Book Description

This book will provide invaluable assistance to the new criminal environmental investigator in the highly regulated and complex field of criminal environmental investigations. This type of criminal investigation comes with a very steep learning curve. Every activity that takes place at an environmental crime scene involving a hazardous substance is strictly regulated by numerous laws and mandated procedures which must be met for a prosecutor to pursue a successful criminal prosecution. Written in a format which will bring the new criminal environmental investigator through this lengthy learning process, its goal is to supply the criminal environmental investigator with the comprehensive procedures and techniques necessary to conduct a successful criminal environmental investigation that involves the release to the environment of a chemical, biological or radiological hazardous substance. The first issues addressed are those related to the specialized training, equipment, and resources needed to safely and effectively conduct this unique type of criminal investigation. This is followed by several chapters related to environmental crime search warrants, which includes such subjects as establishing probable cause, search warrant planning and search warrant execution. In addition, the criminal environmental investigator is provided with the hazardous evidence collection protocols necessary to collect chemical, biological and radiological evidence in their various forms and matrices. This work goes beyond simply describing "how" to collect hazardous evidence: it informs the reader "why" the hazardous evidence must be collected in a specific manner to meet the many challenges that can be expected to be brought forth by the adversarial criminal justice system.