Members of the Investigation Team
When a crime has been committed it will be notified to the police through a 999 (UK) / 911 (US) call. Depending on the crime will depend what procedures are put into place; this meaning that the police will decide on the correct procedure to carry out which will be either to send a police car to the scene or an ambulance if the police aren’t necessary etc. Not all agencies will be required to attend a crime scene and this is purely due to them holding different roles and jobs within the investigation process an example of this is that a forensic scientist will deal with the evidence retrieved from the scene but they work from a forensic laboratory so they won’t attend the scene. The evidence would be passed to the forensic scientist through the audit trail.
Through each agency correctly carrying out there job role within a criminal investigation this leads to a secure audit trail. An audit trail is “paper or 'electronic' trail that gives a step by step documented history of a transaction” (business dictionary 2017). All members within the investigation team will cooperate in the process of obtaining a secure audit trail, this is important as by producing a correct audit trail which holds key information about the whereabouts of the evidence when it is passed from agency to agency it will help to gain a positive conviction. The audit trail ensures that evidence is always kept safe and secure throughout the investigation process. Within the Soham murders there were five different agencies involved these being;
Through each agency correctly carrying out there job role within a criminal investigation this leads to a secure audit trail. An audit trail is “paper or 'electronic' trail that gives a step by step documented history of a transaction” (business dictionary 2017). All members within the investigation team will cooperate in the process of obtaining a secure audit trail, this is important as by producing a correct audit trail which holds key information about the whereabouts of the evidence when it is passed from agency to agency it will help to gain a positive conviction. The audit trail ensures that evidence is always kept safe and secure throughout the investigation process. Within the Soham murders there were five different agencies involved these being;
- The police
- The scene of crime officers
- Detectives
- Forensic scientists
- Pathologist
Contribution of the Members of the Investigation Team
The police where the first to attend the scene when the bodies of the two young girls were found, the role of the police was to secure the scene and ensure that no unauthorized personnel where able to enter. Due to the bodies being found two weeks after the murder took place it was important to ensure they weren’t further contaminated and each procedure was effectively carried out. The police carried out their job correctly ensuring there was a secure audit trail and that the next people to come into contact with the girls bodies where the scene of crime officers. The scene of crime officers had a job to retrieve evidence from the scene using the appropriate techniques; within the Soham murders they were second to come into contact with the two young girls bodies. The scene of crime officers correctly retrieved all necessary evidence from the bodies and also from the perimeter surrounding the bodies. They then played there part in correctly securing the audit trail by correctly bagging and tagging all evidence as well as placing it in the chain of custody. The third and last people to come into contact with the two bodies of the young girls where the pathologists. Pathologists have the job of predicting the cause of death through examining dead human remains, within this case the pathologists contributed to the audit trail correctly as they were last to handle the body which means after this the body is no longer evidence so it was there decision upon what to do with the children’s bodies. They also correctly retrieved the bodies from the chain of custody filling out the audit trail effectively when needed.
The scenes of crime officers extensively contributed to a secure audit trail, they also retrieved the evidence from the bin which included the clothing of the girls. As this was done correctly they was able to place this evidence into the chain of custody, as shown in the image above is a picture of where both the children’s bodies were found. This shows the scenes of crime officers wearing the correct personnel protective equipment, this was important when contributing to a secure audit trail as it allowed no contamination when coming into contact with the evidence. If the correct PPE wasn’t worn this would have meant the evidence may have been contaminated; which would have given a less likely chance of securing a positive conviction so this shows that the scene of crime officers contributed correctly to the investigation and audit trail. When retrieving the evidence from the crime scene the scene of crime officers then bagged and tagged the evidence, this is an important job as it outlines what case the evidence belongs to, why it has been collected and where it was collected from. The scene of crime officers then have the job to place this evidence into the chain of custody, it is important for the officer to do this as it outlines who collected the evidence and ensures the evidence is secured after being collected from the scene. The scene of crime officers working on the Soham case ensured that they correctly bagged and tagged evidence and also correctly placed the evidence into the chain of custody. As they done this it is proven that no evidence has been taken or removed from the scene without permission this extensively contributes to a secure audit trail as it allows the police and prosecution services to know the evidence is safe and has been throughout the investigation.
When the evidence was passed to the forensic scientists they were able to identify if any evidence was tampered with or taken away, this wasn’t noted by the forensic scientists on the case which means tampering didn’t occur. Both forensic scientists and pathologists play a part in handling the evidence within a criminal investigation, forensic scientists analyse evidence to come up with a result and pathologists examine dead human remains for the same reason. When doing this it is important that the forensic scientists and pathologists wear the correct personnel protective equipment to ensure contamination didn’t occur. This procedure was correctly carried out within the Soham murders, the forensic scientists and pathologists ensured that contamination didn’t occur so they were left with the correct outcome. This shows that both the forensic scientists and pathologists contributed to a secure audit trail as they didn’t allow the contamination to occur, also from getting the evidence from the scene to the forensic scientists and pathologists a secure audit trail was shown as all evidence had its exact whereabouts located in the chain of custody so it was retrievable.
To ensure there was a secure audit trail within the Soham murders each agency worked as a team. The police worked with both the scene of crime officers and forensic scientists in different ways. They worked with the scene of crime officers allowing them to understand what they believed had happened so it was successful for the scene of crime officers to collect to correct evidence; they worked with the forensic scientists through the analysis of evidence. The police reported to the forensic scientists extensively on the suspects they had and also the results the scientists had found through examining the evidence correctly. The crown prosecution service worked with everyone throughout the investigation process, this needed to be done to ensure that they were able to obtain a positive conviction through court. The crown prosecution needed to be aware of everything within the case ranging to from where the evidence was retrieved to what the results of the evidence are. Everyone that worked within the investigation process in the Soham Murders handled the evidence correctly when needed, they ensured they signed for the evidence and correctly handled it.
Within the Soham Murders the two main agencies that where shown as more valuable where the police and the scenes of crime officers. The police where extensively valuable in this case as they were first to attend the scene which meant it was there job to ensure all the evidence was kept safe and secure before being collected by the scene of crime officers. They also had to ensure that the scene was secured correctly which meant putting tents over the children’s remains to ensure the reporters weren’t able to see and take distressing images. Through the police carrying out there procedures correctly this meant a secure audit trail was obtained as the evidence was collected as found, if the police were to have not secured the scene effectively this would have allowed individual’s access the scene to tamper and retrieve evidence. The scene of crime officers were also extensively valuable to securing a correct audit trail as they collected the correct pieces of evidence and handled them effectively by bagging and tagging them correctly. If the evidence wasn’t bagged and tagged correctly this could have resulted in missing evidence which may not have led to a positive conviction. The also ensured they filled out the chain of custody correctly, if this wasn’t done correctly this could have also led to a positive conviction not taking place. Through having a secure audit trail within the Soham Murders there was a positive conviction of both Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr which was solely down to the evidence found.
Other information has been added to each member of the investigation team's tab .i.e. FAO, the police. For the roles and responsibility resubmission.