Criminalist Ben Baldanza is collecting evidence from the scene of a shooting. After locating the revolver sus- pected of firing
the shots, Ben picks the gun up by the grip, unloads it, and places the ammunition in an enve- lope. He then attaches an identification tag to the grip. Searching the scene, Ben finds a bullet lodged in the wall. He uses pliers to grab the bullet and pull it from the wall, then inscribes the bullet with his initials and places it in an envelope. What mistakes, if any, did Ben make in collecting this evidence?
-Before unloading the revolver Ben should have noticed the position of the revolver and put a mark in the place where the chamber was aligned with barrel.
-Since each chamber is signed with a unique number on the diagram, when casing removed, he should have marked each cartridge so the number in the chamber correspond.
-He should divide every cartridge in different envelope.
-The identification tag should have been put in the trigger guard.
-The bullet must be removed without any direct contact so it won't deform, and put in a tissue paper.
The <u>first step</u> before moving something from the scene would be to photograph it, since that way we can always see the position of the weapon and any other detail we need.
Immediately continue to wear gloves to touch any type of test and not contaminate it with our fingerprints.
Then we should review any type of evidence that may have been removed, like some hair by the wind or some dry spot that is dark.
Also is necessary to compare the bullet number with the weapon to see if they correspond and put dust for fingerprint detection on all the evidence and remove it with tape.
To finish the evidence they go in a bag and on this the label to not contaminate in any way, and to be able to carry out the studies that have to be carried out later.
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