Contaminated Crime Scene

Case Study

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Warning

This presentation has video footage of

deceased persons

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Introduction
• The recovery of contaminated fatalities will involve a number of
skills:
– Photography
– Evidence Recovery
– CBRN
– Crime Scene Awareness

• It will be personnel intensive

• Operations will take longer than normal

• Can be expensive
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Introduction

Contaminated Fatality

Definition

‘A contaminated Fatality is a body or body part which has been

contaminated with a chemical, biological or radiological agent’

Although

Death may have been caused by other factors

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Equipment
• In order to conduct the safe recovery of contaminated
fatalities you should consider having the following
equipment available:
– CBRN Body Bags
– PPE commensurate to the threat
– RPE commensurate to the threat
– Nitrile Gloves
– Nylon Evidence Bags
– Waste Bags
– DIM
– Photographic Equipment
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Case 1 – Hackney, London

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Case 1 – Hackney, London
• Emergency Services were called to a Hotel in the
Hackney area of London following a call from Hotel
management.

• They were told that two people were in a room and

appeared to be dead

• A note was left warning the Emergency Services stating:

• ‘Be careful the White Powder is Dangerous’

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Case 1 – Hackney, London
• Specialist teams were sent to the scene by the
emergency services:

– Police – Dedicated CBRN Unit

– Ambulance – Hazardous Area Response Team
– Fire Service – Hazmat Teams

• An assessment of the scene was performed and it was

found that the two occupants were deceased.

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Case 1 – Hackney, London

• Following an on site analysis of substances found in the room by

Specialist Police Teams it was determined that the powder was
Potassium Cyanide

• This had been purchased via the internet

• It was strongly believed that the 2 deceased persons had mixed the
Potassium Cyanide with Water and drunk it causing death

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Case 1 – Hackney, London
Evidence Recovery
• As with any crime scene evidence need to be recovered
from the scene

• This was performed by Specialist CBRN Trained officers

• Evidence recovered included:

– Samples of the Hydrogen Cyanide
– Samples of the Potassium Cyanide
– Personal Effects
– Documentation

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Case 1 – Hackney, London
• Having identified the hazard it was decided that a
specialist Body Recovery Team would be called out to
deal with the deceased

• The team comprised of experienced DVI Operators and

an experienced CBRN/DVI Operator

• The following video will show what happened

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Operational Issues
• A number of Operational issues presented themselves to the Team:

• This was the 1st ‘Contaminated Recovery’ to be performed in London,

there were no procedures in place for this type of incident, even though
it had been foreseen and raised with senior managers.

• The scene was not adequately secured when taking into account
dangerous chemicals were involved – Not sufficient evacuation and
cordon integrity

• Lack of CBRN Body bags in London

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Operational Issues
ALWAYS BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS

• The recovery team were required to deploy in full CBRN PPE and had to
change into this equipment

• The only place suitable was in a Bar area on the ground floor of the hotel

• Behind the bar a Webcam was seen by the team

• This had to be negated as not only were officers changing but briefings
were also being conducted. These briefings contained confidential
information.

• Failure to observe the Webcam could have resulted in images etc being
seen across the Internet
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Operational Issues

• Always ensure that Officers deploying to these scenes

DO NOT take their own phones in with them for reasons
of Operational Security:
– Any Photographs taken MAY be subject to disclosure
– The risk of them being uploaded to Social Media
– Contaminating the Phone and therefore the risk of
contaminating persons outside the scene.

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Putney - London

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Case 2 – Putney London
• Emergency Service were called to an apartment in
Putney, South London following a report of a strong
‘chemical’ smell coming from the premises.

• Specialist Police units entered the apartment in full

PPE and RPE

• Inside the premises they found two females who were

deceased inside a very small room.
– This presented a difficult recovery operation
especially when using high levels of PPE and
RPE.
– Full forensic considerations to be taken into

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Case 2 – Putney
Scene Assessment
• Upon undertaking a full scene assessment they found
– High levels of Hydrogen Sulfide
– Evidence of a very sensitive nature – This culminated in a Police
Officer being sentenced to term of imprisonment.

• A full photographic and video record was made of the

scene

• Detailed photographic evidence taken of documentation

• Both Air sampling and on site diagnostic testing of the

chemical contamination was conducted

• Contamination levels were lowered

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Case 2- Putney
Recovery of Evidence
• Following the initial photographic record being completed the
recovery of forensic evidence commenced.

• Items included:
– The chemical itself including control samples
– The sensitive documentation
– Various personal effects belonging to the deceased

• Lastly the bodies of the deceased needed a PM to be performed.

• To do this specialist DVI/CBRN Trained officers were called to the

scene.

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Case 2- Putney
Recovery of Evidence – Body Recovery
• Prior to the recovery taking place a Recovery Strategy had to be
formulated which complemented both the Forensic and Investigation
Strategies.

• Selecting the appropriate RPE and PPE suitable for the task in hand
– Standard PPE and RPE guidelines are not always appropriate

• Full briefings to be given to the Recovery Team to include

– CBRN Threats and considerations
– Forensic Requirements (CSM/SIO)
– Investigation Strategy (SIO)
– Emergency procedures and extraction – Risk Assessment
– Where will the bodies go ?

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Case 2- Putney
Recovery of Evidence – Body Recovery
• Recovery of any contaminated body MUST be undertaken with:
– The same care & attention to detail as any evidence
– Respect for the deceased

• Once the bodies have been recovered they need to be taken from the
scene to an appropriately equipped Medical Facility i.e. Mortuary

• As part of any planning suitable transport and facilities need to be

identified.

• Storing the bodies in cool conditions will lower the the effect of ‘off
gassing’. However once the ambient temperature rises then the effects
of ‘off gassing’ will be seen

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Operational Issues

• Conflict with Senior Managers

– There was the mistaken belief that Rank assumes knowledge in a highly specialised
field.
– In many specialist areas of Police work it is the fact that it is Role Related, NOT Rank
related

• Finding of sensitive documentation

– It was clear from a very early stage that this matter would result in an investigation into
a serving Police Officers conduct and as such the documentation had to be handled in
a very sensitive manner and all evidence recovery processes adhered to

• Press
– There was huge press interest in this case and a media strategy had to be instigated.
Officers identities to be preserved.

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Operational Issues

• Duration and cost of operation

– This operation was protracted given the knowledge that there would be an
investigation into a serving officer.
– This had effects on both the duration and cost of the operation

• Post Mortem
– It was decided by the SIO that there would be a full forensic Post Mortem.
– This posed issues with appropriately trained Pathologists and Odontologists
– Forensic Post Mortems take significantly longer than standard Post Mortems

• Viewing of the Deceased

– Any viewing or washing of the body by relatives will have to be handled sensitively. In
this case it was NOT permitted due to the risk of cross contamination to them

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Post Mortem

• When carrying out a Post Mortem on a contaminated fatality it is recommended

that ongoing Air Monitoring is carried out to safeguard all working in the
environment.

• As with all things involving contamination the Post Mortem process will take
significantly longer to complete.

• Areas of interest will include:

– Zip and Filter areas of Body Bag prior to opening
– Inside Body Bag once opened.
– Once deceased had been undressed
– Following initial incision
– Throughout the taking of samples
– Once samples had been taken from the deceased prior to being sealed
– Once body had been sewn up
– Closure of Body Bag

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Post Mortem’s

• Conducting Post Mortems on chemically contaminated fatalities

poses a risk

• Points to consider before conducting Post Mortems

– Are your staff trained ?
– Do you have sufficient protection from your PPE ?
– What Medical counter measures are in place ?
– Is there an extraction plan ?
– What levels of contamination are you being exposed to ?
– How is this measured ?
– Who will provide the air monitoring ?

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Questions

• Having seen the video and been briefed on what happened the
following questions should be answered:

• Decontamination – Was there a need ?

• Do the bodies present a risk to unprotected staff ?
• What, if any, detection equipment should be taken into the scene ?
• If Detection Equipment is taken in then why ?
• Is this a simple case of Suicide or are there other investigation
strands that should be considered ?

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Scene Capture & Briefings

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