Trey Rusk, a veteran law enforcement official, believes that much of the public outrage over the Casey Anthony acquittal can be blamed on the unrealistic expectations that people get from watching TV crime shows.
CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL: SOMETIMES THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IS JUST NOT THERE
By Trey Rusk
July 6, 2011
DNA, fibers, chemical residue, hair samples and insect larvae are just some of the evidence that is gathered weekly on television shows. CSI Miami, CSI Las Vegas, CSI New York, CSI LA along with Cold Case Files and NCIS.
Each show demonstrates to the viewers the gathering and processing of evidence. These shows do it so well that the real crime victims expect nothing less at their crime scenes. Not to mention that the criminals have a weekly how to guide on how not to leave evidence behind or at the very least bring a bottle of bleach to a crime scene.
At real crime scenes police do collect the above mentioned samples if they can be found. The evidence is submitted and the wait for the lab to process it begins. This can take months and in some states years because of severe back logs.
Most cases are still solved with fingerprints, alibis, paper trails, phone records, witness statements, snitches and circumstantial evidence.
Relatively new techniques include crime mapping data, closed circuit cameras for surveillance details and GPS tracking through planted devices or tracking a suspects cell phone are big case solvers.
A lot of times the physical evidence is just not there so most competent investigators rely on what has been taught for generations.
Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. If the investigator answers these questions then the case can be solved. That and a lot of shoe leather.
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