Just as with the surface scenes, items of evidence must be properly located, documented, collected and preserved. Items of evidence recovered from water will require special handling and packaging.

It is extremely important that an individual familiar with the collection and preservation of underwater evidence be used for such matters.

All too often, underwater crime scenes-and the evidence collected- are not properly documented or processed. This failure can result in a loss, contamination or inadmissibility of the evidence. Proper underwater crime scene processing and documentation methods will ensure that the evidence is located, properly documented, preserved, and able to be used in subsequent litigation.