Crime Scene Investigator (24 page)

I was to enjoy working for John Milner. He was to be my immediate line manager. The post I was filling had previously been held by a detective chief inspector. Surrey, like most forces, realised that a permanent professional was needed. A major review within the UK forces recommended the appointment of scientific support managers to bring the sections together under one manager. Although it was good career development for DCIs seeking promotion to head the crime scene, fingerprint and photographic sections for a short while, it did nothing to develop the sections themselves. One strange situation was that as I was a civilian manager of the new department, I was to be the direct line manager to a detective inspector (who was head of the fingerprint section) and a detective sergeant and many constables within the crime scene team. Ray Elvy was the detective inspector. He was the consummate professional and both he and I had to work at this new relationship for it was the first time a civilian was managing a detective officer as senior as an inspector within the force.

John was pleased with my appointment and I was flattered when he regularly reminded officers at the senior detectives meetings that my appointment was an ‘opportunity’ for the force. This I took in its wider sense, meaning the new post which I occupied, but John’s tone added a personal touch. I was only to work with John on one major investigation. That was because Pat Crossan headed the operational side of the HQ crime department. I was to support Pat Crossan in many major investigations and I enjoyed working with this talented, committed, utterly professional senior detective.

My commitment to develop myself and the colleagues who I worked with was to be given a chance. I left the Met with a little sadness and a lot of trepidation, but I felt that I was making the right move. It was going to be hard work and fun and at times painful, but it was the right thing to do. The development of the individual, or a profession, does not come without pain. I was about to step up to the plate.

It wasn’t a particularly welcoming start. I arrived at Surrey Police Headquarters early one April morning to begin my first day at work there. I had been nervous with expectant anticipation for the days leading up to it. This was a big move.

I was thirty-something, prematurely bald, and I had a background as a proven crime scene investigator and first-line supervisor. Now I was to manage. My role was to lead a complete unit. I had a vision of where I wanted to go with the department. There were opportunities in science and its application which few, if any, police force had even started to realise. I had some idea of where they were now, but I had to get the detail.

It seemed that I wasn’t expected. I was shown to the canteen and sat there for a while. Ray Elvy eventually found me there. Both the detective superintendents had been called away.

The vacuum caused by having no DCI in the post for some time meant that the office I was due to have had been occupied by someone else. I quickly realised that I was literally going to have to start from scratch.

Ray showed me round and introduced me to the members of the HQ fingerprint and photographic staff. Many were puzzled that a civilian had been appointed and didn’t seem as enthusiastic as I was. I was probably just another boss to them, and not even a police officer. I got a better reception from the scenes of crime personnel on division, many of whom I knew.

First things first. I had to find an office and a desk. Finding the office was relatively easy – there was a good-sized room in a converted police house at the end of a terrace of houses in the grounds of the Mount Browne site. Many of the houses had been converted to offices because of the lack of space. The desk literally came out of a skip. It was earmarked for the dump. It was large but it would do. I had worked out of the back of a car for four years on the Flying Squad and so any desk was a luxury. The estate manager ensured that the locks on the desk were changed and I quickly settled down to work. I would keep that desk for six years until a new laboratory facility building was built solely for scientific support.

At the end of my first day I went home with a massive headache. And it lasted for a few days as my brain computed the massive task I had undertaken. I wasn’t to know it (there were few computers available) but I needed the human equivalent of a faster processor and a higher RAM!

Some good advice I had received early in my life was that when starting a new job it is best to keep your ears open and mouth closed. This I did. I met, visited and got to know as best I could all the members of what was to become the scientific support department. I also was introduced to the senior detective team and HQ crime staff as well as other people I would interact with.

I went to the head of personnel and drew out the personal files of all the scientific support staff and read them. I didn’t want to prejudge, I would make my own mind up, but I felt it was important to do a little homework. Reading the files I quickly realised the talents, qualification and baggage. I was committed to give everyone a chance, and hoped it would be reciprocated.

Surrey had a sound and solid background in delivering fingerprint and forensic evidence, and some present and former members of staff were well respected within the force and within the region. My arrival, timed like many in similar posts within the UK service, marked a time of change in technology and opportunity. It was a blank sheet of paper, an open door. Never before had the crime scene, fingerprint and photographic sections been managed by a single professional manager. There were lots of ideas which, until then, had fallen on stony ground. The development of the scenes of crime section had been hampered by the historical police rank structure. I had observed for a long time that talented police scenes of crime officers throughout the UK were put off applying for promotion as it usually meant leaving the department and returning to other police roles. There was little incentive to develop the person or the science. Civilianisation of the police roles brought a career structure which benefited the development of both and was well advanced in Surrey. Perhaps those in authority in Surrey were just waiting for someone who knew how to implement the required changes when I arrived. I had to nurture the sponsors and focus the sections and all the individuals within it.

Key players were the three senior SOCOs, Martin Gaule, Trevor Wykes and Mike Thomas (later replaced by John Armstrong), who each covered a geographical area, and the head of the fingerprint bureau, Ray Elvy, and the head of the photographic section, Ken Williams. With the SOCOs I was on home ground as I was one of them. Both Ray and Ken were professional but I felt a little wariness on both their parts. Ken was a strong and vocal character. Ray was quieter and played things closer to his chest.

Ken had been with Surrey for over thirty years. In fact he joined as a police cadet the year I was born, but later chose to go into the new photographic section in the early 1960s. Ken was a doer. He had a totally professional approach and was up for any new idea which would improve the way he and his team did their job. He was also demanding, but I didn’t mind that. To him I was a mere boy. But within a few weeks I had won him round. It was Ray who pointed it out to me. I took comfort from that because I felt I still had to prove myself to him. I don’t know what clinched it with Ken. Perhaps he realised I was just as committed as him and, although I was a lot younger, perhaps he recognised that with me he could realise his ambitions for his section. Both he and I were pushing at the same open door as far as I was concerned. He was years ahead of many other forces, save for the Met, who had their own forensic science laboratory to call upon.

Within a month or so I had a pretty clear picture in my mind. Surrey was a good force. It was nothing like the Met, of course. It was much, much smaller but the people were committed. The scientific support personnel lacked management, leadership and direction. In relation to other forces they were doing OK. They were solid and reliable but nothing special, or nothing special about them had been recognised as such by the force and those around. That was in spite of the excellent work undertaken by Ray Elvy in the field of fingerprint computerisation and by Ken Williams in forensic photography. I wanted to change that. In my mind I started to map out what needed to happen.

First was to see what the force needed from scientific support. I quickly realised that the problems and lack of development had started over ten years before. It takes five years to train a fingerprint expert. So it is too late to wait for a vacancy to occur. For too long it had reacted to demands rather than predict them. Many of the issues which affected the department were historical. So I concluded that if those who went before me (if anyone actually had) had seen the opportunity they could have predicted and prevented them. My role, I decided, was to put the department on a firm footing and see long into the future, so that we were always ahead of the game. I didn’t want whoever succeeded me to be in the same position.

Over the next months and year I developed a plan which supported the force and HQ crime plans. I used these as an opportunity to introduce practices and technology which would ensure that crime scene and forensic science played its part to the full in the deduction and reduction of crime. This would lead to the development of staff within the department and beyond. There were several aspects which would be addressed. They were based on the business plans needs and goals of the force. I would ensure that every member of the department would have three personal objectives as part of their annual development and goals. Two would directly support section goals for crime scene, fingerprint or photography. Each would in turn support scientific support, HQ crime department and ultimately force goals. Every member of the department could see that their personal objectives were directly supporting a force goal. The third personal objective was one for the individual. It too would have a direct link to the force goals but it was one which would ensure a personal goal or interest of the individual, such as study, a project or development, would matter. It was both a reward and a motivator.

Training of the first officers to attend the crime scene in scene preservation along with detective training in forensic science awareness was also important. This would ensure that the potential for forensic evidence was realised. Detectives would also spend time visiting the forensic science laboratory.

Even the most committed individual needs motivation and reward. The grading structure for each discipline within crime scene, fingerprint and photography were non-existent. There were workers and there was a manager. I had already realised the most important grades are those at the front line – they deliver the goods. Equally there was a need for managers but not all that many. However, it was important to distinguish between a new raw recruit and those with many years of experience and high skill levels. I wanted to achieve this without creating more managers. So I introduced a progression scheme. One existed in embryo within the fingerprint department. I also took the idea from the fluid grading scheme in operation within the government forensic science laboratory service. There, qualified staff could progress from scientific officer through higher scientific officer to senior scientific officer over a period of years, dependent on skills. A pay rise and a new title would greet each progression. All the staff remained operational and not necessarily managers. The goal within each discipline was to get to the senior grade.

So I developed the career guide scheme which existed for fingerprint officers and extended it so it also included crime scene and forensic photographers. They would all enter at grade 2, progress through grade 1 to a senior grade which was the expert grade. Above that would be a small number of managerial posts. Managers were needed but effective management was more important. Those in senior grades would be expected to, and be given the opportunity to, deputise for the manager in their absence.

Developments in technology and changes in legislation and practice also offered opportunities to detect more crime. The use of DNA technology has mushroomed since the first case in the UK in 1987. Techniques continued to become more sensitive, allowing even smaller stains of blood and other DNA-rich material to be examined and a profile obtained. That had its limitations because crime scene DNA is only of any use if there is a suspect profile to compare it against. In 1995 the law in England and Wales was changed to allow the sampling of most of the people who were charged, cautioned or reported for recordable offences. This covered most crime cases. It meant that a sample could be taken and searched against DNA found at unsolved crime scenes. The samples from suspects could be lawfully retained on a database provided the suspects were not acquitted of the offence for which they had been arrested. The National DNA Database (NDNAD) was born. The data remained the property of the police service. The database was administered by the Forensic Science Service, the UK’s main forensic science laboratory provider. The technology for increasing the recovery of DNA from crime scenes increased and there is no reason to suggest that techniques will not improve further.