Commander of Sezione Intervento Operativo (S.I.O.) - Arma Carabinieri, Reparto Carabinieri Investigazioni Scientifiche (R.I.S.), di Messina, Italy; Laboratory of Forensic Biology, Arma Carabinieri, Reparto Carabinieri Investigazioni Scientifiche (R.I.S.), di Messina, Italy.
Discipline of Medical, Molecular & Forensic Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia; Murdoch University Singapore, King's Centre, 390 Havelock Road, Singapore 169662, Singapore.
Sci Justice. 2021 Nov;61(6):735-742. doi: 10.1016/j.scijus.2021.08.002. Epub 2021 Aug 19.
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading around the world, representing a global pandemic. In this context, governments from around the world suspended almost all education, industry and business activities, alongside restricting the movement of people. Nevertheless, during this period, the activity of the law enforcement and forensic investigators never stopped. At present, guidelines regarding forensic autopsies of SARS-CoV-2 virus-positive cases and the handling of potentially infected biological samples are available in literature. However, less attention has been given to the development of specific adjustments to the existing crime scene investigation protocols and procedures for this exceptional time. This manuscript aims to share the methods and strategies adopted for the investigation of high priority criminal cases during the pandemic. Furthermore, other pandemic-related processes are critically explored, in order to propose adjustments for any forensic services to be prepared to face similar challenges in the future. The overall goal of this manuscript is to provide a summary of the main measures and the procedures developed to make the operations possible, while safeguarding the technicians in the field and the activity in the forensic laboratory. In order to minimize the risk of infection for personnel, adjustments to the standard practice have been proposed for each of the different phases of crime scene management, i.e. CSI call policy, equipment preparation, working groups, procedure at the scene, chain of custody and analyses of the evidence at the forensic lab. As this is a current study, based on limited cases and limited sources in the literature, changes and updates to the indications provided in this paper may be needed in the near future, according to new virological data epidemiological trends.
新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）正在全球范围内传播，构成全球大流行。在这种情况下，世界各国政府几乎暂停了所有教育、工业和商业活动，并限制了人员流动。然而，在此期间，执法和法医调查人员的活动从未停止。目前，文献中提供了有关 SARS-CoV-2 病毒阳性病例的法医解剖和潜在感染生物样本处理的指南。然而，对于在这个特殊时期对现有犯罪现场调查协议和程序进行特定调整的关注较少。本文旨在分享在大流行期间调查高优先级刑事案件所采用的方法和策略。此外，还批判性地探讨了其他与大流行相关的过程，以便为任何法医服务机构提出调整建议，以应对未来类似的挑战。本文的总体目标是总结为使行动成为可能而制定的主要措施和程序，同时保护现场技术人员和法医实验室的活动。为了最大限度地降低人员感染的风险，针对犯罪现场管理的每个不同阶段的标准做法提出了调整建议，即 CSI 呼叫政策、设备准备、工作组、现场程序、保管链和法医实验室的证据分析。由于这是一项当前的研究，基于有限的案例和文献中的有限资源，根据新的病毒学数据和流行病学趋势，本文中提供的指示可能需要在不久的将来进行更改和更新。
