Smith said the key for him is that Bertram and Bordelon allow him to get right to work on a serious crime. He knows we have the resources and the knowledge to do the job. When called out to a crime scene, Bertram and Bordelon secure the area with police barrier tape. They then assess the scene, start a log-in sheet so they can keep tabs of everyone who enters the crime scene and begin taking photographs. We log in each picture.
Evidence is marked, photographed, charted on a drawing of the scene and logged in.
It is the Bertram and Bordelon's job to submit the evidence to the state crime lab, even it means driving it to Jackson themselves. The O.J. Simpson trial is a case in point of how sloppy crime scene work can affect the outcome of an investigation. Simpson's attorneys were able to raise several questions about the integrity of the crime scene when Simpson's wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a friend were murdered in Los Angeles in 1994. I know when it was shown on the stand that they didn't follow procedure and wear their rubber gloves, it invalidated the integrity of the crime scene. The case did prove to be a boon for forensic science.