The priority of a first officer on the scene of a crime is, first and foremost, to ensure their safety and that of the public (Sutton et al., 2016). They achieve this by parking their car a distance away from the scene to avoid antagonizing the suspect further if they are still around. The first officer also searches the suspect's scene, minimally leaving traces of themselves to preserve the crime scene and keep people away.
The first officer also has a responsibility to document evidence. They do this by noting down who was there when they arrived, descriptions of activity at the scene, including pertinent items like the state of doors and windows. The names of witnesses should be taken down as well and establish the basic facts also. They can do this by taking notes in the crime scene log or login in dispatch information.
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Some evidence, such as physical evidence, is quite vital in the investigation process (Lee & Pagliaro, 2013). A first officer needs to include these both in their notes and case reports. Sometimes, absolute preservation of the crime scene is not possible, and they may need to take pictures of the locations of evidence for later use by crime scene investigators.
The officer is responsible for separating suspects, witnesses, and victims. After the urgent tasks are done, officers respond to victims' needs, introduce themselves and title, assure them of safety, ask if they need medical care, and describe what happened briefly. The interviews should be conducted privately, giving full attention to what victims say. Finally, explain to them any subsequent interviews that may occur and what follows.
Make accurate records of everything the suspect says after cautioning them. Witnesses should be placed and interviewed separately, and the officer should instruct them not to discuss the details of the crime with each other. Notes are taken to document these interviews, containing facts only consistent with the final descriptive report.
References
Lee, H. C., & Pagliaro, E. M. (2013). Forensic evidence and crime scene investigation. Journal of Forensic Investigation , 1 (2), 1-5.
Sutton, R., Trueman, K., & Moran, C. (Eds.). (2016). Crime scene management: scene-specific methods . John Wiley & Sons.
