Collection of Evidence at Crime Scenes
The collection of evidence is critical knowledge that can assist incident responders in comprehending the process of tracing and attacking the attacker. Hence, the incident responders should capture where they can find the proof and how to collect it. The collection, recognition, analysis, and preservation of the evidence should be well maintained because physical evidence plays a critical role and influence in law enforcement. Without the proper processing and handling of evidence, the forensic value of the proof may be inadmissible to the court or diminish (Miller, 2018). The most significant evidence preservation and collection factor is protecting the crime scene.
The protection, collection, and forensic analysis of traditional and environmental evidence in most crime cases are often essential in determining the guilty and innocent. In an investigation, the evidence must be carefully recorded, handled, and preserved (Houck et al., 2018). Evidence from crime scenes must be collected and examined diligently. Evidence gathering for environmental crimes is complex and calls both specialized techniques and an all-encompassing strategy.
The Difference Between Traditional and Environmental Crime Scene Investigation and Analysis
The significant difference between traditional and environmental crime scene investigation is the kind of evidence that is being collected. Investigators collect proof in the standard crime scene, such as blood stains, fingerprints, or weapons. However, in an environmental crime scene, the investigators collect water, soil, or air samples to test for the claimed contamination. In addition, they can collect photographic or video proof of the destruction caused (Houck et al., 2018). If no criminal investigation is conducted, then the evidence must be sampled only to determine the right ways of disposing of materials.
Nonetheless, the case represents a possible environmental crime scene, having prosecutors and investigators side interests in following the case. In that case, proof collection should be regarded in addition to clean-up, mitigation, and disposal activities. In an incident that poses an abrupt threat to public safety, it will be appropriate to gather evidence while stabilizing the situation, for example, when over-packing a diesel leaking tank (Miller, 2018). Nevertheless, evidence collection may also be carried out during the incident clean-up stage.
Evidence from environmental crime scenes due to oil spills may be challenging to get as the oil can be spread over a vast region or positioned in a site that is inaccessible to crime investigators. An investigator must utilize specialized equipment or gadgets to collect samples from oil spills. Some examples of the equipment are absorbent pads and skimmers (Drielak, 2018). The incident should be recorded to be used as evidence in a legal case highlighting the significance of the evidence collection stage.
Collecting and analyzing evidence at the crime scenes comprising an oil spill could be challenging because it can necessitate the application of sophisticated laboratory equipment. In the case of an oil spill, forensic oil spill modeling is needed to put interdisciplinary information. For example, oceanographic, chemical, and atmospheric, together to narrate a coherent story. In addition, to identify, for instance, whether or not oil and water samples have potentially harmful substances, it will be critical to carry out a sample analysis. The outcomes of the studies can provide crucial evidence for the case against those responsible for the oil spills. This aligns with oil spills’ potential risks to the environment and people’s health, as they should be comprehensively investigated (Houck et al., 2018). The oiled materials, as evidence, are collected in drums and buckets for transfer to the laboratory for analysis.
The collection of oil spills evidence to aid prosecution that can shape the public views about environmental crime cases for understandable reasons, provided the disputes of the spill and penalties. The involvement in the Gulf oil spill was the same as those other ecological crimes. It concerns large companies that committed serious breaches since they put profits before employee safety and environmental compliance. The most distinctive evidence qualities of the spill create an inconsistent ecological crime. Hence, the Justice Department must press criminal charges for the oil spill. It is noted that criminal prosecution can deter future oil spills better than the preferred civil penalties. It may articulate societal condemnation of the negligence contributing to the falls where civil enforcement fails (Miller, 2018). In the case of an oil spill, investigators should pay greater attention to public safety and rigorously enforce their drilling regulations and laws.
Oil spills physical evidence may be found at the crime scene allowing investigators to establish a sense of how the crime was committed. The samples of oil collected at the scene can show an area where the conflict occurred. The physical evidence gathered is a valued exhibit that can offer general information between people, objects, and incidents. Further, forensic analysis and examination of collected oil samples might turn the productions into potential ways of addressing the crime (Houck et al., 2018) about different federal and state laws that can be meaningful to prosecute environmental crime based on the evidence collected from oil spill incidents.
Implications of Differences in Investigations
The more profound ramifications of these differences remain unexplored. Formal investigations often have the luxury of immediacy, dealing with present and tangible evidence. In contrast, with their dispersed evidence, environmental crimes introduce complexities in pinpointing responsibility and gauging the extent of the damage. The inherent challenges of environmental crimes aren’t just logistical but also methodological. Evidence like oil can transform due to external factors, complicating its collection and Analysis. The Analysis touches upon these challenges but needs to critically examine how they might impact the validity of the evidence or the fairness of the subsequent legal proceedings.
Critical Analysis using the Gulf Oil Spill
The Gulf oil spill could be utilized to its full analytical potential. Such a significant event could serve as a lens to assess current investigative methodologies’ efficacy critically. For instance, how did the affected area’s vastness influence the evidence collection? Were there discrepancies in the evidence due to the duration of the investigation? And how did corporate involvement shape the investigative process? Due to the spill’s length, evidence changed dispersed all through huge maritime regions, impacting numerous jurisdictions and ecosystems. Assessing the spill’s instant and lengthy-time period ecological and health consequences changed into essential to decide the entire scope of the damage. The investigation needed to remember the spill’s depth, the quantity of oil discharged, and how long it leaked. A giant enterprise’s involvement also brought additional prison and administrative problems. The incident accentuates the necessity for specialized devices and an all-encompassing approach to environmental crime investigations.
Conclusion
Consequently, evidence collected at the crime scene may help bring perpetrators of these crimes to justice and dissuade others from committing similar actions. Oil spill bulks are the effect of government agencies and corporations being negligent. Hence, investigating these sorts of crimes may be difficult for several reasons, including the probability that more than one person was accountable and responsible and substantial evidence quantity gathered nonetheless if a considerable amount of effort and time is invested in evaluating and investigating the incident. It is probable to develop an enthralling case against people responsible for the oil spills, such as the Gulf oil spill in Mexico.
References
Drielak, S. C. (2018). Environmental crime: Evidence gathering and investigative techniques (1st ed.). Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Houck, M. M., Crispino, F., & McAdam, T. (2018). Collection. The Science of Crime Scenes, 1(4), 167-186. Web.
Miller, M. T. (2018). Physical evidence at the crime scenes. Crime Scene Investigation Laboratory Manual, 7-11. Web.