Crime Scene Equipment Checklist


Essential

  • Bindle paper
  • Biohazard bags
  • Body fluid collection kit
  • Camera with flash and tripod; extra film, if not digital; extra flash memory cards, if digital
  • Casting materials
  • Consent/search forms
  • Crime scene barricade tape
  • Cutting instruments (knives, box cutter, scalpel, scissors, etc.)
  • Directional marker/compass
  • Disinfectant (such as a 10% bleach solution)
  • Evidence collection containers including rigid containers for firearms and ammunition boxes, pie boxes with sheet cotton for document recovery; manila folders
  • Evidence identifiers (numbers, placards)
  • Evidence seals/tape
  • First-aid kit
  • Flashlight and extra batteries
  • High-intensity lights
  • Latent print kit
  • Magnifying glass
  • Measuring devices
  • Permanent markers
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE)
  • Photographic scale (ruler)
  • Presumptive blood test supplies
  • Sketch paper
  • Tool kit
  • Tweezers/forceps
  • Window screen fabric in rolls or sheets

Optional

  • Audiotape recorder
  • Bloodstain pattern examination kit
  • Business cards
  • Chalk
  • Chemical enhancement supplies
  • Compass
  • Entomology (insect) collection kit
  • Extension cords
  • Flares
  • Forensic light source (alternate light source, UV lamp/laser, goggles)
  • Generator
  • Gunshot residue kit
  • Laser trajectory kit
  • Maps
  • Marking paint/snow wax
  • Metal detector
  • Mirror
  • Phone listing (important numbers)
  • Privacy screens
  • Protrusion rod set
  • Reflective vest
  • Refrigeration or cooling unit
  • Respirators with filters
  • Roll of string.
  • Rubber bands.
  • Sexual assault evidence collection kit (victim and suspect)
  • Shoe print lifting equipment
  • Templates (scene and human)
  • Thermometer
  • Traffic cones
  • Trajectory rods
  • Video recorder
  • Wireless phone

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Evidence Collection Kits


Blood Collection

  • Bindle
  • Coin envelopes
  • Disposable scalpels
  • Distilled water or single use sterile water droppers
  • Evidence identifiers
  • Drying box
  • Latex gloves
  • Photographic ruler (ABFO scales)
  • Presumptive chemicals
  • Swabs

Fingerprint

  • Adhesive and gelatin lifting materials
  • Brushes
  • Chemical enhancement supplies
  • Cyanoacrylate (super glue) wand/ packets
  • Fingerprint ink pads, cards and card holders for exemplar collection
  • Flashlight
  • Forensic light source
  • Lift cards, including 8 ½” x 11” card stock
  • Lift tape
  • Measurement scales
  • Powders

Bloodstain Pattern Documentation

  • ABFO scales
  • Calculator
  • Laser pointer
  • Permanent markers
  • Protractor
  • String
  • Tape

Electronic and Digital Evidence Recovery

  • Anti-static bags
  • Bubble-wrap and other packing materials
  • Cable tags and ties
  • CDs and 3½-inch diskettes
  • Faraday Bags
  • Hand truck
  • Nut drivers, hex and star-type
  • Pliers: needle-nose and standard
  • Rubber bands
  • Magnifying glass
  • Printer paper
  • Secure-bit drivers
  • Screwdrivers, non-magnetic flat-blade and Philips-type
  • Tweezers, small non-magnetic
  • Wire cutters

Excavation and Evidence Recovery

  • Cones/markers
  • Evidence identifiers
  • Hand tools (hammer, chisel/screwdriver, forceps, hand saw, box cutter, drywall saw, etc.)
  • Metal detectors
  • Paintbrushes
  • Shovels/trowels
  • Sifting screens
  • String
  • Weights
  • Wooden/metal stakes

Impressions–footwear, tire tracks and tool mark

  • Bowls/mixing containers
  • Boxes
  • Casting Kit (e.g. Duplicast©, Mikrosil© or polyvinylsiloxane (PVS) materials, silicone-type sealant)
  • Dental stone
  • Evidence identifiers
  • Material for forms
  • Measurement scales
  • Permanent markers
  • Snow print wax
  • Stirring sticks
  • Water

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Pattern Print Lifter

  • Chemical enhancement supplies
  • Electrostatic dust lifter
  • Gel lifter
  • Wide format lift tape

Trace Evidence Collection

  • Acetate sheet protectors or clear secondary liners
  • Bindle paper or weigh paper for bindles
  • Butcher paper
  • Clear packing/sealing tape 2 ½ to 4 inches wide
  • Cotton-tipped swab
  • Flashlight (oblique lighting)
  • Forceps/tweezers (disposable or clean smooth tipped)
  • Glass jars, bottles, vials with air-tight, screw-on lids
  • Metal friction lid cans with fitting lids
  • Slides and slide mailers
  • Trace evidence vacuum with disposable collection filters
  • Transfer pipettes (glass or plastic)

Article compiled from Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide to Law Enforcement (2013)
Article posted: March 5, 2014