CSI for EMS

EMS personnel are an invaluable part of a crime scene, and their unique observations can greatly impact the course of investigation, according to Beonicia Loveless, Medical Examiner Investigator and Child Abuse Investigator for the State of Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Ms. Loveless gave a presentation called “Crime Scene Etiquette for EMS” that went beyond the usual basics of not disturbing the scene or cutting through bullet holes.

“You may be the only person to see the inside of that house,” she said by way of example.” Even if investigators come bay later, they may not see the scene as it existed before cleanup.” And regarding interviewing patients and other witnesses: “The information you’re getting form the family is generally very frantic, and very typically may be much more truthful than the information I get when they’ve had a chance to compose themselves…You are the first person we can actually trust that gets the story.”

Loveless stressed that patient care must always come first, but that any details EMS personnel take notice of could prove invaluable later during police investigations or cause of death determination.