Most of the crime scene stuff on TV is science fiction, and nothing happens in minutes. Toxicology still takes weeks, even in LA and NYC. The biggest actual boosts to investigation are better cameras and multiple light sources available with digital photography to enhance the black and white film photography.

If you actually get to investigate a relatively uncompromised crime scene, you are well on your way to providing all of the evidence to obtain a conviction once you have identified the suspect(s).

The dispersion pattern of fluids and powders that track with the shockwave of the bullet. The location of the victim doesn’t always tell you where people were when shots were fired, which tells you where to look for bullets that pass through, but blood spatters will. Notice the cone spreading out from the initial impact point. Glass shatters with a similar cone pattern which is useful to know if you suspect that someone was faking a break-in by breaking a window and then dumping the fragments inside to make it look like the window was broken by someone outside.

(And, yeah, it was a fun photo to take, as long as, for a few minutes after shooting the chalk, one didn’t inhale 😉 )

Best
Jim