ABSTRACT
In order to understand and ultimately achieve a solution to the puzzle that each crime scene represents, a number of different entities must work together. These entities include the initial responding officers, the crime scene technicians, the investigators, and the laboratory scientists. Each one of these groups plays a critical role, and each has specific responsibilities. How these groups interact in a given situation is organizationally driven; thus SOP (standard operating procedures) and custom will define specific responsibilities differently in different organizations. Some of the factors that will affect these differences include the size of the organization, technical capabilities internal to the organization, and preferences on the part of the supervisors involved. In whatever fashion an organization chooses to define responsibility, a failure of the groups to work together or a failure of any one group to do its individual part will hobble an investigation.
