Many people have seen the CSI franchise TV series and sometimes we can be better for it. One book which adds to the segment is called Bodies We’ve Buried – inside the National Forensic Academy, the World’s Top CSI School by Jarrett Hallcox and Amy Welch published by Berkley Books, NY, 2006. In the book we readers go through the process where law enforcement personnel go to get training in CSI work. The first thing in school is going back to the fundamentals of what you should and should not do upon coming to a crime scene. The authors have 8 steps otherwise there are wonderful defence lawyers who will tear the work down. The steps are:

1. Approach the scene
2. Secure and protect the scene
3. Conduct a preliminary scene
4. Photograph the scene
5. Sketch a diagram of the scene
6. Perform a detailed search for evidence
7. Collect the evidence
8. Conduct the final survey.

 

1. Approach the scene – to look for other hazards, no days you may not know what you are getting into so go safe.
2. Secure and protect the scene – the golden rule is not to move anything, so ensure no one goes in and out without authorization.
3. Conduct a preliminary scene – basically observe the scene because potential evidence is destroyed within the first few minutes. Take your time, begin to see what has happened or likely happened. The more detail you note the better it is because by the time the trial happens many other files will have crossed your desk.
4. Photograph the scene – at the school you learn how to photograph. Taking more is much better than taking less.
5. Sketch a diagram of the scene – the sketch will help you show relationships of size and distance between different objects.
6. Perform a detailed search for evidence – this is a search from top to bottom and everything in between. There are 3 things that really make a case: evidence, evidence, and more evidence. The theory of transfer is no one can enter a location without bringing in or depositing some sort of evidence or no one can leave without taking some sort of evidence with them.
7. Collect the evidence – what is collected is physical evidence. This can take a lot of time, but if you do not do it can lead to not guilty.
8. Conduct the final survey – there are two rules to remember 1) physical evidence can never be over documented and 2) there is one chance to perform the job properly so work till it is completed.

The book goes into how to do all the above.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, similar to CSI investigators you should also invest through basic fundamentals and if that takes extra time so be it. Although everyone would love capital gains as soon as possible, when investing in dividend stocks you are looking for long term capital appreciation. If it takes extra time, it takes extra time. If you are being rushed why?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.