who took it. The person who is tasked with this role is the first attending officer, they would need to communicate with the scenes of crime officers to see where the crime scene actually finishes (in case their is evidence outside that still needs to be tagged), once this has been found then the first attending officer will surround the scene with crime scene tape. Once the officer is happy that the perimeter of the scene is secure then they will stand at the entrance of the scene with a crime scene entry log which they will use to monitor who enters and leaves the crime scene. Depending on the type of scene and the conditions at the time more precautions may need to be taken, for example if the weather is bad and it is raining then the first attending officer may also decide to set up a portable roof or tent over the outdoor evidence to try to stop the weather contaminating the evidence.

OJ Simpson

In the OJ Simpson case where he allegedly killed Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman the first attending officer (FAO) was Robert Riske who was a member of the police force at the time. As the first attending officer Robert Riske had a variety of duties such as securing the crime scene using crime scene tape, have a general overview of the scene so that he can tell the scenes of crime officers when they arrive, do an initial assessment of the scene and provide support and or dealing with any emergencies in and around the scene. For the most part he did his role correctly, however he and the officer who arrived shortly after him (Miguel Terrazas) made a huge error which affected the whole case. Robert Riske did not secure the perimeter of the crime scene correctly which resulted in the media getting to the crime scene, without thinking about contaminating the evidence Riske and Terrazas placed towels over the bodies to stop the media from being able to photograph them, this meant that any evidence that was found on the bodies could not be used in court.