CSI Crime Lab Differs From the Real Thing

Aside from actors William Petersen, Marg Helgenberger, Gary Dourdan, George Eads, Jorja Fox, Eric Szmanda and Paul Guilfoyle, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has another star in every episode. The forensic crime lab plays an integral part in every case the Las Vegas team handles. The lab is at the very hub of the CSI teams weekly activities. Each fragment of evidence they collect makes its way there for analysis and processing.



While the layout, equipment and interiors of the crime lab may seem like an accurate rendition of real crime laboratories, it is interesting to find out that there are actually several differences.

According to Bob Pino, former Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab administrator, "With CSI on television, everything has to be done within that one hour time frame, but in real case work, there's also the actual taking in of evidence, the chain of custody matters that have to be done, then the actual evidence has to be examined by separate examiners."

"The stains have to be identified and once they're identified they have to be typed up, and each one of these processes can take either days or weeks, depending on which type of testing you're doing," Pino revealed to The Boston Channel.

Pino further explained that unlike in the series, "Everything goes into different compartments; different laboratories do different types of the examination. So you'd have one part that does finger prints, one part that does any kind of trace identification, one that does the state identification, and then there'd be DNA done afterwards."

Aside from the procedural differences, Pino also admitted that most real labs are not as aesthetically refined as what audiences see on the show. They also often lack sufficient staffing and manpower, resulting in overworked personnel.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation recently concluded its seventh season.