COVID -19 continues to shape the world of law enforcement in various ways. In a crime scene, investigators will have to adapt to minimizing potential virus infection. Due to adherence to social distancing, the number of detectives to a scene will decline to ensure that viruses do not spread and minimize evidence contamination. Forensic in the scene (2020) argues that such precautions could see a delay to investigations as limited personnel reduces the ability to conduct necessary investigations within a set period. Considering that every crime scene is a foreign environment, investigations on the cause of death will be affected. When crime scene officers are unsure of the cause of murder, they will be more careful in conducting a complete examination in an environment unknown to them. Even unsuspicious death investigations will bring the question of whether COVID_19 was a consideration to the cause of death (Brown, 2020). Such could impact justice as officers become less willing to expose themselves to harm. Additionally, low-level crimes could become less of a priority. For instance, burglary cases will require investigators to treat scenes like any other highly hazardous case. Since they are unsure whether the offender deposited pathogens on the surfaces, we could see the disregard for such petty crimes as focus shifts to severe crimes such as murder. Indeed, do they attend to the victim knowing the risk or wait for investigators with protective equipment? Since time is of the essence in such situations, offenders could have already found an alibi.
References
Brown, V. (2020). How COVID-19 is changing law enforcement practices by police and by criminal groups. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/04/07/how-covid-19-is-changing-law-enforcement-practices-by-police-and-by-criminal-groups/
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Forensic in the scene and in the lab (2020). https://www.forensicmag.com/562252-Crime-Scene-Investigations-During-COVID-19/
