Final Project 1 Final Project: Crime Scene Investigator Teresa Jurado and German Gomez The University of Texas at El Paso Balko Radley (2015). “A brief history of forensics” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/21/a-brief-history-of-forensics/ Final Project 2 The Washington Post focused on important history how forensics came together. It informed me about how forensics was first brought up in 1911 This article is helpful to our final project because it can provide us with reliable background history information on how forensics was developed. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wages (2018).”Detectives and Criminal Investigators” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes333021.htm In this article, it provides us a map of the United States by pointing out the employment and wages estimated in the month of May year 2018. Also, it introduces percentile wage estimates for each different occupation in the career whether its high ranking or low. This source is helpful to our project because it gives us well estimates and information about the employment of a crime scene investigator. Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, NIST, NFSTC. (2013). Crime scene investigation: a guide for law enforcement. Washington, D.C. Retrieved November 21, 2019 from https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/default/files/offices/police/policies/Crime-Scene-Investigation.pd The documentation and evaluation scene is explained in this PDF to understand the principle, policy, and procedures of given case. This PDF can be informative and beneficial to our project because we can understand the restrictions of a crime scene investigator. CSI Training. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2019 Retrieved from https://www.crimesceneinvestigatoredu.org/training/. Final Project 3 In this website it explains the requirements of each state and different training certifications. This can be helpful to our project to understand and list the different requirements to become a CSI. Castaneda, L., & Ridgeway, G. (2010). Perceived Pros and Cons of Law Enforcement Careers. In Today's Police and Sheriff Recruits: Insights from the Newest Members of America's Law Castaneda, L., & Ridgeway, G. (2010). Perceived Pros and Cons of Law Enforcement Careers. In Today's Police and Sheriff Recruits: Insights from the Newest Members of America's Law Enforcement Community (pp. 15-40). Santa Monica, CA; Arlington, VA; Pittsburgh, PA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved November 18, 2019 from www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mg992doj.10 In this textbook, some studies performed on law enforcement workers can be viewed. Interviews and survey questions about why they chose their career and how they think it’s beneficiary for them. We can utilize this source to expand on the advantages and disadvantages of becoming a crime scene investigator. Crime Scene Investigator. (n.d.). November 19, 2019 retrieved from https://www.correctionalofficer.org/career/crime-scene-investigator. This website is resourceful because it explains the career path for a crime scene investigations. It also provides the detailed job descriptions of CSI. It lists the qualities of a successful investigators. Chandler. A. M. (2012). “Women at the Forefront of Booming Forensic Science Field.” Retrieved November 3, 2019 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/womenat-forefront-of-booming-forensic-science-field/2012/07/27/gJQAkASRPX_story.html Final Project 4 The Washington Post covered students from George Mason University that are enrolled in the field of forensic science. It is explained that statistics show that women are more active in this field than men. The demographics displayed by this article can help our project diferénciate which gender is more unfolded in the crime scene investigation field. Criminal Justice degree Schools (2019).”Crime Scene Investigator: Study Guide” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from Https://www.criminaljusticedegreeschools.com/criminal-justice-careers/crime-scene-investigator In this article, the author gives brief descriptions about crime scene investigators. It informs us about the salary and helpful skills about this career. This website can be reliable to our final project because we could explain the guidelines and requirements in this career. Also, it allows us to look into more reliable sources on this website. “Forensic Science History.” Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://www.troopers.ny.gov/Crime_Laboratory_System/History/Forensic_Science_History/ The New York State police department created a section on their website to include the history of forensic science. Main points of the 1800s, 1900s, and 21st century are included. With the main points given on the section, we will add them to our timeline to organize the events, while describing how they changed crime scene history. Inman, K., & Rudin, N. (2001). Principles and practice of criminalistics: the profession of forensic science. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Retrieved from November 19, 2019 from http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhefner/forensic_Timeline.pdf Final Project 5 In this book, many things are mentioned, but the useful information for our final project would be the explanation of the evolution of forensics. This timeline is well explained and can be resourceful to complete our timeline. Julia Layton.”How Crime Scene Investigation Works” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.acschools.org/cms/lib/PA01916405/Centricity/Domain/362/How%20Crime%20Sce ne%20Investigation%20Works%20Article.pdf In this article it explains with important details how a crime investigation works. It touches on the rules of an investigator and what procedures they have to take when arrival to scene. This article can help us by including the steps of an investigator and the strategies they have to do when arrival at scene. International Crime Scene Investigators Association (2005).”ICSIA” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.icsia.org/how-to-become-a-csi/ In this document, it introduces us a knowledgeable source which talks about “ICSIA” in other words “International Crime Scene Investigators Association”. This article provides us with well explained background definitions of what International Crime Scene Investigators Association really means. This is useful to our project because we’re able to find valid information. Los Angeles Police Department. Forensic Science Division History. Retrieved November 19, 2019, from Final Project 6 http://www.lapdonline.org/FORENSICSCIENCEANDTECHNICALDIVISION/content_basic_v iew/6399 The Los Angeles Police Department created a section in their webpage about the history of forensic science. Including the when the first forensic lab was created. This document is useful to our project since it provides vital information on the history of crime scene investigation. Melissa Beattie-Moss (2013).”Do women dominate the field of forensic science?”Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://news.psu.edu/story/276199/2013/05/07/research/probing-question-do-women-dominatefield-forensic-science In this website, the author debates about if the field of crime scene investigators has been taken over by women. It states facts about the history of this career specifically and also introduces many investigators. This document is usable for our project for the debate between the genders in this field. Post University (2019). “ 5 Benefits of a criminal justice degree” Retrieved November 19, 2019, from https://post.edu/blog/2017/02/5-benefits-criminal-justice-degree/ In this article, it explains the benefits of becoming a crime scene investigator. It briefly states that this career is a competitive job and takes a lot of requirements to be able to be Final Project 7 successful in it. This website is reliable, reasons being is that it explains well educated reasons on why considering a job as an investigator could be a wise decision someone would make. Rich Press (2017). “Who was detective X?. Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.nist.gov/featured-stories/who-was-detective-x In this article, it breaks down information about a detective/ investigator named Wilmer Souder. Also, it explains the reasons why wilmer Souder was also nicknamed as “detective X”. This webpage is a good source because it provides us information about Wilmer Souder’s History. Technical Working Group on Crime Scene Investigation (2000). “Crime Scene Investigation A Guide for Law Enforcement Research Report” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/178280.pdf In this PDF it introduces us a guideline on the responsibilities of a law enforcement when they arrive at a crime scene. It focuses on a chronological order of steps of what an officer should proceed when arrival at crime scene. This is helpful to our final project because it provides us with brief information and background history about our topic. Timothy Roufa (2019).”Why Choose a Career in Criminal Justice or Criminology?” Retrieved November 19, 2019, from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/why-choose-a-career-in-criminal-justice-or-criminology974590 Final Project 8 In this document, it persuades the reader into why they should get a career in the criminal justice field. It explains the benefits about forensic science and also it provides well explained details about the perks of deciding the field of criminology. This article is beneficial to us because it can be usable for the comparison of the pros and cons about this career field. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. (2000). Crime scene investigation: a guide for law enforcement. Washington, DC. Retrieved November 19, 2019 from https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/about-us/lab/forensic-sciencecommunications/fsc/april2000/twgcsi.pdf In this PDF, it exemplifies the different dangerous situations that a crime scene investigator might be exposed to in different cases. It explains the safety regulations that a CSI has to follow within different cases. This can be very useful to our project to be aware of the different difficult cases and mention in the pros and cons section. Timeline. (2016, June 17). Retrieved November 19, 2019 from https://www.fbi.gov/history/timeline In this website, there is the evolution of different cases and strategies used for crime scene investigations. We can use this source in our final project to complete our history timeline and add different details to it. U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. (2013). The fingerprint sourcebook. Washington, DC. Retrieved November 19, 2019 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/225321.pdf Final Project 9 In this website, the history of fingerprints is listed in the crime history. Fingerprints changed the investigations of crime history and enhanced accuracy of criminal cases. This website can be a good resource of information for our final project because we can easily add information to our timeline. Intro Crime scene investigation is a career that interests both of us because of the time that has to be invested in critical thinking. The expertise to collect evidence and determine where it comes from and the reason as to why it exists, is what attracts our attention to this career. To Teresa, this career brings a level of critical thinking that requires her to implement her investigative skills into knowing the significance of the evidence collected. To German, this career can allow him to develop the interactive and questioning skills to advance in the FBI field. Timeline ● 1923 August vollmer is named LAPD chief of police and laid ground for SID (scientific investigation division) to exist ● July 1923 Police officer Rex Welsh was named criminalist by LAPD after completed scientific work during college. He was given a microscope, chemicals, some glassware, and a small lab to work in criminal investigations. ● 1929 ray pinker joins welsh with taking over technical, physcial evidence while welsh ofuced on narcotics analysis Final Project 10 ● 1934 welsh dies and LEland jones replaces him. Jones and Pinker learned about tracing evidence and latent fingerprinting collection and analysis. ● 1930s/1940s criminalists, fingerprint specialist, and forensics photographers were added to crime scene staff under SID ● 1950s Los Angeles city council provided funds for new police facilities. SID moved into the Police Administration Building (PAB), installing a criminalists lab,photography, electronics, polygraph, questioned documents, and latent print units. ● 1970s SID staffing increased ● 1980’s first computer database of fingerprints was created and was known as the Automated fingerprint identification system(AFIS). ● 1990s Firearms and Explosives Division created ● 1990 SID is divided into 3 sections: Criminalist Laboratory, Technical Laboratory, and Explosives Section. ● 1995 National Institute of Justice began investigating cases in which convicted sex offenders were later exonerated by DNA testing ● 1998 the Technical Working Group on Crime Scene Investigation(TWGCSI) begins to be created by the Crime Scene Planning Panel (NCSPP). Personnel for TWGCSI was made up of law enforcement, forensic science, crime scene training, the prosecution, and the defense. ● December 1998 TWGCSI separated the crime scene guide into 4 sections: Arriving at the scene, preliminary documentation and evaluation of scene, processing the scene, and completing/ recording the crime scene investigation ● 2002 A solution was created to eliminate plasma based polyatomic interferences. Final Project 11 ● 2003 An inorganic chemical analysis was designed. ● May 2009 a forensics toolkit for the xbox gaming console, agents can easily access to the hard drive where most criminals hide information. ● March 2012 applying Carbon-14 dating to human remains to determine year of birth or year of death. ● March 2015 New technique to recover destroy serial numbers from metal objects. ● 2015 UV alternate light is able to tell bruises when a four ounce weight was dropped down a five foot tube onto subjects’ ventral forearms. ● 2017 Jonathan Adelman develops an Assessment for Contributor Estimate (PACE) a machine that determines at a fast pace the number of contributors in a DNA sample. ● February 2018 Sensitive detection of the small molecule targeted by using binding split aptamers. ● May 2019 Researcher creates new lubricant database to help solve sexual crime assaults. Game Changer We decided to give a feedback information on a little known investigator/detective name Wilmer Souder. The reason why we picked Wilmer souder is because we caught our eye of attention when we started researching more about his background history. It was so interesting the way he contributed to the “NIST” in other words the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The purpose of the NIST was to help develop more strategies or techniques therefore, an investigator wouldn't have a hard time collecting evidence at Final Project 12 the crime scene. At first, in 1913 Wilmer Souder led the NIST therefore, he became one of the top crime scene investigators across the nation. Which around the 1930’s through the 1950’s Wilmer effectively introduced reliable evidence to numerous cases he faced throughout his career. He contributed a positive way towards his career of being an investigator. We believe Wilmer Souder should be remembered because he helped by increasing the varieties of tools an investigator might use during a scene. The career of forensic science started to be more effective thanks to Wilmer which was also very hidden investigator due to his contribution to his job, being a federal crime scene investigator. Wilmer Souder was a very intelligent and well educated man that he considered himself one of the forefathers of forensic science. Despite the fact that Wilmer Souder wasn't well known, many people believe that he took on a huge role in producing the career of forensic science in a way to make it less difficult to find valuable evidence in crime investigations. Demographics Many people think the career of a crime scene investigator has always been taken over by men. In fact, the latest stats about the programs of forensic science for women has tripled the number of percentage of men in the program of forensic science. This shows that eventually woman might take over the career field of investigation. There are also different types of wages for certain varieties of investigators. For example, the starting wage of a high level occupation for an investigators is $138,860 annually. Surprisingly the wage for the lowest level occupation is about 100 thousand less than that starting wage for the highest level occupation. However, residency also takes a huge role of the earnings of a crime scene investigator. The reason why some investigators have different Final Project 13 wages from others is because it depends if the state or city the stay in a metropolitan area or nonmetropolitan area. What this means is that those cities that have a high crime rate are most likely to have a high employment rate but it would also depend how much an investigator would earn depending on the tax rates of the investigators residency. There is a variety of ethinic groups that are involved in crime scene investigation programs. Advantages and Disadvantages Pros: ● Finding evidence that incriminates the person that commited a crime ● Police officers ● Justice for the victims and survivors ● Health benefits ● Ability to transfer skills ● Nationwide opportunities ● Flexible training options ● Often have government benefits Cons: ● Long Shifts ● Heavy Lifting ● On Call (including bad weather) ● Unpleasant scenes ● Criminals benefit from forensic tv shows ● Cope with trauma Final Project 14 ● Night shifts, holiday shifts ● Potential danger ● Mandatory retirement age Conclusion In conclusion, becoming a crime scene investigator takes plenty of requirements to be able to be reliable in its career field. Even though, the both of us are indecisive about what to study in the field of criminal justice. We have a huge interest in becoming a crime scene investigators. What caught our eye about this specific career was that we get to collect evidence and analyze the valid information that was found at the crime scene. Not only that but we get to discover what was the cause and effect of the crime. Our opinion about becoming or studying to be a crime scene investigator is that everytime we would research about our career, information here and there would catch our attention because there was plenty of reliable information that we didn't know about our career. We would say that's a good thing, reasons being is that it keeps us curious about what more else a crime scene investigator does for its career. Some things we didn't know about a crime scene investigator is that they spend more time on their career jobs than civil time. Before researching i didn't figure that a crime scene investigator has different shifts during the day. This is a fact because crimes may occur at anytime in any day. Investigators have different shifts throughout the day for example they could go in the morning and still have to work overtime researching about a specific crime case. References Balko Radley (2015). “A brief history of forensics” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/04/21/a-brief-history-of- Final Project 15 forensics/Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, NIST, NFSTC. (2013). Crime scene investigation: a guide for law enforcement. Washington, D.C. Retrieved November 21, 2019 from https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/default/files/offices/police/policies/Crime-SceneInvestigation.pd Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wages (2018).”Detectives and Criminal Investigators” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes333021.htm Castaneda, L., & Ridgeway, G. (2010). Perceived Pros and Cons of Law Enforcement Careers. In Today's Police and Sheriff Recruits: Insights from the Newest Members of America's Law Enforcement Community (pp. 15-40). Santa Monica, CA; Arlington, VA; Pittsburgh, PA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved November 18, 2019 from www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mg992doj.10 CSI Training. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2019 Retrieved from https://www.crimesceneinvestigatoredu.org/training/. Chandler. A. M. (2012). “Women at the Forefront of Booming Forensic Science Field.” Retrieved November 3, 2019 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/womenat-forefront-of-booming-forensic-science-field/2012/07/27/gJQAkASRPX_story.html Criminal Justice degree Schools (2019).”Crime Scene Investigator: Study Guide” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from Https://www.criminaljusticedegreeschools.com/criminal-justice-careers/crime-sceneinvestigator Final Project 16 Crime Scene Investigator. (n.d.). November 19, 2019 retrieved from https://www.correctionalofficer.org/career/crime-scene-investigator. “Forensic Science History.” Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://www.troopers.ny.gov/Crime_Laboratory_System/History/Forensic_Science_History/ International Crime Scene Investigators Association (2005).”ICSIA” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.icsia.org/how-to-become-a-csi/ Inman, K., & Rudin, N. (2001). Principles and practice of criminalistics: the profession of forensic science. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Retrieved from November 19, 2019 from http://plaza.ufl.edu/jhefner/forensic_Timeline.pdf Julia Layton.”How Crime Scene Investigation Works” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.acschools.org/cms/lib/PA01916405/Centricity/Domain/362/How%20Crime%20Sce ne%20Investigation%20Works%20Article.pdf Los Angeles Police Department. Forensic Science Division History. Retrieved November 19, 2019, from http://www.lapdonline.org/FORENSICSCIENCEANDTECHNICALDIVISION/content_basic_v iew/6399 Melissa Beattie-Moss (2013).”Do women dominate the field of forensic science?”Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://news.psu.edu/story/276199/2013/05/07/research/probing-question-do-women-dominatefield-forensic-science Final Project 17 Post University (2019). “ 5 Benefits of a criminal justice degree” Retrieved November 19, 2019, from https://post.edu/blog/2017/02/5-benefits-criminal-justice-degree/ Rich Press (2017). “Who was detective X?. Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.nist.gov/featured-stories/who-was-detective-x Technical Working Group on Crime Scene Investigation (2000). “Crime Scene Investigation A Guide for Law Enforcement Research Report” Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/178280.pdf Timothy Roufa (2019).”Why Choose a Career in Criminal Justice or Criminology?” Retrieved November 19, 2019, from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/why-choose-a-career-in-criminal-justice-or-criminology974590 Timeline. (2016, June 17). Retrieved November 19, 2019 from https://www.fbi.gov/history/timeline U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. (2000). Crime scene investigation: a guide for law enforcement. Washington, DC. Retrieved November 19, 2019 from https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/about-us/lab/forensic-sciencecommunications/fsc/april2000/twgcsi.pdf