A day in the life of a...Police Forensic Photographer
Murder, mayhem and mystery may well be the basic plot of any fictional television crime series. But for members of the Forensic Photography Section, these elements are a reality they face every day.
Whether it’s photographing a woman who had been welded into a drum after being murdered by her husband, or a man who decided to hide in an anchor-well of a fishing boat, before being discovered eight months later, it’s all in a day’s work for Police forensic photographers as they capture the images on camera as evidence.
Not for the faint-hearted
Officer-in-charge of the Wellington Forensic Photography Section, Sergeant Janine Davie, told Police News that to be competent in the job, photographers needed to have a cast-iron stomach.
“It’s pretty negative most of the time, because you have to deal with a lot of death and tragedy.”
Because of this, photographers must be able to disassociate themselves from what they are witnessing. Measures have been put in place to achieve this.
“A psychologist is available to all photographers and we encourage them to talk about any issues they may have at least every three months,” Mrs Davie said.
Method to the madness
The main objective for a Police forensic photographer is to support the gathering of evidence of a crime, as well as produce evidence in court in the event of a not-guilty plea.
“Our photos help paint a picture, so we must make sure they are presented in an unbiased way, as we can depict a scene far better than anybody can describe it.” Mrs Davie said.
To achieve this, several factors must be taken into consideration.These include perspective, lighting, shutter speeds, camera settings, apertures, lenses and digital production.
Mrs Davie said perspective was very important. “Photographers need to figure out which angles to use, as taking a picture from a certain angle may distort the view, e.g. an object may look bigger or smaller than it actually is.”
Photographers needed to determine which lens would be best for the job e.g. using a wide-angled lens or a zoom lens.
A number of shots are also taken from several different angles, which helps minimise the problem of parallax (an object against a distant background), which might then lead to evidence being deemed inadmissible by a judge.
Having a good grasp of human anatomy is also important.
Scene of the crime
When arriving at a crime scene, the officer-in-charge of the case briefs the Police forensic photographer.
The photographer then factors in time considerations and lighting before going about his or her work.
“Lighting is very important in our job, as everything must be clearly visible. This is why we use the flash 99.9% of the time,” Mrs Davie said.
“Unlike other forms of photography, we never use artistic shadows.”
Keeping the shutter speed low on the camera also helps depict everything in the scene, Mrs Davie said.
General to the specific
At crime scenes, photographers will always begin by taking pictures from the outside perspective.
“You will always move from the general to the specific, e.g: You will always begin taking a photo of the overall scene and then get more specific as you move in closer,” Mrs Davie explained.
“It helps if you think about what might come up in court, so you are always taking this into consideration when working.” Having attention to detail and good problem solving skills definitely helps achieve these objectives.
Equipment check
To record their work, most Police photographers in New Zealand are equipped with a Cannon Mark 1DS digital camera.
“These are definitely the preferred camera for most forensic photographers since everything went digital in 2007,” Mrs Davies said. Tripods are an important tool of the trade.
They are invaluable as work is often in conditions of low light, thereby requiring long exposures.
Photographers also use Apple Mac computers and video cameras, and are constantly upgrading to the latest technology.
“We often have to video scenes as well as edit them. Videoing interviews with offenders is also another part of our job,” Mrs Davie said.
Photographers take hundreds of thousands of photos a year and all of them are stored - indefinitely.
“There has definitely been an increase in demand for our services in recent years and I think this is down to the fact that we live in a much more visual age,” Senior Constable Fiona Foxall told Police News.
“It’s also been found that juries seem to respond better to visual aids.”
The good bits
One of the best parts of the job was “variety”, Constable Paula Tanuvasa said.
“You just never quite know where you are going to end up. Recently I was called to a fatal vehicle crash in the same location as the television drink-drive advert “It’s in the blood” was filmed,” she said.
“It was quite strange because the victim had gone off the road in the same place as the car in the ad.
“Although the victim did manage to steer back on to the road, they then oversteered and crashed into a tree,” Ms Tanuvasa said.
Forensic photographers regularly take pictures of assault injuries, drug paraphernalia, dead bodies, crime scenes, arsons, cannabis plants, fatal vehicle crashes and robberies.
They also take photos of publicity events for the Police.
Some of the stranger locations photography staff have been to include: burnt-out buildings, clan labs with toxic chemicals and the middle of motorways – unfortunately attending night time fatal vehicle crashes.
Job description
Forensic photographers usually work between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. but are on call seven days a week.
All photographers are sworn police officers and currently there are about 50 working nationwide.
Obviously an interest in photography and technology is needed, along with maturity, a good work ethic and the ability to work on your own.
“These are the things we look for in a Police forensic photographer,” Mrs Davie said.
