As an officer in the criminal justice field, everyday you face difficult situations and have to overcome tough obstacles

As an officer in the criminal justice field, everyday you face difficult situations and have to overcome tough obstacles

Respond to each discussion between 75 and 100 words

1) As an officer in the criminal justice field, everyday you face difficult situations and have to overcome tough obstacles. When a crime is committed, it’s up to the officers to search and collect evidence so the case can be solved and justice can be served. But just because it sounds that easy, doesn’t necessary mean collecting the evidence would be easy. Some challenges that an officer may face during an investigation is time, weather, no witnesses, no physical evidence, etc. A common misconception about crime scenes is that the evidence will be clear and evident to find. While the hope and the goal is to rapidly collect any evidence and solve the case, that’s not what will always happen. Officers can face chaos and turmoil in any second and a crime scene can go from bad to worse. Each case is different and has it personal challenges an officer can face, so when people who aren’t involved become involved, it can lead to more crimes being committed and cases added that may never get solved.

2) A particular challenge that may arise when collecting all of the evidence at a crime scene is making sure that a crime scene is secure making sure that no one leaves and no one comes in. In collecting evidence there’s a chance of cross contamination so being precise and very careful is very important. One investigators may miss a piece of evidence while doing the sweep but because there is another investigator walking with him/her they may not miss that piece of evidence. Another challenge that can arise has a lot to do with weather if a crime takes place outside, any chance of rain and it can wash evidence away.

Due to the many crime scene shows that are on TV there are many misconceptions regarding the control and direction of crime investigations and use of forensic support, such as when collecting DNA and sending it off that the results can come back in days or weeks. Another one that a crime can be solved in a matter of days and after an investigator has collected the crime. Truth of the matter is that once an investigator has collect all the evidence and sent off for results that it take time for results to come back.