Home > Police > Crime Scene Investigations

Crime Scene and Evidence Bureau

9105 NW 25th St.
Doral, FL 33172
Phone: 305-471-2035
Fax: 305-471-2601
Email: [email protected]
Major: Vanessa Holden-Knapp

The Miami-Dade Police Department Crime Scene and Evidence Bereau is staffed by 75 full time personnel and services the greater unincorporated Miami-Dade County area and 35 of the incorporated municipalities. This includes the City of Miami and the City of Miami Beach (total population base circa 2.4 million). The Crime Scene Investigative Support Section provides support services in the form of crime scene processing, digital forensic and forensic imaging to departmental entities. The Property and Evidence Section is responsible for collecting, storing, securing and disposing of all evidence recovered for investigative and judicial purposes. The services are extended within Miami-Dade County to federal, state, and local agencies.

Crime Scene Investigations Unit (CSI)

The Crime Scene Investigations Unit (CSI) is responsible for detecting, collecting, preserving, and transporting evidence from crime scenes. The CSI Unit is primarily responsible for the processing of major crime scenes that are investigated by the Miami-Dade Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division.

The Unit operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Forensic Imaging Unit

The Forensic Imaging Unit provides studio, and field photography, as well as digital imaging and enhancement of photographic images in support of the Department’s mission. The Unit maintains the photographic and digital mugshot image files for access by departmental, municipal, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. The Unit also provides all departmental entities with photographic prints and media disc copies. The Unit assists with Photographic Services, Support Services, and Forensic Art Services.

The Forensic Imaging Unit operates 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Photographic Services
Photographic Services provides specialized photography to departmental, municipal, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, along with the State Attorney and Public Defender Offices. Photographic Services assists with special events, awards ceremonies, historical events, and other occurrences or requests deemed appropriate, such as aerial photographs for criminal investigations. Photographic Services also provides photograph enlargement services in various sizes, DVD duplication services, and digitization of film and transparencies.

Forensic Art Services
Forensic Art Services provides computer-generated or forensic artist renderings of subjects or witnesses involved in criminal investigations. Personnel can enhance photographs to assist in the identification of persons, vehicles, or articles involved in criminal investigations. They also have the ability to create two- and three-dimensional facial reconstructions of unidentified human remains that should bear a close resemblance to how the individual appeared in life. Lastly, they are able to alter the image of an individual in order to represent how that person has aged over a specific period of time.

Investigative Services
Support Services provides support and clerical assistance to Photographic Services. Personnel coordinate records-management and warehouse requests for photographs for older cases that are no longer available in current records. They also provide counter support for departmental, municipal, federal, and state law enforcement personnel requesting services, such as booking photographs, expunges and seals, driver's license information for investigations, and uploading photographs to the server when needed.

Property and Evidence Section

The mission of the Property and Evidence Section is to accept, catalogue, safeguard, store, produce as required for court, and return to owner or otherwise legally dispose of all property and evidence impounded into the custody of the Miami-Dade Police Department. The Section's main facility is a 50,000 square-foot secure warehouse, which houses over 600,000 items. In addition, the Bureau operates a remote vehicle storage lot and an off-site overflow facility. It is also the responsibility of Property and Evidence to manage the Miami-Dade County Towing and Storage of Towed or Impounded Vehicles contract.

Approximately, 75 percent of all property taken into custody is evidence required for criminal cases. The rest of the property include the safekeeping of found property, decendant's property, property no longer needed as evidence, contraband, serological evidence, and property seized for forfeitures. Property received at Property and Evidence also includes, but not limited to; cash, jewelry, firearms, narcotics, and general property of every description.

All property coming into and leaving the Bureau is subject to strict chain of custody constraints. Property that can be legally returned to its rightful owner is done so in a timely manner. Contraband is destroyed when it is no longer needed for a criminal case. Unclaimed general property and vehicles are disposed of through public auctions, disposed of according to Florida statute, or retained for forfeiture.

Learn about picking up property that has been taken into evidence.