Aside from the actors, mysterious twists, and provocative storylines, the crime lab is also one of the central elements of the award-winning series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.  Throughout the show, the CSI team is able to trail investigations through means of forensic evidence most often realized in the walls of the scientific lab.  With the use of unusual camera angles, hi-tech equipment, graphic portrayal and technical methods of evidence recovery, the procedural drama has become a favorable comparison close to reality, at least for most of its fans.

But for Bob Pino, a former Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab administrator, real-life crime scene investigations differ from those that are portrayed on television.

"With CSI on television, everything has to be done within that one hour time frame, but in real case work, there's also the actual taking in of evidence, the chain of custody matters that have to be done, then the actual evidence has to be examined by separate examiners," Pino told The Boston Channel.  "The stains have to be identified and once they're identified they have to be typed up, and each one of these processes can take either days or weeks, depending on which type of testing you're doing."

In line with this, he also explains that what people see on television is not an accurate reflection of how an actual crime lab works.

"Everything goes into different compartments, different laboratories do different types of the examination.  So you'd have one part that does finger prints, one part that does any kind of trace identification, one that does the state identification, and then there'd be DNA done afterwards," Pino added.

While CSI consists of a comprehensive workforce that includes a forensic entomologist, a blood spatter analyst, and an audio-video analyst to name a few, real crime labs are often understaffed and overworked.


-Kris, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: The Boston Channel
(Image courtesy of CBS)