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Sunday, October 02, 2005
Policemen told: Keep politicians, bystanders away from crime scene
Aside from possibly contaminating vital evidence, people who have no business being in a crime scene also expose themselves to health risks.
Keeping media personnel, politicians and curious bystanders at bay was a point emphasized by Colin Warburton, United Kingdom (UK) police attaché to the Philippines.
He said officers tasked to investigate crime scenes need to wear forensic clothing because they do not know if they are exposing themselves to hepatitis B or the Aids virus.
Warburton was one of four lecturers in a seminar sponsored by the Philippine Public Safety College and the British Embassy last Wednesday.
“If politicians do not visit a crime scene, it does not mean they are not interested in the [welfare of their constituents],” Warburton said.
Role
He said, though, that keeping them away from the crime scene doesn’t mean police don’t want to cooperate with them.
“They also have a role to play. You can tell them what is happening without causing evidential problems,” Warburton told the close to 80 participants, mostly policemen.
He said the first one who arrives at the scene should secure it. In the UK, even top ranked officials who have no business at the crime scene are not allowed inside the set perimeter.
Wednesday’s seminar aimed to make participants aware physical evidence was crucial in prosecuting a case.
Clumsy
The lecturers all said that if case handlers were clumsy in handling evidence, lawyers representing the suspects could use this to save their clients.
Chief Insp. Francisco Supe, who heads the DNA laboratory at the Crime Laboratory, said the problem with a contaminated crime scene is that test results are erroneous.
More than one
Warburton said that ideally, an officer is nominated to ensure that access to the crime scene is refused to all non-essential personnel, including senior ranked police officials.
Senior Supt. Marlene Salangad, director of the National Forensic Science Training Institute, said that for some crimes, there is more than one crime scene.
As example, she said that if a rapist entered a young girl’s bedroom, abducted her, forced her into a car, raped her in a hut and buried her in the woods, there are four crime scenes that need to be investigated.
Federal agent Iain Sinclair, Australian federal police and senior police advisor of the PNP Bomb Data Center, pointed out the dangers of being in a bomb scene.
He said some may not know it, but cellular phones and handheld radios can actually detonate secondary devices hidden at a bomb scene. (MEA)
(October 2, 2005 issue)
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