Basic principles – Record and Recover

By now we should all understand the importance of control and preserve, and be able to reflect on how well (or otherwise) these principles are followed in the case video.

But even if the answers are “Yes, we get it” and “Yes they were”, we are less than half way there. To return to Kirk, we have to be able to make the things whose integrity has been assured by control and preserve tell their story. And they can’t unless we know and have faithfully recorded the scene and the disposition of objects within it.

Record and recover are dealt with together because, to a considerable degree, they (like control and preserve) intermingle. The scene examiner has to identify those objects of interest that will be recovered for subsequent examination and ensure that their origin is correctly recorded.

Recovery itself is complex and varied, ranging from the large and obvious, to the minute and invisible to the naked eye.