ABSTRACT
The proper processing of a crime scene is the lynchpin of successful forensic investigations. The skills, knowledge and attitudes of crime scene investigators comprise both the strength and the potential weakness of an investigation. No matter how rigorous later laboratory analyses are, they are worthless if the evidence collected at the scene does not include samples of sufficient size, both for all the required analyses and to represent the natural variation that exists, if control and reference samples are not taken, or if the packaging, labelling and storage are inappropriate. Given that forensic investigation has evolved very rapidly in recent times and become more closely based in scientific concepts (for example, increasing miniaturisation and hence portability of equipment suggests that some biological and chemical analyses will be conducted at the crime scene within the foreseeable future), it is important to evaluate the education and training provided to crime scene investigators.
