Title: 3. Processing Law Enforcement Crime Scenes
Course: IN 2005 Digital Forensics > Section: Module 5: Chapter 5 - Processing Crime and Incident Scenes

Processing Law Enforcement Crime Scenes

1. To process a crime scene properly, you must be familiar with criminal rules of search and seizure. You should also understand how a search warrant works and what to do when you process one.
2. Law enforcement officers may search for and seize criminal evidence only with probable cause, which is facts or circumstances that lead a reasonable person to believe a crime has been committed or is about to be committed.
3. With probable cause, a police officer can obtain a search warrant from a judge that authorizes a search and seizure of specific evidence related to the criminal complaint.
4. The Fourth Amendment states that only warrants “particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized” can be issued. Use Figure 5-4 to illustrate your explanation

Understanding Concepts and Terms Used in Warrants

1. Innocent information is unrelated information often included with the evidence you’re trying to recover.
2. Judges often issue a limiting phrase to the warrant, which allows the police to separate innocent information from evidence.
3. Jhe plain view doctrine states that objects falling in plain view of an officer who has the right to be in position to have that view are subject to seizure without a warrant and may be introduced in evidence.
4. With few exceptions, warrants require that officers knock and announce their identity when executing a warrant. This is called “knock and announce.”