17 Scientific Clues Teams added to City Police

Hyderabad City Police achieved yet another milestone in improving standards of investigation and detection of crime by adding 17 Scientific Clues Teams at the rate of one at each Division covering three to four Police Stations. Till now, there was only one Scientific Clues Team for the entire city.

The role of the Crime Scene Team is to assist the investigation agency in methods of securing the crime scene prior to arrival; to document the scene with photography, video; to ensure the proper identification, handling, collection and packaging of physical evidence found at a scene; and to perform specialty examinations that would aid in reconstructing the events of the crime and thereby record and retrieve the vital physical evidence (material objects) that establishes the connection between perpetrator and the scene of offence or the victim in all offences occurring in Hyderabad City.

The CLUES Team Forensic Experts fill the gap between the investigator and scientists of FSL by adopting proper collection method and reconstruction of the scene thereby provide investigative leads for the detection of crime namely, property and bodily offences, fire accidents and scene of explosion and so on. Its presence in crimes scene processing is vital. The functioning of Clues Team is aimed at improving the detection levels of crimes and improvement of conviction rates in court of law and thereby improve the standards of safety and security of people living in Hyderabad City.

Earlier in Hyderabad City, we had only one Commissionerate level Clues Team visiting all the important and sensational crime scenes. The multifold increase in complexity and volume of offences in every aspect of the daily life of the citizen demands setting up of new CLUES teams at Divisional Level to enable scientific access to the crime scene with the following crime scene processing scientific gadgets to visualize the invisible micro material evidences from the scene of offences:

One high resolution digital still camera , full hd video camera. , sketching tools , forensic light source , poli lights , search lights , pro measures , compass , light amplified magnifying lens. , set of cutters(glass and wire cutters) , magnetic arm , assorted set of screw drivers. , florescent powders for latent chance prints , surface dust print lifting kit , physical evidence collection kit , blood collection kit , body protectors ( hand gloves, mouth masks, head cap) , cell phone , vhf set(man pack) , fire residual collection kit.

A wide variety of physical evidences can be collected at a scene that is deemed valuable for collection and investigation: biological evidence (e.g., blood, body fluids, hair and other tissues) , latent print evidence (e.g., fingerprints, palm prints, foot prints), footwear and tire track evidence, trace evidence (e.g., fibers, soil, vegetation, glass fragments) , digital evidence (e.g., cell phone records, Internet logs, email messages) , tool and tool mark evidence ,drug evidence , firearm evidence

With the launch of Divisional level CLUES Teams, every vital clue can be obtained by visiting all the Crime Scenes. The response time to visit the crime scene will improve as the teams are located at division level and reach within the shortest possible time. This quick response will be vital in collection of clues before the scene of offence and the related things are disturbed with the passage of time.

Each CLUES Team comprises three Crime Scene Processing Officers, One Photographer, One Videographer & two drivers for the round the clock service and one branded new vehicle has been provided for rapid crime scene processing.

Henceforth, these 17 Scientific Clues Teams will process all the Crime scenes in Hyderabad City and help in collection of physical and scientific evidences which connect the perpetrator of the crime with Crime Scene and the Commission of Crime. The addition of these 17 Scientific Clues Teams shall help improving the standards of Investigation in Hyderabad City and ensuring justice to victims of crimes. (NSS)