The CSI effect is all Hollywood
By Detectives Travis Cearley and Tonya Sonntag
Jacksonville Daily
Progress (FL)
January 10, 2007
A new phenomenon know as “The CSI Effect” has begun to sweep the nation to the degree of influencing courtrooms and even jurors.
As many of you know, CSI is a very popular TV show featuring the techniques of crime scene investigators in New York, Miami and Las Vegas.
During the course of an episode, multiple murders and arsons can be solved and criminals arrested. While these shows are entertaining, they have began to sway the public into believing that an offense that has been committed against them can, and should, be solved in about one hour. While I do wish that was possible, the techniques used on these shows are largely Hollywood dreams. Over the next several articles in Cops Corner we will look into these techniques and discuss the realities of criminal investigations.
CSI Las Vegas, which is the only version of the show I have watched, features four crime scene technicians. These four technicians are supported by a full laboratory, where all evidentiary tests are run by members of their own staff.
The investigations are funded by the state and the limitations on funding and resources are endless. Fingerprints can be retrieved from any object imaginable and DNA testing is used on any and every case that is investigated. In the real world, with departments that do have a budget and expenses are a concern, we have to submit our evidence to state labs.
Once I submit evidence to the department of public safety laboratory, I have to wait for the results. Every other police department in that region that submitted evidence before me gets theirs first. Even we have to wait our turn. Once a piece of evidence has been processed for a specific analysis, the possibility of it going somewhere else for additional testing is possible, thusly increasing the time of the return of needed results. It is not unheard of for results to take from six months to a year and a half to return. Many times, these results are what a case depends on for furtherance of the investigation.
While the Jacksonville Police Department has done its best with the funding that it has received through grants and the annual budget, investigative equipment and tools are quite expensive. Some of the alternative light sources which are seen being used on CSI can cost in excess of thousands dollars, just for the main piece of equipment without any additional accessories.
Yes, there are real tools which can help an investigator see biological evidence. Once there have been attempts to remove such evidence, however smaller departments such as ourselves are not fortunate enough to be able to implement such equipment.
The fact that a DNA profile has not been created to fit the criminal that committed a crime against you or you family, does not negate the fact that many other pieces of evidence can be used to build our case. We, as a department, do have other local, state and federal assistance available from time to time, but that is always case-specific.
Good old fashioned investigative skills are still being used, yes even in New York, Miami and Las Vegas. While the absence of a budget and technology beyond our times would be great, our hands on investigative skills and training are still proving sufficient to hold our criminals accountable for their crimes.
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