Test One Flashcards
Biometrics
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Anthropometry
Developed by Alphonse Bertillon in the late 19th century, the study and comparison of body measurements as a means of criminal identification.
Bobbies
A colloquial term used in reference to British police constables; derived by the public from the first name of Sir Robert Peel, whose efforts led to the creation of the first metropolitan police force in London.
Bow Street Runners
Established by Henry Feildings in 1748, a group of volunteer, non-uniformed home owners who helped catch thieves in London by rushing to crime scenes and beginning investigations, thus acting as the first modern detective force. By 1785, some were paid government detectives.
Dactylography
The study and comparison of fingerprints as a means of criminal identification; first used systematically for that purpose in England in 1900, but a means of identification since the first century.
Deoxyibonucleic acid (DNA)
A nucleic acid consisting of the molecules that carry the body’s genetic material and establish each person as a separate and distinct.
Drug Enforcement Administration
Created in 1973, this federal agency is responsible for enforcing laws on illicit drugs and fighting international drug traffic; also trains state and local police in investigative work regarding illegal drugs, surveillance, and use of informants.
Enderby Cases
Two rape/murder cases in England that involved the first use of DNA typing, in 1987, in a criminal case. DNA samples recovered from both victims led to the release of an innocent man and the subsequent arrest and conviction of the killer.
Forensic Sciences
The examination, evaluation, and explanation of physical evidence in terms of law.
Investigator
An official who gathers, documents, and evaluates evidence and information in the investigation of a crime.
Metropolitan Police Act (1829)
An act of Parliament that created the London Metropolitan Police, the first centralized, professional police force in Britain, which soon became the international model of professional policing.
Mulberry Street Morning Parade
Instituted by Chief Detective Thomas Byrnes in New York City in the late 1800s, an innovative approach to criminal identification in which all new arrestees were marched each morning before detectives so that the detectives could make notes and later recognize the criminals.
National Crime Information Center (NCIC)
The FBI’s online system of extensive databases on criminals and crime; available to federal, state, and local agencies.
palo verde seedpod case
A 1992 murder case in Phoenix, Arizona in which DNA analysis of plant evidence was used for the first time in criminal proceedings to help secure a conviction.
“Police Spies”
In early nineteenth-century England, a derogatory term used in reference to plainclothes detectives; coined by persons who feared that the use of such officers would reduce civil liberties.
Rogues’ Gallery
Instituted by the New York City Police Department in 1857, a display in which photographs of known offenders were arranged by criminal specialty and height for detectives to study so that they might recognize criminals on the street.
Scotland Yard
The original headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police, so-called because the building formerly housed Scottish royalty. Since 1890, the headquarters have been located elsewhere, but have been still known as the New Scotland Yard.
West Case
A 1903 incident in which two criminals with the same name, identical appearances, and nearly identical measurements were distinguished only by fingerprints, thus significantly advancing the use of fingerprints for identification in the U.S.
Affidavit
A sworn, written statement of the information known to an officer that serves as the basis for the issuance of an arrest warrant or a search warrant.
Arrest
The process of taking a person into legal custody to answer a criminal charge.
Arrest Warrant
A judicial order commanding that a particular person be arrested and brought before a court to answer a criminal charge.
Charging
The act of formally asserting that a particular person is to be prosecuted for a crime.
Detention
A temporary and limited interference with a person’s freedom for investigative purposes. Also called investigative detention, street stop, and field investigation.
Due Process
Fairness.
Due Process Clause
The title of clauses appearing in both the 5th and 14th amendments to the Constitution of the U.S.
Exigent Circumstances
An exception to the requirement that law enforcement officers have a search warrant; occurs when there is a compelling need for official action and there is no time to get a warrant.
Search
The process of looking for evidence of a crime.
Search and Seizure
The process of looking for evidence of a crime and taking that evidence into custody of a law enforcement agency.
Search Warrant
Written authorization by a judge allowing law enforcement officers to look for specified items of evidence of a crime in a specified place.
Stop and Frisk
A limited pat down of the outer clothing of a person encountered by a law enforcement officer when the person is acting suspiciously, and the officer, concerned about safety, seeks to determine if the person has a weapon.
Substantive Criminal Law
That branch of criminal law dealing with the elements that describe and define a crime.
Alternative Light Systems (ALS)
Portable lasers and handheld ultraviolet lighting used to locate physical evidence at the crime scene; particularly helpful in locating trace evidence.
American with Disabilities Act (ADA)
A federal law which establishes the workplace rights of those with perceived or actual disabilities.
Assignment Sheet
Written reports completed by persons assigned tasks at a crime scene that document what they have done and found.
Associative Evidence
Bidirectional evidence that connects the perpetrator to the scene or victim, or connects the scene or victim to the perpetrator.
Be-On-The-Lookout (BOLO)
Part of the preliminary investigation, a notification broadcast to officers that contains detailed information on suspects and their victims.
Chain of Custody
The witnessed, unbroken, written chronological record of everyone who had an item of evidence, and when each person had it; also accounts for any changes in the evidence.
Corpus Delicti Evidence
Evidence that substantiates elements whose commission or omission must be demonstrated to have occurred in order to prove a case
Crime
The commission of any act that is prohibited, or the omission of any act that is required by penal code of an organized political state.
Crime Scene
The location at which a crime was committed.
Crime Scene Control
The procedure of limiting and documenting access to the crime scene to ensure that physical evidence is not accidentally or deliberately altered or removed. The procedure begins with the arrival of the first officer at the scene and continues until the scene is released from police control.
Crime Scene Entry Log Sheet
A written chronological record of all persons who enter and leave the crime scene and the times they do so, along with their reasons for entering.
Crime Scene Search Patterns
Used to locate physical evidence at a crime scene; there are five patterns: spiral, strip/line, grid, zone/quadrant, and pie/wheel
Crime Scene Release
The end of crime scene processing and the return of the premises or area to the owner or another responsible person; determined by the scene coordinator.
Deductive Reasoning
The thought process that moves from general premises to specific details - for example: a hypothesis about the crime is developed and then tested against the factual situation to arrive at a conclusion.
Evidence Recovery Logs
A chronological record of each item of evidence, listing who collected it, where and when it was collected, who witnessed the collection, and whether it was documented by photos or diagrams.
Felony
A serious violation of the criminal code; punishable by imprisonment for one or more years or by death.
Field Notes
The shorthand written record made by a police officer from the time he or she arrives at a crime scene until the assignment is completed.
Follow-up Investigation
The process of gathering information after the generation of the incident report and until the case is ready for prosecution; undertaken for cases receiving a supervisory disposition for further investigation.
Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV)
Viruses present in blood (and, for HBV, other bodily fluids) that attack the liver and can lead to death; a health hazard at scenes where bodily fluids are exposed.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
The blood-borne pathogen, also present in other bodily fluids, that can progress into AIDS, which reduces the body’s defenses against diseases and leaves victims vulnerable to infections from which they die; a health hazard at scenes where bodily fluids are exposed.
Incident / Offense Report
The first written investigative record of a crime, usually compiled by the uniformed officer assigned to the call, who conducts the preliminary investigation.
Inductive Reasoning
The thought process that moves from specific details to a general view; e.g., the facts of a case are used to arrive at a logical explanation of the crime.
Lifted-Prints Log
A written record of lifted-prints evidence that contains the same type of information as the listed in the evidence recovery log.
Macroscopic Scene
The “large view” of a crime scene, including things such as locations, the victim’s body, cars, and buildings.
Media Statements
Information released to the news media; must not prejudice the suspect’s right to a fair and impartial trial.
Microscopic Scene
A crime scene viewed in terms of specific objects and pieces of evidence associated with the crime, such as knives, guns, hairs, fibers, and biological fluids.
Misdemeanor
A violation of the criminal code that is less serious than a felony; often punishable by imprisonment for no more than one year and/or a fine of no more than $500.
Neighborhood Canvass
A systematic approach to interviewing residents, merchants, and others who were in the immediate vicinity of a crime and may have useful information.
Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)
Equipment and clothing designed to protect individuals at high-risk crime scenes from injury and infection.
Photographic Log
A written record listing the photographs taken at a crime scene and detailing who took them, where and when they were taken, and under what conditions.
Preliminary Investigation
The process undertaken by the first officer (usually a patrol officer) to arrive at the scene of a crime; includes assessment emergency care, scene control, a BOLO, scene determination, incident report, and, sometimes, evidence procedure.
Primary Scene
The location at which the initial offense was committed.
Rough Sketch
A drawing made at the crime scene; not drawn to scale, but indicates accurate dimensions and distances.
Secondary Scenes
The locations of all events subsequent to, and connected, with the event at the primary scene.
Smooth or Finished Sketch
A finished sketch of the crime scene, often drawn to scale using information contained in the rough sketch.
Trace Evidence
Evidence that is extremely small or microscopic in size or is present only in limited amounts.
Trace-Evidence Vacuums
A vacuum which gathers small (even microscopic) evidence at the crime scene. Examples of evidence gathered by it include hairs and fibers.
Tracing Evidence
Created by tracing over a genuine signature, commonly found on fraudulent (questioned) documents such as contracts, checks, and monetary instruments.
Tuberculosis (TB)
A chronic bacterial infection, spread by air, that usually infects the lungs and can lead to death i untreated; a health hazard for anyone in contact with high-risk individuals such as drug addicts and homeless persons.
Vehicle Canvass
A systematic approach to documenting every vehicle in the immediate vicinity of a crime as a means of locating the suspect’s vehicle.
Violation
In some states, this is a minor transgression of the law, often punishable by a fine of no more than $250 (e.g. littering).
Bore
The diameter of a gun barrel’s interior between its opposing high sides (the lands).
Caliber
The diameter of a bullet; somewhat larger than the bore of the weapon from which the bullet is fired.
Concentric Fracture Lines
Lines that roughly circle the point of impact in a glass window.
Class Characteristics
Characteristics of physical evidence that are common to a group of objects or persons.
Dental Stone
The preferred material for casting tire, footwear, and foot impressions; stronger and faster setting than plaster of paris and provides more detailed impressions.
Document
Anything on which a mark is made for the purpose of transmitting a message.
Fingerprint
Replicas of the friction ridges (on palms, fingers, toes, and soles of the feet) that touched the surfaces on which the prints are found.
Fingerprint Patterns
Patterns formed by the ridge detail of fingerprints; primarily loops, whorls, and arches.
Fluorescent Powder
Powders, dusted on areas being examined, that chemically enhance latent prints viewed under UV, laser, or alternative light illumination.
Forensic Odontology
A specialty that relates dental evidence to investigation.
Fracture Match
The alignment of the edges of two items of evidence, thereby showing that both items were previously joined together.
Grooves
In a firearm’s rifled bore, the low cuts that separate the higher lands.
Hemident
A reagent used in preliminary or presumptive field tests to check for the presence of blood.
