Fiction vs Fact in police dramas
When what you see is not how it is
Picture the scene: It's the middle of the night and there's been a murder. Our hero detectives turn up at the crime scene and who's there already? That's right, Scenes of Crime (Or CSI depending on your preferences), dusting, fingerprinting, walking silently through the scene as they're background and not walk-ons.
But wait a minute, why are they at the crime scene before our hero detectives? Who has called them there? Who has arranged what forensics need collecting? These white and sometimes blue garbed ninjas are always present doing their thing. But in real life, who arranges for Forensics? that's right, the detectives!
First at a crime scene is likely to be uniform, who will preserve the scene until, when available, CID or Major Crime Officers will attend and then decide on an investigation plan and if forensics are needed. They then liaise with a Crime Scene Manager as to what's needed and a team put together. That's it. They're the last to arrive not the first!
.
Dead and declared dead
but how?
Often, the hero detectives, or the pathologists (in the case of the omni competent Silent Witness gang) examine a body. Apparently paramedics have already pronounced the victim dead.
How?
The body is still in the same position that he dies in. Just because he died face down, he does not need to be in that position when the heroes see him later. Any paramedic attending would have immediately rolled the patient onto his back, checked his airways, checked for signs of life, attempted CPR etc. At least if they had rolled him onto his back, they would have found the large wooden stake sticking out of his chest!!
(please note this is NOT a slight on actual paramedics, rather directors and assistant directors who don’t understand what happens at actual crime scenes and apparently nor do their scene advisors).