Anatomy of a Staged Crime Scene

Human beings have committed crimes against one another for centuries. Human nature says that taking responsibility for one’s actions is very difficult. Deflection of culpability is most often one’s first resort—from lying to investigators to altering, removing or staging the obvious evidence as to the true nature of one’s involvement in a crime. Just as easily as a story can be retold, evidence can be destroyed, altered or removed.

Any deliberate attempt by a suspect to alter a crime scene before police arrive to purposely sabotage or misdirect a criminal investigation is “crime scene staging.” Hollywood movies, television shows and social media has given rise to public awareness and fascination as to the aspects of crime scene altering to “get away with murder.”

This course will heighten the awareness of the investigator to the possibility of crime scene staging by providing the history of crime scene staging, covering case studies of staged crime scenes, and providing tools for determining the true nature of a crime scene. Officers will be exposed to real life cases involving staged crime scenes along with a breakdown of the evidence. This course will incorporate mock crime scene scenarios allowing officers to walk through the crime scene, analyzing the evidence and determining the true series of events.