When a call comes in, a crime scene officer must be ready to respond, no matter the situation. We all realize that means making sure you always have the proper equipment available to process the scene. But what sometimes gets forgotten is the need to protect your own safety. Depending on the situation, you'll need to protect your head, eyes, lungs, hands, feet, and occasionally your entire body. Even though you won't know exactly what you're getting into until you reach the scene, you still need to arrive at every scene with the right equipment to make sure that you are protected from harm.

When you get to a crime scene, you should first make sure that the scene has been properly secured and protected before you begin to process it. In order to secure the scene, the responding officer must conduct a thorough search to be sure that there are no suspects or physical dangers, such as booby traps, still present. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a properly secured and protected scene to the safety of the crime scene officers and everyone else.

Once you know the scene is secure and you are ready to begin processing, your first thought is probably to put on latex or nitril gloves. These gloves are, of course, important for protecting evidence because they keep you from leaving your own fingerprints behind. They also offer you protection from blood and other substances at the scene. I always used a pair of latex or nitril gloves as a base layer, then added another pair over these if they were needed when working with different pieces of evidence. It was much easier for me to remove and replace this second layer of gloves than it was to change the first pair. Sometimes you may also need heavy gloves to protect your hands when moving boards or other heavy or dangerous objects. I found that heavy leather gloves or firemen's gloves worked well for these situations. When I needed a heavy pair of gloves, I would just pull those on over the latex or nitril. The latex or nitril gloves underneath the heavy gloves were useful because they provided additional protection against cuts and liquids.

Your footwear is also important. Again, you want to protect the scene, so remember to cover your shoes or boots with rubber booties when you're indoors. Also remember to photograph the shoes of everyone at the scene (including first responders, officers, technicians, etc.) so that you can distinguish their imprints from those of suspects. You should also pay attention to the type of shoe or boot you wear. Since you could be anywhere from an old, dilapidated building to a wet, slippery embankment, you don't want to wear shoes with smooth soles. Instead, you should always wear shoes or boots that provide good traction and ankle support. You may even want to invest in a pair of boots with steel toes and steel plates in the arches. These boots will offer you protection from hazards such as nails and other dangerous objects that you may encounter while working a scene. In addition, you should keep chest waders and rubber boots in your crime scene vehicle for times when you are working in extreme conditions.