From Crime Scene to Laboratory

This chapter starts by considering the crime scene from the perspective of a trace examiner. It provides a broad forensic context for forensic fibre examinations, starting at the crime scene and working through to protocols and procedures for the laboratory examination of fibres. Crime scene examination is a specialist role requiring specific training and competencies. What most laboratory forensic scientists would not share is specific training in the practical aspects of crime scene examination. Crime scene examination is a specialist role requiring specific training and competencies. Unless a laboratory forensic scientist has received such detailed training they should not purport to be crime scene examiners (CSE). Hence, in an ideal world the trace examiner would be part of a team in which the various specialists would understand their roles and usually work under the direction of the CSE with overall responsibility for the forensic management of the scene.