Everyone has heard the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Nowhere is this more evident than in a court of law, where words may be missed but pictures linger.

Having to describe to a judge and jury exactly what happened and where it happened within a crime scene is of extreme importance. Creating a crime scene sketch is one of the first steps to take in reaching that goal.

A sketch is as an invaluable aid used to visualize a crime scene and spatial relationships of items within a scene’s environment. And, it doesn’t take a huge intellectual leap to see that an accurate and clearly labeled drawing will go much further in court than a poorly drawn, hard-to-follow hand sketch.

Using conventional methods to prepare a quality crime scene sketch can be a daunting task. It’s one that requires accurate measurements, lots of coffee, plenty of time and an element of artistic talent.

Help has arrived, in the form of "The Board for Crime Scene Investigation," a patented drawing system that drastically simplifies ‘hand-sketching’ through the use of scaled and graphically-detailed magnetic symbols and a magnetic 11 ½” x 19” layout grid surface.

The kit contains more than 650 magnetic symbols include furniture, kitchen components, weapons, people/victims, vehicles, arrows and pre-labeled text blocks (in ¼” = 1 ft. scale), a title block/evidence log and wet-erase marker. The system comes in a durable binder (12” x 10” x 1” thick) making it a portable on-the-scene tool.

While accurate measurements will always be critical, imagine the time saved by simply placing a magnetic “sofa and chair” in position, instead of drawing them in using a pencil and paper. After a sketch is completed, a digital camera shot or photocopy of the board provides a high quality permanent record.

And the best part -- no art classes.

The Board™ for Crime Scene Investigation was developed with the assistance of a number of CSI’s who saw the positive effects such a product would have on efficiency and accuracy.

The CSI Magnetic Board can be purchased through the Lynn Peavey Company.