Evidence

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Evidence can be defined as something that constitutes proof, an indication or sign, or data presented in court to substantiate claims or allegations. Police investigators handle evidence on a day to day basis and it is detrimental that they know how to handle the evidence appropriately. They must know how to identify, collect, and use the evidence in criminal investigations. This is very important if investigators plan to have a successful case proven. According to chapter one, evidence used to resolve and issue can be split into two areas. These areas are testimonial evidence and physical evidence.

Testimonial evidence is presented by a means of a spoken word. This evidence can come from the defendant, the complainant, police officers and other witnesses. Testimonial evidence normally comes from the witness stand, but voice recording and videotapes are occasionally admitted. Although testimonial evidence is important, it is subjective. A person’s memory of an event is not always what actually occurred, and an eyewitness perception can be distorted, so the best type of evidence is physical evidence. Physical evidence refers to any material item that would be present at a crime scene. This evidence is tangible and can take any shape, size, or dimension. The physical evidence collected at the scene may prove a crime was committed, establish any key elements of a crime, link a suspect with the victim or the scene, establish identity, corroborate verbal witness statements, or exonerate the innocent.

Because physical evidence can either make or break a case, it is essential that an investigator know how to correctly identify, individualize, collect, and preserve this
evidence. Majority of evidence found at a crime scene can only be identified. It is important to know what items share the same source and what unique source that is; individualization. Although it may be hard to know exactly what a piece of evidence c...