Management of crime scene units by Quebec police senior managers: Insight on forensic knowledge and understanding of key stakeholders

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_FBC6AF02BE02
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Management of crime scene units by Quebec police senior managers: Insight on forensic knowledge and understanding of key stakeholders
Journal
Science & Justice
Author(s)
Mousseau Vincent, Baechler Simon, Crispino Frank
ISSN
1355-0306
Publication state
Published
Issued date
09/2019
Volume
59
Number
5
Pages
524-532
Language
english
Abstract
What do policing leaders think and know of forensic science? Beyond crime scene investigators or detectives, how do police senior managers perceive the role, utility and limitations of forensic science? Very few empirical studies have addressed the issue. Forensic scientsts should be concerned about the perception that law enforcement senior managers have of their discipline for two reasons. First, strategic and financial decision-makers are obviously key players in the overall administration and provision of forensic science, either as a supervisor, money provider or as a customer. Second, literature has highlighted that other actors involved in forensic science underestimate the scope and possibilities offered by forensic science, hence limiting its exploitation and potential. Following interviews with 18 police senior managers from Quebec (Canada), this study shows that they generally restrict forensic science to a reactive discipline whose role and utility is to identify offenders and support the Court. This understanding of forensic science, like that of many others including a significant share of forensic scientists, differs from the perception of other police activities in modern law enforcement agencies where proactive action is sought. Considering these findings and the growing body of literature which calls for forensic science to connect more tightly with policing and security, we advocate a more extensive education of police leaders regarding the scope of forensic science.
Keywords
Forensic science, Crime scene investigation, Policing, Police management, Forensic education and training, Forensic management
Pubmed
Create date
03/09/2019 16:25
Last modification date
04/09/2019 5:10
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