{"id":4492,"date":"2023-07-20T15:39:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T13:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovatrics.com\/trustreport\/?p=4492"},"modified":"2023-08-17T15:33:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T13:33:26","slug":"the-investigative-work-crime-shows-fail-to-reflect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovatrics.com\/trustreport\/the-investigative-work-crime-shows-fail-to-reflect\/","title":{"rendered":"TV vs reality: The investigative work crime shows fail to reflect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Contributors<\/h4>\n\n\n
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Michaela Frankov\u00e1 <\/b>
\nBusiness Consultant \u2013 Forensics, Innovatrics<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Plenty of evidence, super high-tech gadgets and do-it-all investigators: that\u2019s the purported reality from almost every criminal TV series out there. After all, who would want to watch the slow, meticulous work of dozens of technicians rather than several attractive criminalists keeping a city crime-free? However, if you want to become a criminal investigator or wonder what a real crime scene looks like, let this article be your reality check.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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They\u2019re running. He is more handsome than ever. Her hair and make-up are just as flawless as her sharp detective mind. They arrive at the crime scene. Careful! Do not touch anything. A horrible murder has happened. Fortunately, he immediately sees a hidden fingerprint on the door. First evidence. One look at the victim\u2019s body, and she already knows the weapon. The room is full of people searching for more evidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within minutes they are back at the police station. The fingerprint is already being identified and the lab technician runs to the detective duo with a shocking discovery about an exotic grain of sand, plant seed, thread from clothing or bodily fluid. Every piece of CCTV-camera footage from the city is on one computer at the police station, and wait \u2013 there is the suspect\u2019s car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick! Enhance, focus… enhance a little more…it\u2019s blurred, but surely \u2013 a good investigator can read it. The detectives now have all the evidence. Still looking good, they run directly to catch the culprit, exchanging witty comments on the way (maybe even flirting a bit) and boom! They catch the bad guy, justice has been served, and the episode is over. What a dream to be an investigator, right? Well\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026not really. Real criminal investigation work is usually slow, difficult, precise and not at all adrenaline-packed. To illustrate the differences, we compared some of the most popular situations in TV crime dramas with the everyday reality of criminal investigations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Getting a DNA sample<\/strong>
from a fingerprint<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Investigators frequently collect latent fingerprints as a common type of evidence at crime scenes. They typically lift these fingerprints using transparent adhesive tape and place them on a paper card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the latent fingerprint is high quality \u2013 meaning enough oil and sweat were left on the surface \u2013 it is possible to analyse the sample for DNA. Even old fingerprints can retain forensically useful amounts of DNA to successfully solve older cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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To be fair, not everything on TV is too far from reality. Here are some of the most interesting things that the shows often get right:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n