Practical Homicide Investigation Checklist and Field Guide

Practical Homicide Investigation: Tactics, Procedures, and Forensic Techniques, Fourth Edition has long been considered the "bible of homicide investigation." Designed to accompany this bestselling work, Practical Homicide Investigation Checklist and Field Guide, Second Edition provides first responders, police personnel, and medical examiners and coroners with essential checklists that proceed step-by-step through the tactics, procedures, and forensic techniques that are mandatory in sudden and violent death inquiries. This new edition contains twice the material of the first edition, yet maintains its concise, practical format.

Topics include:

• Specific investigative duties at the death scene
• Suicide and equivocal death investigation
• Autoerotic fatalities and other sex-related deaths
• Fatal fires
• SIDS and Munchausen syndrome by proxy
• Police-related shootings and deadly force incidents
• Crime scene photograph documentation and videotaping protocols
• Guidelines for proper death notification to family members

Supplemented by color anatomical diagrams and indexed by type of crime for quick and easy reference, this second edition has been newly revised with the most current information and updates in technology. The appendix contains collection procedures for specific types of evidence, ensuring that a proper and complete investigation can be undertaken in all cases. Forensic professionals who master the material in this guide can be assured that death scenes are handled professionally and expeditiously and no evidence is overlooked.

Commander Vernon Geberth is a retired lieutenant commander of the New York City Police Department with over 40 years of law enforcement experience. He is a nationally renowned lecturer, author, educator, consultant, and expert witness on the subject of death investigation. He has appeared on numerous local, national, and international television programs to answer questions on the subject of murder and provide insight, analysis, and commentary with respect to all aspects of homicide and death investigations. Geberth has been referenced as a media consultant on myriad national major cases across the United States and Canada. Over 69,500 members from over 8,000 law enforcement agencies have attended Geberth’s Practical Homicide Investigation seminars. In his seminars, Geberth focuses on his textbooks stressing advanced tactics, procedures, and forensic techniques and presents equivocal death, suicide, and missed investigations as well as serial murder investigation and the application of abnormal psychology to the investigative process.