Accelerant:  When starting a fire starting, an accelerant is any flammable fluid or compound that speeds the progress of a fire.

 

Administrative:  Each crime scene is assigned a crime scene coordinator. This is a written record of the actions taken by the crime scene coordinator, including assignments and release of the scene.

 

Admissibility:  A legal criterion used to determine whether an item of evidence can be presented in court; requires that the evidence have relevance, materiality, and competence.

 

Admission:  This is when a person of interest acknowledges certain facts or circumstances that could incriminate them with respect to a crime. This is not enough to constitute a complete confession.

 

Affidavit:  A written, sworn statement of the information/facts.

 

AFIS:  The Automated Fingerprint Identification System which is maintained by the FBI and stores millions of fingerprints. Law enforcement uses the system to compare fingerprints taken at a crime scene for identification purposes.

  

Amido black:  A dye that is sensitive to blood. It is used to develop fingerprints contaminated with blood.

 

Anthropometry:  This is the study and comparison of body measurements as a means of identifying criminals.

​

Assignment sheets:  These are given to authorized persons assigned tasks at a crime scene that document what they have done and found.

​

Associative evidence:  Bidirectional evidence that connects the perpetrator to the scene or victim or connects the scene or victim to the perpetrator.

 

Autopsy:  The formal examination of a body conducted by the medical examiner to determine the time and cause of death. An autopsy is required in all cases of violent or suspicious death.

​

Basic yellow 40:   A dye that causes latent prints to fluoresce under alternative lighting.

​

Battered-child syndrome:  The clinical term for the injuries sustained by a physically abused child.

​

Behavioral evidence analysis (BEA):  A process in which characteristics of the perpetrator are determined from evidence at the crime scene helping to create a criminal profile.

​

Be-on-the-lookout (BOLO):  A notification broadcast to officers that contains detailed information on suspects and their vehicles. Police put out a BOLO on a suspect.

 

Bore:  The diameter of a gun barrel's interior between its opposing high sides.

​

Burn indicators:  Any effects of heat or partial burning that indicate a fire's rate of development, points of origin, temperature, duration, and time of occurrence and the presence of flammable liquids.

​

Cadaver dogs:  Dogs trained to be sensitive to the odor of decomposing human remains. They assist in locating bodies buried in the ground or submerged in water.

 

Cadaveric spasm:  The instantaneous tightening of an extremity or other part of the body at the time of death. Also called the death grip.

 

Caliber:  The diameter of a bullet itself which is somewhat larger than the bore of the weapon from which the bullet is fired.

 

Chain of custody:  The witnessed, unbroken, written chronological record of everyone who had an item of evidence and when each person had it; also accounts for any changes in the evidence.

 

Charring:  The scorching of materials by fire. This is used to deduce the direction of fire spread by comparing relative depths of char throughout the scene.

​

Chop shop:  An illegal operation where stolen cars are disassembled and their traceable parts are altered or disposed of so that untraceable parts can be sold.

 

CID:  Criminal Investigation Department.

 

Class characteristics:  Characteristics of physical evidence that are common to a group of objects or persons.

 

Cognitive interview technique:  This is an approach by interviewers in which a witness is asked to recall events and details in different ways to foster their recollections.

 

Combined DNA Index System (CODIS):  Developed by the FBI, a database of convicted offenders and known- and unknown-subject DNA profiles that is used to find matches and to link unsolved crimes in multiple jurisdictions.

​

Concentric fractures:  Lines that roughly circle the point of impact in a glass window.

 

Contaminated/visible prints:  These are prints created when fingers contaminated with blood, face powder, or a similar material touch a clean surface.

​

Crime analysis:  The use of systematic analytical methods to acquire timely and pertinent information on crime patterns and trend correlations.

 

Crime scene entry log:  A written chronological record of all persons who enter and leave the crime scene and the times they do so.

 

Crime scene release:  This is the end of crime scene processing and the return of the premises to the owner or another responsible person.

​

Criminalistics:  The application of scientific disciplines, such as geology, physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics, to criminal investigation and the study of physical evidence.

​

Criminal profiling:  The process of inferring distinctive personality characteristics of individuals who commit crimes.

​

Cross-contamination: The unwanted transfer of material between two or more sources of physical evidence.

​

Dying declaration: These are statements made by a person about to die concerning the cause or circumstance surrounding his or her impending death.

 

Evidence identifiers: These are the supplies, such as tape, labels, containers, and string tags, used to identify the evidence, the person collecting the evidence, the date the evidence was gathered, the basic criminal offense information, and a brief description of the pertinent evidence.

 

Impression evidence: Objects or materials that have retained the characteristics of other objects physically pressed against them.

 

Initial responding officer(s): The first law enforcement officer(s) to arrive at the scene.

 

Investigator(s) in charge: The official(s) responsible for the crime scene investigation.

 

Latent print: A print impression not readily visible, made by contact of the hands or feet with a surface resulting in the transfer of materials from the skin to that surface.

 

Presumptive test: A nonconfirmatory test used to screen for the presence of a substance.

 

Projectile trajectory analysis: The method for determining the path of a high-speed object through space (e.g., a bullet emanating from a firearm).

 

Single-use equipment: Items used only once to collect evidence, such as biological samples, then discarded to minimize contamination (e.g., tweezers, scalpel blades, droppers).

 

Trace evidence: Physical evidence that results from the transfer of small quantities of materials (e.g., hair, textile fibers, paint chips, glass fragments, gunshot residue particles).

 

Transient evidence: Evidence that by its very nature or the conditions at the scene will lose its evidentiary value if not preserved and protected (e.g., blood in the rain).

 

Walk-through: An initial assessment is conducted by carefully walking through the scene to evaluate the situation, recognize potential evidence, and determine the resources required. Also, a final survey conducted to ensure the scene has been effectively and completely processed.