Last night rocked! I spent the night at a bar with a bunch of retired people. What? You don’t think that sounds fun? What if I told you that they were once a sheriff, a coroner, a CSI, and pair of EMT’s. Does that change your mind? For two hours, I heard about dead bodies, old cases, procedures, and colleagues.

Here’s my takeaway:

• All crime scenes are different and policies/procedures are not set in stone. What happens depends on the scene.
• These professionals try to work together, but like every business, it depends on the personality of the person.
• Practices in rural areas are vastly different from big cities. The coroner (not the one present last night) dragged the body through the house on a sheet to the back of a pick up truck.
• The coroner referred to herself as a death investigator and she rules the scene. If she doesn’t want you there, she can kick you off the scene.
• The police department responds to all city problems, whereas the sheriff responds to problems outside of the city, but still part of the county.
• You have to follow the evidence, always and preconceived notions can ruin how you view the scene. It’s “like working a puzzle with only 30% of the pieces and without the lid showing the full picture”.