Don’t contaminate crime scenes – east police
Two weeks ago a business in Sunnyside kept their shop open - even after an armed robbery had occurred.
East police have cautioned people not to tamper with evidence at crime scenes.
“As soon as a crime has happened, call the police and stay put – without touching anything,” said police spokesperson Jan Sepato.
Evidence tampering often hindered police in making speedy breakthroughs in cases, he said.
Sepato said most evidence tampering happened after business or house robberies.
Businesses sometimes continued operating even after crimes had been committed in their shops.
“If the robbery took place at a business place, everything must come to a complete halt,” said Sepato.
“Sales should not continue and people must avoid touching anything.”
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Sepato said crime scenes should be treated with sensitivity.
“There is valuable evidence that police must gather at a crime scene that might help with solving the case.”
He said contamination of evidence cost the police additional resources as they then had to resort to an elimination process.
About two weeks ago, a Sunnyside business kept its premises open – even after an armed robbery.
Sepato said the store was robbed of an undisclosed amount of money, after which customers were still allowed to enter and exit the shop.
“Sometimes shop owners do not know what to do after a robbery, but the best is to try to preserve the crime scene as much possible and not to let anyone come and go as they like,” he said.
“Even after a burglary, owners must avoid touching or moving anything.”
At murder scenes, Sepato said people wanted to hold the recently deceased or take their bodies to a hospital in an attempt to save them.
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“This too can contaminate evidence,” he said.
“Only medical experts should handle injured or deceased people.”
Sepato said people found to have tampered with crime scenes could be charged with defeating the ends of justice.
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