On the job with the team at the scene of the crime
Crime scene investigators do not inhabit a TV show … the reality is they witness the worst in human behaviour,
TV crime shows such as CSI and Law & Order do not often reflect the harsh realities of the job done by those away from rolling cameras. While crime scene investigators say their job is important and interesting it can also be traumatic and consuming.
“We finish office hours but can be called in to attend to a crime scene at any time,” says Capt Mohammed Abdullah, an Emirati crime scene supervisor at Ajman Police. His role is to oversee the gathering of evidence.
“There are so many challenges, from the images we see to the effects of the things we see. The odour of a body finds its way to our skin despite the special suits we wear.”
Lt Nasser Al Thaheri, a crime scene examiner, said that the job was not for the faint-hearted.
“Many times we can’t even eat because we don’t have the appetite,” he says.
Since its inception in 2011, Ajman’s CSI has worked on 4,517 cases, and only about 10 per cent of them are left unsolved.
“Our team is sent to a crime scene where they first work on preserving the place, then collect all evidence available,” says Capt Abdullah Al Awadi, head of Ajman CSI. “They lift up all kinds of prints found, and they collect and pack hard and biological evidence.”
Crime scene investigators are responsible for identifying, collecting, preserving and packaging physical evidence, from guns and fingerprints to DNA samples and photographic evidence.
The evidence is studied, analysed and tested, and results are compared to data on their system. That includes fingerprints and blood types to place of residence, work location and car plate number.
Capt Al Awadi says that one of the biggest problems is compromised crime scenes.
“If you are the first to a scene, don’t touch anything, don’t move a thing from its place and try to keep everyone away until experts arrive,” he says. “The loss of evidence can mean a case goes unsolved and a criminal remains free.”
Some victims of crime start cleaning up and destroy evidence in the process, while passers-by can also cause problems.
“Curious individuals often destroy evidence while trying to find out what happened,” Capt Al Awadi says.
Paramedics and other first responders can also compromise a scene, although they are being trained by police.
There are some images that stay with CSI workers for life. For Sudanese fingerprint expert Khalaf Yousuf, it was that of a Pakistani girl, 13, who was stabbed to death by a suitor because her father thought she was too young to wed.
It happened in 1993, but it still haunts Mr Yousuf.
“I can’t forget that innocent face. I still imagine her holding her Quran and walking back home,” he says. “This case affected me greatly because I have daughters. But we don’t carry it home, it must remain away from our personal life.”
The killer waited for the girl to finish her Quran lesson then stabbed her and fled in a taxi. When the driver noticed his bloodied clothes he drove the culprit to Ajman Police headquarters, where he was arrested.
Mr Yousuf says the case was so serious that Ajman’s Ruler, Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, questioned the suspect. The man was convicted and executed.
The evidence gathered by Ajman CSI has proven vital in many cases, and has been found in some strange places.
There has been DNA found in faeces left at the scene of a theft, saliva on the door of a car that a serial carjacker was trying to steal, and evidence found on a leaf that convicted a man in the theft of a car showroom’s safe.
But regardless of the situation and the evidence, Capt Al Awadi says there is always something that helps them to find the clues needed.
“All cases have different conditions and circumstances but there is one rule in common – at the time of the crime itself, the criminal is detached from reality, rational thinking and in some cases from his humanity,” he says.