An exploration of the management of murder crime scenes by first police responders in Gauteng province

Abstract

This qualitative study intends to explore the actions of the first police responder’s management at murder crime scene in the Gauteng province, South Africa. Crime scene investigation is an important tool in the criminal investigation process. The proper processing of crime scenes is a prerequisite for successfully solving a criminal case. In the South African Police Service (SAPS), local police officers are not properly trained or equipped with the necessary items required for the systematic processing of crime scenes. This includes the proper identification and collection of evidence. It is important to implement and increase capacity-building measures in the SAPS to improve the proper processing of crime scenes. This study focused on the large stations because Gauteng province had high crime rates of murders. Crime scene investigation is the primary point of the criminal justice system, which maintains law and order in society. Therefore, a crime scene is the place where the incident or crime has taken place and contains the required evidence to catch the perpetrator. Therefore, crime scene investigation can be the most crucial part of a criminal case. A lot of the hard work done by law enforcement agents is not reflected in the results, due to poor evidence collection and contaminated crime scenes. Consequently, many cases remain unsolved and are then closed without results. For this study, data was collected through perusing the existing literature, SAPS information notes, official documents, and articles. Interviews were conducted with a maximum of 29 South African Police Service members. A non–random sampling procedure was used to select participants. The information obtained from the participants was analysed by using the ATLAS.ti software. This is a computer program used to analyse data in qualitative research.