Why Police Set Up Blue Sheets at Crime Scene

After a fatal shooting on Sept. 8, the body of Jason Pedro lay in the parking lot of a Westside bank for more than five hours.

Just feet away from passing traffic on Michigan Street, west of King Avenue, the 24-year-old's body drew gawks and stares. Some pedestrians stopped along the sidewalk and took pictures with their phones before getting hurried along by police at the scene.

Ashley Pedro, 23, is blunt when talking about the horror she experienced when she showed up that morning to the place where her brother was killed.

He was slain by a man who said Jason Pedro tried to rob him.

Still, she hates the idea that complete strangers gaped at her brother's body.

"It was sick and twisted and disgusting," she said.

And she cannot forget what she saw.

"I cannot tell you how many times I have woke up in the middle of the night sweating and crying," she said, "because I have seen my brother lying there with his head on the ground halfway blown off."

Indianapolis officials want to do a better job shielding such scenes from public view, said Mike Medler, director of the city's Forensic Services Agency, also known as the crime lab.

That is part of the reason his agency recently spent $740 for two large tents and two smaller screens that can be used at crime scenes to discourage gawkers.

"No one wants children, for example, seeing some of these things," Medler said. "And we try to be very sensitive to families, very sensitive to victims."

At the same time, Medler said, the public must understand that a police priority is preserving evidence until investigations are complete. That is why officers do not often just throw a blanket over a body, he said. Such action could destroy evidence either by removing particles from a body or introducing new ones, he said.

A crime-scene specialist who daily helps investigate Indianapolis homicides agreed.

"We're not going to use this if it's going to hinder our evidence-collection techniques," said Christine Ondek, a crime-scene technical leader with the Forensic Services Agency. "The physical evidence is our focus and our priority."

The tents, however, could actually prove useful to preserving evidence at some scenes.

"They can assist us in certain weather conditions," she said. "For example, if it's raining."

A veteran homicide detective with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department also welcomed the tents and screens.

"It's an awkward position as a detective being there because you know you should somehow cover the body," Sgt. Mark Prater said. "But you don't want to introduce more evidence. Even just a hair on a sheet could mess up an investigation. But these (screens and tents) could really be a help."

IMPD and Medler's agency have worked together to develop protocol for the use of the devices. Those guidelines are nearly complete, Medler said.

"It's a balance," Medler said. "And if there's an investigation, we are going to err on the side of protecting evidence."

The two tents are made by Ozark Trail and cost a total of $460.52, Medler said. The two screens are from National Law Enforcement Supply and cost a total of $278.79.

Ashley Pedro still does not understand why her brother's body lay so long in plain view.

"It would have been better on everybody had they somehow had covered him or blocked him," she said. "Something. ... Something, something, something."

The man who shot Jason Pedro, whom IMPD identified as James L. Schlenkert, 27, Indianapolis, was not arrested. He told police the slain man attempted to rob him outside a bank branch near Michigan Street and King Avenue about 6:15 a.m., police said.

Ashley Pedro was glad to hear police are planning to obscure bodies from public view.

"I would not want anybody to have to see their loved one like that," she said.

Call Star reporter Bill McCleery at (317) 444-6083. Follow him on Twitter: @BillMcCleery01.

chumleythicithe2002.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2014/10/21/crime-labs-tents-shield-bodies-gawkers/17689869/

Share this post