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Crime Scene Investigator - A day in the life
"More commonly these days we are compared with Crime Scene Investigation, following the success of American television series – CSI and CSI:Miami. "I have to be honest and say the show bears little resemblance to my job. For a start, the sun shines a lot less in Bristol! "My role at the moment is as part of a team of CSIs dedicated to investigating burglaries in Bristol. "The department operates between 8.00am and 10.00pm, seven days a week and 365 days a year – including bank holidays. Outside these hours there is a call-out system for incidents that are of a more serious nature. A TYPICAL DAY "The busiest shift is normally first thing in the morning. This is when we receive the incidents that have been reported overnight as well as those reported as people get up and arrive at work. "It gets really busy again after 5pm as people come home from work and realise they have been burgled. "There is no doubt that a domestic burglary is a traumatic event for the family concerned. As well as the examination of the crime scene, it is part of my job to provide reassurance and crime prevention advice to householders. "Typically, there are three basic components to a burglary scene: 1. Point of Entry
"It is here that the burglar will be most panicked as they try to gain entry. If they make a mistake and leave a fingerprint, this is the time they will do it. "At one particular scene today the offender had smashed the glass and in doing so had sustained a cut and had left quite a bit of blood on the window frame. "Although many burglars make some effort to conceal their fingerprints, a number of them still cut themselves whilst breaking into premises. Now that the National DNA Database has over two million records, such bloodstains – and other DNA sources – are easily checked against the database and offenders brought to account before the Criminal Justice System. 2. Areas of Search "These are the parts of the property that the burglar has searched through to find items to steal or has made any contact with. Property and other items are also potential areas where fingerprints or footprints can be found. Some items can only be examined using chemicals and need to be taken to our specialist fingerprint laboratory. I have dealt with burglaries where fingerprints have not been found at the point of entry, then gone on to develop fingerprints on items touched by the burglar that are later identified on our computer system. 3. Point of Exit
"Of course, scene examination is only a part of the whole process. I have to write a comprehensive report on the results of my examination and ensure the continuity and integrity of my evidence to the next stage in its examination. "You never know what each day will bring in this job, but you can sure it will be different and challenging and police officers and members of the public alike will be depending on my specialist knowledge and skills. "I have done this job for 22 years and before that I was a police officer. All these years on, I still get the same feeling and a great sense of job satisfaction, knowing that I am helping to make the community, my community, a safer place to live and work. "Over the years I have attended a range to courses to help me investigate fire scenes, murder and more complex larger crime scenes, explosions and major disasters. I am also a trained fire and arson investigator." |
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Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) Roger Plummer explains what it's like to work in CSI: Bristol.
"This is, quite simply, where the burglar gained access to the property. This can yield much valuable information such as how the burglar got in, what sort of tool was used to gain access, fingerprints, fibres from clothes and DNA. 
"This is where the burglar left the property. This may be the same as the point of entry, but not necessarily so. These have the potential to yield conclusive forensic evidence that is difficult to conceal - namely footwear. The vast majority of us wear some form of footwear and burglars are no different. We have access to computerised databases that help us to identify makes and models of shoes by pattern recognition, and specialists to identify individual and unique characteristics within that pattern.
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