Crime Scene Manager

Crime scene managers (CSMs) — also titled crime scene investigators (CSIs) at investigator level — are police staff specialists who recover physical evidence from crime scenes for forensic analysis. Working under the direction of senior investigating officers (SIOs) and in accordance with the College of Policing's Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and the Forensic Science Regulator's Codes of Practice and Conduct, CSMs manage the forensic examination of crime scenes ranging from burglary and vehicle crime through to serious and major crime scenes including homicides, sexual offences, and terrorist incidents.

At major crime scenes, the CSM takes overall responsibility for the scene examination strategy — briefing the SIO on forensic opportunities, directing CSI resources, maintaining scene integrity (logs, cordon management), and prioritising evidence recovery activities. Evidence types include fingermarks (development using powder, chemical, and physical developer techniques), DNA traces (blood, saliva, hair, touch DNA), shoemarks, toolmarks, ballistic evidence, document examination, and digital evidence recovery (mobile phones, computers, CCTV).

Scene examination involves systematic searching methodologies, correct packaging and labelling of exhibits, completing exhibit logs (the continuity of evidence chain that must be unbroken for court admissibility), and completing scene examination records for the case file. CSMs brief and manage scenes with multiple specialists — blood pattern analysts, digital media investigators, forensic submission specialists — and attend post-mortem examinations to recover trace evidence from the body.

Court attendance is an important part of the role: CSMs give expert evidence at crown court as to their scene examination methodology and findings, and must withstand cross-examination from defence barristers on exhibit continuity, scene contamination, and examination technique. College of Policing professional development pathways for CSI/CSM roles are being formalised through the Forensic Practitioner qualification framework.

Forensic science and crime scene investigation are essential components of the criminal justice system — without physical evidence recovered by CSIs and CSMs, a large proportion of serious crime cases could not be prosecuted. The admissibility of forensic evidence in court, and the Forensic Science Regulator's increasingly rigorous accreditation requirements (under the Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021), are raising rather than lowering the professional standards required. Every police force in England and Wales employs CSIs and CSMs as permanent police staff specialists — this function cannot be contracted out without significant quality and accountability risk.

The volume of serious crime requiring forensic examination, including cybercrime with physical forensic dimensions, domestic homicide, and county lines drug supply investigations, sustains and grows the specialist CSM workforce. The development of new forensic disciplines — environmental DNA, facial recognition forensic applications, digital forensics — is expanding the technical scope of crime scene management and creating new professional development pathways.

Morning: attending a homicide crime scene — a private address where a body was discovered overnight. Working with the SIO, you complete the scene log, brief your CSI team of three on the search pattern, and begin the systematic examination of the primary location. You identify and photograph a footwear mark in blood in the hallway, develop two fingermarks on the kitchen work surface using aluminium powder, and recover multiple biological samples using sterile swabs. Afternoon: attending the post-mortem with the forensic pathologist — recovering fingernail scrapings, reference blood samples, and foreign fibres from the deceased's clothing for submission to the forensic science provider. Late afternoon: completing the exhibit log and scene examination record, briefing the SIO on the forensic opportunities identified, and submitting exhibits for urgent processing.