Crime Scene Programming
One of the largest television conglomerates in the world is the CSI crime TV series of shows. A huge worldwide audience cannot seem to get enough of the intrigue and suspense these programs provide every week.
This television franchise has had an enormous social and cultural effect.
The craze is so vast; that has actually impacted how people view real life trials in courtrooms. It has spawned what has been coined “the CSI Effect”, in which juries worldwide now have unreasonable expectations of real-life forensics because of what they have seen on CSI.
Equally, the new found popularity of forensics dramas on television has led to an increase in applications for college and technical courses dealing with forensic science or archaeological science—in the United Kingdom applications are up by 30%.
As the shows are aired in 200 countries with an audience of 2 billion people, various spin-offs have been developed to cater to this enormous market, including novels, comic books and computer games.
The popularity of the original CSI series spawned offshoot show after off shoot show: CSI Miami, CSI NY, NCIS, The Real CSI, Without a Trace and Cold Case.
Worldwide audiences are tuning in and still seem to be craving more.
Reality Programming
Another even more popular television venue is reality programming.
When the year 2000 came, many people thought that significant changes were going to occur. One change that very few people anticipated was the explosion of popularity of reality TV shows. In the year 2000, two shows specifically aired for the first time in North America that became cultural phenomena:
Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Survivor. Who Wants to be a Millionaire’s success can still be measured by the catchphrase it spawned, ”Is that your final answer?” As to Survivor, its popularity is so profound that it has inspired many new reality TV shows with similar premises throughout the world.
When survivor hit the airways millions of viewers stopped in their tracks and became instantly hooked. After that it seemed there was no way to fulfill the audience craving for more reality. From American Idol, to Apprentice and everything in between, it almost seems like if it is a reality program, it is a hit.
The appeal of reality TV is evident to anybody that has watched an excellent reality TV show. Reality TV shows appeal to people because of how easy it is for the audience to relate to the people participating on these shows, as they are real people.
Reality TV shows have become so ingrained that many people can’t have. Many dream of going on reality TV shows and reap the rewards, be it: money, a new home, love, or a new face.
Crime Scene Programming meets Reality Programming
Crime Scene Reality TV is combining these two winning formulas into one show. We expect CSI Reality TV to be among one of these successful shows as it provides crime scene suspense with real people competing to solve the crime. With these ingredients together in one show, we will be providing the entertainment that the television audiences can’t seem to get enough of into one hot TV show.
Solving A Crime
Do you have what it takes to solve a crime?
With each crime there are many different variable to consider but the basics are consistent in most cases.
Here is a step by step progression of the process.
Follow along and see how you would do.
The call comes in, 5am. A body has been found in an alley behind a laundry mat on the corner of 4th street and Cedar. The victim was shot and there were no witnesses.
As you arrive on the scene you scan the environment from afar. The police have blocked off the area and there is a body lying on the concrete in the distance.
Upon approaching the body, a police officer approaches to update you on their findings. The victim has no wallet according to the officer so they have assumed it was a robbery. While nobody was there who had seen the crime, a tenant in an apartment building a block away had called 911 after hearing what sounded like 5 gunshots at approximately 4:30am. When stepping closer you observe the body is that of a man in his 40’s who is dressed in a tuxedo. The only business in the area that has been open for when the crime was committed was the 24 hour laundry mat.
It appears that the shots were made at close range by the blood spatter. At first glance it does look like a simple robbery, but what was this man doing coming out of a laundry mat at 4:30am in a tuxedo.
What would you do next?
Collect evidence
Examine the body more closely and start collecting evidence. Look for anything that doesn’t belong or that can be fingerprinted. Look in the victim’s pockets for any clues that would let you know who he is. A cellular phone in his pocket is found but has no charge. This will help to identify the body. Next check inside of the laundry mat for anyone who may have seen the man before he was shot. Check to see if there is any laundry in any machines that could belong to the victim.
The Forensic examination
The body is moved to the forensic examiner to determine what type of gun was used and check for more clues such as foreign DNA, establishing actual time and cause of death. The entry and exit wounds reveal that the shots were fired at very close range. Some hairs and fibers are found on the tuxedo. These are saved as future possible DNA evidence.
Identifying the victim
Once charged the cellular phone is call and the victim is identified. Next a trip to visit the family. Once they are informed of the murder, they will be questioned about what the man was doing on the evening of the crime.
Following up on information obtained from the family
While initially being classified as a robbery, it is the detective’s job to make sure that there isn’t more to it that was not evident at the crime scene. A fight with his wife that night seems suspicious. The victim had found out earlier that his wife was cheating. They obtained the information from the wife as to who she was having the affair with. The wife stated that she was at home alone after her husband had left their house at 1AM.
Questioning a possible suspect
The next stop would be to find the whereabouts of the man who was involved in the affair and to find out where he was at the time of the crime. Upon the interview, the man says that he was at home and sleeping.
Collecting DNA and fingerprints from suspects
The wife and her lover are told that the murder is currently classified as a robbery but to remove them as possible suspects, DNA and fingerprints are requested from them both.
Checking for a DNA match
While the wife’s hair fibers matched some of the hairs on the victim’s tuxedo, that cannot prove that she was at the scene of the crime because she had spent the previous evening with her husband. When there is a hair DNA match with the wife’s lover, the possibility that it was more than just a random robbery has become a real possibility.
Further questioning a suspect
The boyfriend is now going to be investigated more thoroughly seeing as there is no logical reason why his hair fibers should be on the tuxedo.
What would you do next?
What would you ask the suspect?
Would you go back to the scene of the crime? If so, what would you look for?
Would you question the wife again?
Do you think it was a random robbery?
Crime Scene Reality TV could give you and regular people like you the opportunity to use evidence, logic and investigation skills to piece together the actual answers and solve the crime.
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