No excuse for letting in gawkers

The chaotic sight of reporters, photographers and TV cameramen scavenging about the apartment of the San Bernardino mass murders raises many questions about who was is in charge of the crime scene.

The crime scene is the critical nucleus of raw undeveloped information that will unlock the code of who did it and how it was done. But this crime scene has been totally compromised and no longer has any investigative value.

FBI spokeswoman Lourdes Arocho said the Redlands apartment was no longer an active crime scene.

Yet San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Olivia Bozek said, “As far as they told us, it’s still an active investigation going on over there so I don’t know why there’s people in there.”

Confusion like this is not helpful as America braces for a new wave of terrorist attacks.

After processing a crime scene, additional evidence may be developed, so it’s not unusual for investigators to have to return to the scene.

There was absolutely no reason why that crime scene should have been opened to the media. The area should not only have been secured, it should have been guarded.

It is critical to maintain the integrity of a crime scene. Understanding the immensity of this crime is all the more reason why investigators and agents should have proceeded slowly and maintained the site as long as possible.

The media serves a critical purpose in our society and a great need to be part of a developing story, but what we saw in San Bernardino on Friday was wrong. The FBI acted irresponsibly and so did the media.

Until everything is known about the motives of Farook and his wife, and any possible co-conspirators they may have had, until every question has been answered, that house should have remained secured.

Casale is an ex-NYPD officer and a former deputy director of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.