Q+A CENTER

The phone rings in the middle of the night, waking up the crime scene investigator and summoning him to a crime scene just outside of town. As he approaches the scene, the CSI sees the body of a middle-aged man in a dark grey suit sprawled on the ground near an abandoned warehouse dumpster. In the night’s dim light, he thinks to himself “how will I document all of this?” Already, he’s snapping away, analyzing how to properly light the area and determine all the shots he needs to take in order to thoroughly record the crime scene.

Television brings this scene to millions of viewers every week, and to many, this usage of an imaging system has become second nature. But how many of us have actually considered all of the potential issues that could arise?

• Could someone accidentally delete a picture, leaving out a crucial piece of evidence that lets the perpetrator walk?

• Could someone edit the images to remove a critical piece of clothing or weapon, or perhaps add a murder weapon?

• If there’s an appeal 50 years later, will the images be intact and able to provide accurate documentation of the case?