The Influence of New Technologies on the Visual Attention of Crime Scene Investigators Performing a Crime Scene Investigation

1 Currently, a series of promising new tools are under development that will enable Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs) to analyse traces in situ during the crime scene investigation or enable them to detect blood and provide information on the age of blood. An experiment is conducted with thirty CSIs investigating a violent robbery at a mock crime scene to study the influence of such technologies on the perception and interpretation of traces during the first phase of the investigation. Results show that in their search for traces, CSIs are not directed by the availability of technologies, which is a reassuring finding. Qualitative findings suggest that CSIs are generally more focused on analysing perpetrator traces than on reconstructing the event. A focus on perpetrator traces might become a risk when other crime-related traces are overlooked, and when analysed traces are in fact not crime-related and in consequence lead to the identification of innocent suspects. 1 This chapter was published as De Gruijter, M., De Poot, C.J., & Elffers, H. (2016). The Influence of New Technologies on the Visual Attention of CSIs Performing a Crime Scene Investigation, Journal of Forensic Sciences, 61 (1), 43–51.