Your World, Your Future

This diagram shows the relationship between VICTIM, SUSPECT, and CRIME SCENE. The VICTIM is linked to the SUSPECT via blood, the SUSPECT to the CRIME SCENE via latent prints, and the CRIME SCENE to the VICTIM via the carcass.

Individualization analysis for example:

the victim (say, a deer) is found dead at the crime scene (links victim and crime scene)
a suspect’s fingerprints are found at the crime scene (links suspect and crime scene)
the victim’s blood has stained the suspect’s clothes (links suspect and victim)

Successful prosecutions carried out by fingerprint analysis include a consignment of imported birds of prey from Thailand into Heathrow airport. Border control found numerous birds of prey some of which were dead and others in a poor state of health. The birds had been concealed within tubes with air holes. Upon the discovery of the birds, the tubes were forensically examined. A fingerprint lift from the tubes assisted the authorities to identify a suspect. A warrant executed at the suspects home led the authorities to other tubes at the premises probably from another illegal import. The suspect was prosecuted for illegal importation of protected birds.

Defra have produced a Document in March 2005 on Wildlife Crime: A guide to the use of forensic and specialist techniques in the investigation of wildlife crime. This document is one of a series published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on behalf of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW).

In any investigation one seeks to find out the who the offender is, what was involved, where it took place, when it took place, why it happened and how it happened. Issues that feature prominently in wildlife cases are as follows:

What is the identity of the specimen in question?

What is the provenance (origin) of the specimen in question?

What is the cause of death or injury?

Can a suspect be connected to a wildlife crime scene?

CRIME SCENES

Professor Edmond Locard (1877-1966) states :

Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him. Not only his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibres from his clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen he deposits or collects. All of these and more, bear mute witness against him. This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confused by the excitement of the moment. It is not absent because human witnesses are. It is factual evidence. Physical evidence cannot be wrong, it cannot perjure itself, it cannot be wholly absent. Only human failure to find it, study it, and understand it, can diminish its value.

Professor Locard was an early pioneer in forensic science. He set up the first Laboratory above a Police Station in Lyons, France. He was given two assistants and two rooms. He believed that when two objects came into contact with the other, each of these objects would leave or transfer particles to the other. This became known as the "Locard's Exchange Principle".

Critical evaluation: How do these fine objectives square with the fact that there are so few Wildlife Crime Officer's in the Police forces across the Country? Although Wildlife Crime is treated as any other crime nationally, I believe that the Police have other priorities. The only way to improve on more prosecutions, is by raising public awareness, asking them to report wildlife crime, and to follow up any reports made to the police. If the number of reported wildlife crime increases then it must follow that more Officers will be trained to combat it.