Customer Reviews

Death Investigator’s Handbook: A Field Guide To Crime Scene Processing, Forensic Evaluations, And Investigative Techniques

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the most comprehensive book on field investigation I have ever seen. Covers death scene evidence gathering in a manner that insures every detail is observed and that a strong chain of evidence is developed (hope the LAPD has a bunch of these!). As a writer this one is now tops on my list for research involving murder, both for the intrepid police investigator and for the perp to get away with the crime. Excellent book - can't say much more than that.

I have read this book and must admit it is probaly one of the best resources in death investigation a officer could have. I have heard "seasoned" officer and investigators tell me that they wished this book was available when they were just starting out. However, it remains a very good reference for officers in any stage of thier career. If you are involved in death investigations in any way BUY THIS BOOK! you will find plenty of usefull information.

I bought this book some time ago, and has been useful from the start. It does, indeed, give basic information on evidence recovery, Balistics, blood spatter, drowning, and other scenarios you may see. It is on a matter of fact based.

If you are looking for reasons why you are preforming these proceedures, I agree, this is not the book for you.

But if you are looking for do's and don't and want to see how to correctly regonize, secure and recover a crime scene then this is the book for you!

This book provides a tasteful look into death investigation. It also provides statistics on just about every part of it (ie. A chart of the speeds one obtains while falling, a look at electricity and what to look for at every step of the way). I highly recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in this subject. It's 800+ pages will answer just about anything you want to know.

This is the book! It cover's more then any other book I have read so far. I am retired Sgt. from the NYS Child Abuse Unit, and I have seen the worst of the worst out there, but I wish I had this book with me on every case I ever worked! The information stored in here and procedure's to follow and follow up make it worth reading this book cover to cover as many times as you can! Bravo Mr. Eliopulos, job well done!

I think this book is a really good tool to learn from for a person that just wants to see how Death Investigation works and for a serious person pursuing a job in the area. I got the book and I couldn't put it down for a minute. At my school, the University of Alabama, we don't have any forensics classes in the criminal justice department on death investigation and when I saw this book I knew it was for me. I have learned so much from this book on all forms of death and this has really sparked my interest in getting a job as a forensic investigator. This book shows you that you never know what will happen next. But most importantly, it covers all the issues down to the precise detail and the right procedure on how to investigate. I know one thing for sure, if I get into this line of work, this book will be like my best man if I ever need a reference.

I have always had something of a special interest in how homicide and forensic investigations are performed. This book is very similar to a text book. It is divided into 3 sections: The crime scene; Homicide Investigation; and a Scientific section. It's very informative as it explains many things that you may not have thought about. For instance, once you are dead, when and where do the maggots, ants and beetles come from. It's all explained in this handy reference manual. Pick it up today, it's worth the money.

I had the pleasure of taking a two week crash course seminar in CSI under Mr. Eliopulous. He was pleasant, funny, well-spoken, and suprisingly, didn't push his book like an overzealous salesman.

In addition to the things he taught in the classroom, this book contains the essential pieces of knowledge you need for beginning and basic crime scene analysis. It covers pretty much everything, and while one reviewer put that it "told you what to do and what not to do, but not WHY", I found that he feasibly explained most of the things that should have questions raised to them.

The man is top of the line in his job and was a total pleasure to meet and learn under, his insight not only on crime scene investigation but how to live day to day in that environment was crucial in my decision NOT to go to CSI but more so towards sociology or homicide investigation. He did not sway me away from it; he made it abundantly clear what it takes to do the job. If you can handle the facts in the book, that's half the battle; the other is actually working in the field.

A must-have for anyone planning on going into any form of active criminology.

Getting started in homicide investigation, and after reading the reviews here, it seemed this was the book for me. Unfortunately this book didn't help much at all. The entire book is in an outline format that just gives bullets on what to do and not to do. It doesn't explain the WHY of any of these things. Without the explainations behind the items, I did not learn anything from this book. I recommend you look elsewhere.

I am very privileged to have been trained personally by Mr. Eliopulos. All the things he taught me about death investigations would make your head spin and I will forever be grateful to him for that. But since we no longer work together, I find this book a great resource (if not a little comfort) for the wide range of deaths that I investigate on a daily basis. Now, after nearly 10 years of death investigative experience, I still refer to this fantastic book to make sure I follow the proper procedures and guidelines for the particular case.

That's what makes this book so special...it's categorized by type of death for ease of reference and it's a no-frills, point-by-point instruction manual on how to handle each case. I highly, highly recommend this book!