ABSTRACT
With the arrival of the crime scene technicians, responsibility for the scene transitions from the first responders, who attempted to control and protect the scene, to the investigators who have responsibility for “processing” the scene. Process is a very simple word that means “to submit something to a treatment or preparation.” But what is this treatment and how is it accomplished?1 The fact of the matter is that there is no one right way to process a crime scene. The methods and the order in which those methods are employed is a product of the situation and the resources available to the technician. Nevertheless, there is an underlying rhyme and reason to scene processing; there are certain sequences of procedures that must be employed throughout the overall process. Although it may appear to be a haphazard affair, there is a clear method to the madness in scene processing. To recognize both the necessity and practical application of this sequential order, we must revisit the basic goal of crime scene processing.
