Forensic Science
The first job of police officers at a crime scene is to seal off the area so that potential evidence is not disturbed. Such evidence will be sent to a forensic science laboratory for examination.
Forensic science is the use of scientific methods, such as fingerprint matching or the analysis of clothing fibers, to solve crimes. As techniques in analytical chemistry have become more advanced, the amount of information that can be gleaned from tiny crime-scene samples has grown. Forensic science is becoming ever more powerful as a crime-solving tool.
Criminal investigators need to use several scientific techniques. They include making observations, establishing the problem to be solved, collecting evidence and gathering information, forming hypotheses, analyzing evidence, testing hypotheses, and drawing conclusions.