Crime Scene

Seven Quick Tips for Drawing Effective Crime Scene Diagrams

Follow these best practice tips to create effective crime scene diagrams that convey information quickly and accurately.

• Set the scope of your diagram. Before beginning, determine how much of the area to illustrate: one room, multiple rooms, or the entire house. You should only illustrate relevant rooms and areas.
• Gather information. Crime scene diagrams have to be as accurate as possible to be a useful resource when looking back on details of a crime long after the area has been cleaned up. If you were not there yourself, speak with anyone who either has first-hand knowledge or investigated the scene. Good sources would be the police, detectives, and any witnesses involved with the case, either directly or indirectly. If possible, visit the scene yourself in order to gather the most accurate information. Take accurate measurements between objects in the scene and their relative position to furniture or other landmarks.
• Create the background floor plan or landscape. Recreate the parts of the scene as they would appear on a normal day. For a crime that occurred inside, this includes adding the walls within which the crime occurred, as well as furniture, doors, windows, closets, appliances, etc. For an outside scene, begin with streets, sidewalks, and buildings, before adding plants, benches, lights, cars, signs, and so on.
• Add details. Now add objects that were specific to the crime scene. If there was a victim, or anyone present, they should be added into the drawing as they were found directly after or during the crime. Also add anything the perpetrator may have left behind, used, or disrupted while in the area.
• Label. Label each potential piece of evidence with a number or symbol. Then use arrows and text to show additional details or give information about that item. Also, give measurements for enough of the area that an observer could easily deduce the dimensions of anything on the diagram.
• Verify accuracy. Consult with witnesses and authorities who are knowledgeable about the crime to confirm that the information depicted in the diagram coincides with theirs.