SOCO (Scenes of Crime Officer)
Scene of crime officers attend crime scenes after a crime has been committed and collect the vital pieces of evidence that are able to prove; who was involved, how it was done and why a crime was committed. The evidence collected by the scene of crime officer is examined within a forensic laboratory. Scene of crime officers attend a scene when it has been requested by the main detective within the case, they are involved in gathering the evidence and analysing the facts that can be found to be able to do this they have to have a brief understanding of what has happened at the scene to be able to decide what evidence is relevant and will be able to back the case up in the court of law. The main role and responsibilities of a scenes of crime officer upon attending a crime scene is to; prevent contamination this is done by wearing the appropriate PPE for the scene this consisting of a SOCO suit, gloves, goggles, mask and shoe protectors. Another role of a scene of crime officer is to identify the evidence, the scene of crime officer will examine the scene for evidence such as suspected blood splatter, fingerprints, footwear marks etc. By collecting the evidence located at the scene this allows the scenes of crime officer to build a portfolio of evidence so a suspect can be found which can then be backed up in court. They retrieve the evidence through the appropriate technique giving no damage to it for example if a fingerprint Is found at the scene the scene of crime officer will dust this fingerprint and lift it, it is important they use the correct technique allocated to the evidence so that none is contaminated or left behind at the scene. The SOCO is able to decide whether all evidence needs collecting or only important pieces of it as it may take up time within the investigation to analyse evidence that won’t be necessary. The evidence needs to be packaged correctly as it shows what investigation the evidence belongs to as well as the type of evidence and where it was taken from there are numerous types of evidence bags which go with each piece of evidence this depends on whether is it biological, physical or chemical, a scale should be used when photographing the image to give an understanding of the size of the evidence. The SOCO then has the job of logging the evidence into the chain of custody and sending it to the forensic labs.
Roles of SOCO within the Soham Murders
Due to this being a missing children's case there wasn't a known crime scene, this means until sufficient evidence was found the SOCO's weren't part of the investigation. The investigation focused on conducting search parties to find the girls, when the bodies where discovered on the 17th of August 2002 13 days after the girl’s disappearance this was the first crime scene. Within this case there where two other crime scenes as well as where the bodies were found these being the home of Ian Huntley and the small building located outside of Soham Village College. Once the SOCO's had explored all three crimes scenes they found sufficient evidence to link Ian Huntley to the killing of both young girls. They were able to do this as all evidence was taken from the scene correctly using the correct technique which ensured there was no contaminations to what had been left behind, the police force ended up with sufficient evidence that could be used to back the case up in the court of law which lead to the guilty party being placed in prison. Below is a piece of evidence (clothing the two individuals where wearing) found in the small building left by Ian Huntley which contained his DNA. You can learn more about the evidence retrieved from the scene on the tab labelled gathering and analysing facts.
The scene of crime officers role would vary depending on the crime scene they are attending, an example of this is within the Soham murders the scene of crime officers where to gather evidence to prove what had happened to the two young girls, this type of evidence consisting of hair samples, fingerprints, bodies etc. but within a different type of case being a terrorist attack the scene of crime officers would examine the scene for evidence which could be linked to determining what occurred and who carried out the attack, potential evidence looked for at a scene of a terrorist attack would be possible bomb’s. The scene of crime officer would also go about this by collecting the evidence in a different way, for example this type of evidence wouldn’t be swabbed or dusted it would be placed in the correct packaging and examined at the laboratory, the scene of crime officer would adjust there roles and responsibilities to fit the given crime scene.
The scene of crime officers role would vary depending on the crime scene they are attending, an example of this is within the Soham murders the scene of crime officers where to gather evidence to prove what had happened to the two young girls, this type of evidence consisting of hair samples, fingerprints, bodies etc. but within a different type of case being a terrorist attack the scene of crime officers would examine the scene for evidence which could be linked to determining what occurred and who carried out the attack, potential evidence looked for at a scene of a terrorist attack would be possible bomb’s. The scene of crime officer would also go about this by collecting the evidence in a different way, for example this type of evidence wouldn’t be swabbed or dusted it would be placed in the correct packaging and examined at the laboratory, the scene of crime officer would adjust there roles and responsibilities to fit the given crime scene.