Lansing Police Department Crime Scene Investigations Unit
The Lansing Police Department’s Crime Scene Investigations (CSI)
Unit has been developed to work in conjunction with the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) on all major investigations within
the Village of Lansing, Illinois. The proper collection of evidence assists CID in the successful identification and prosecution of
criminal offenders.
The CSI Unit primarily responds to death investigations, armed robberies, major burglaries, fatal vehicle
crashes, crimes against persons, or other types of investigations that may benefit from the collection and preservation of evidence
from the crime scene.
The LPD CSI Unit currently has seven specially trained officers available 24 hours a day to respond to
and investigate crime scenes. Those officers have all gone through a 40 hour crime scene investigations course, in which they are
trained in digital forensic photography; evidence identification, processing, collection, and preservation; and scene diagramming
and documentation. Many of the officers in the unit have also had advanced training in latent print recovery, chemical processing,
accident scene investigations, blood stain/spatter analysis, forensic computer analysis, and death investigations.
When LPD CSI
personnel are dispatched to a scene, they respond in the Special Response Unit (SRU), a custom converted ambulance, which is outfitted
with specialized gear to process any type of crime scene. The SRU is equipped with a wide variety of equipment including a portable
generator, high intensity lights, ladders, and an assortment of tools to assist investigators. Other high tech equipment such as an
electrostatic dust print lifter, forensic alternate light sources, impression casting materials and an array of various fingerprint
powders are also readily available in the SRU. The SRU can also be utilized as a mobile command center should the need arise.
One
of the most important aspects of evidence collection and preservation is protecting the crime scene. This is to keep the pertinent
evidence uncontaminated until it can be recorded and collected. The successful prosecution of a case can hinge on the state of the
physical evidence at the time it is collected. The protection of the scene begins before arrival of the first police officer at the
scene and ends when the scene is released from police custody. If you are the victim of a crime, it is just as important for you to
help protect the crime scene as it is for the police officers when they arrive. You can assist by disturbing as little as possible
and taking careful note of what you changed in the scene from the way it was when you discovered it. Don’t be surprised when a Crime
Scene Investigator asks to take your fingerprints too, this is to help eliminate any fingerprints you may have left on an object and
lets the investigators focus on those prints that aren’t yours. These are called “elimination prints” and are invaluable to investigators.
If
you are involved in an active investigation, please contact the Lansing Police Department Criminal Investigations Division.
For
general information you can contact:
The Lansing Police Department
Crime Scene Investigations Unit
708-895-7150