Crime Scene Investigation

Overview

On February 27, 2018, a man was sentenced to 12 years for stomping on and throwing a small boxertype puppy against a wall. Despite veterinary care, the puppy was euthanized due to its injuries. In a news interview about the case, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis was quoted as saying "We have to make sure we have an evidence-based prosecution. Sometimes things happen, and we don’t have the evidence for a strong case. In this case, we did have the evidence and it helped” (Miles, 2018). The need for evidence-based investigation and prosecution of animal crime cases is one of the driving forces behind the development of the field of veterinary forensic science.

Veterinary forensic science has been defined as: “the application of a broad spectrum of sciences, including veterinary medicine to answer questions of interest to a court of law” (Touroo, 2012). Inherent in this definition is the inclusion of veterinary medicine. The practice of veterinary medicine is defined by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) as “to diagnose, prognose, treat, correct, change, alleviate, or prevent animal disease, illness, pain, deformity, defect, injury, or other physical, dental, or mental conditions by any method or mode” (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2017). The AVMA defines veterinarian to mean “a person who has received a professional veterinary medical degree from a college of veterinary medicine” (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2017).

The field of veterinary forensic science has recently expanded with the establishment of the International Veterinary Forensic Science Association (IVFSA) in 2008. One of the stated purposes of this organization is to “educate the animal welfare community, law enforcement, crime scene analysts, forensic scientists, veterinarians, attorneys, judges, and pathologists on the application of forensic science techniques and crime scene processing methods to cases of animal abuse, neglect, cruelty, fighting, and death” (International Veterinary Forensic Science Association, 2018).

Inherent in the need for an investigation utilizing veterinary forensic science is that some act, or failure to act, has occurred affecting the well-being of an animal(s). (For the purposes of this chapter and for the sake of brevity, the term "act” will automatically include “failure to act” even when not stated.) Law enforcement and/or judicial agencies are the ones tasked with deciding whether an act or failure to act rises to the level of a “crime.” In addition, depending on the case, the location where the act occurred warrants investigation as well. Therefore, “crime scene” investigation procedures and protocols can play a very large part in the investigation of an animal crime. For the purposes of this chapter, animal crime refers to any act, or failure to act, which has a negative impact on the health and welfare of an animal(s), or an act by an animal that has a negative impact on the health and welfare of another animal or human.

One of the purposes of crime scene investigation is the collection of physical evidence, which Dr. Edmond Locard deemed "the silent witness” (Fisher et al., 2009). Locard’s Exchange Principle essentially states that every time someone enters an environment, something is added and removed from it (Fisher et al., 2009). The “something” may be a primary transfer, meaning a direct transfer such as from the suspect to the victim, or vice versa. Secondary transfer involves multiple transfers of the evidence such as from the victim to the scene and then from the scene to the suspect. Documentation of these transfers may tell the story of the link(s) between the elements of the crime: the suspect(s), the victimfs), and the scene(s).

A corollary to Locard’s Exchange Principle is that "every contact leaves a trace” (Fish et al., 2011). As it pertains to animal crimes, the crime scene may be an entire property, dwelling, room, kennel, or the animal itself. One justification for the collection of evidence and processing of a crime scene is to reveal the presence any link of the suspect to the victim, the suspect to the scene, and/or the victim to the scene, and to objectively document this link.

An additional reason to conduct a thorough crime scene investigation is that, for many animal crimes, the totality of circumstance of the scene has a direct impact on the decision as to whether or not the act reaches the level of a crime. In order for an act to be considered a crime, the elements

Planning Stage of an Animal Case of the crime contained in the statutory language must be present. For example, in the instance of hoarding, a judgment has to be reached that the conditions of the environment and the owner’s failure to provide adequate housing and care had such a negative impact on the animal that this neglect constitutes a crime, versus the situation in which the care, housing, and environment was less than ideal but not criminal. The only way this judgment can be reached in a fair and unbiased manner is by thorough, objective investigation of the scene (Fish et al., 2011).