Crime Scene

[Einhard]

------------------------- Followup To - I am in the process of writing a mystery and I want to make sure to get my details correct.  This may seem insignificant but are officers responsible for the care of their own uniforms or does the department take care of it?  Thanks.  Jennifer

[Hyun-Ki]

   Small towns normally do not handle their own murder cases.  The state police or state bureau of investigation(in a few states) have working agreements with the small towns that they step in and handle a murder case because small towns have neither the manpower or the expertise to handle such a case.  I don't know how big your department is but if its a typical small town department than can put only 1 -3 officers on the street at any given time then the state police would handle the murder.     But you asked me how long it would take to process a murder scene?  It depends on the complexity of the scene, what evidence has to be seized, what tests must be run at the scene, how big the scene is.  It could be 24-48 hours or more to completely process a place like a bakery.  Can't tell you if "patrols would be increased" because I don't know if there is a threat to the people or what you are talking about.