A 15-lesson course, developed by the Kosovo Police Service School
The value of physical evidence is determined by how useful it is in verifying that a crime has been committed, identifying the person or persons who did it and exonerating all other persons who may be under suspicion.
Physical evidence has a great potential in all these regards. But to realize its full potential, the police, the crime laboratory examiner, and the prosecutors must join to produce a set of facts that makes it unreasonable to believe any conclusion, other than the one, the facts support – even though any one of the facts may be open to reasonable doubt.
In order to accomplish this important task, there are certain qualities of evidence that must be obtained, and some minimum quantities collected before the crime laboratory can be of any assistance. It is no exaggeration to say that, in the majority of cases, the police officers that protect and search a crime scene play a critical role in determining whether the scientific expertise of the laboratory will be brought to bear in a case.