Scene Notes
Definition
The contemporaneous written record kept by the first officer and later by the scene examiner. Notes are time-stamped, sequential, and admissible: they capture observations in the moment that photographs and sketches cannot fully convey.
Related terms
- Contamination
- The introduction of foreign material into a scene, or the displacement of existing material within it, by any person or environmental factor...
- Cordon
- The physical barrier (tape, cones, officers) that separates the protected scene from the outside world. Set deliberately wide and reduced only when...
- Crime Scene Sketch
- A measured, overhead-view drawing of the scene produced to scale. Unlike a photograph, it records spatial relationships and distances that are free...
- Primary Scene
- The location where the main criminal event occurred: where the body was found, where the attack took place, where a safe was...
- Secondary Scene
- Any location linked to the crime but separate from the main event: a vehicle used to transport a victim, a disposal site,...
Explained in
- The Crime Scene: Types, Securing and DocumentationThe contemporaneous written record kept by the first officer and later by the scene examiner. Notes are time-stamped, sequential, and admissible: they capture...