How do police treat the scene of a suicide? 10 pts for most helpful!!?

Question

So I'm writing a story, and in it a suicide is committed. I'd really like to be as accurate as possible, so I'm asking- What happens when police arrive at the scene of a suicide? As in, from the moment they arrive to the moment they leave, the more detail the better!!

Answer 1

Officers are always aware any death scene could be a homicide staged to look like an accident, or a suicide.  Therefore, all unattended deaths are considered a crime scene.

The first thing we do is page medical services. Although it may seem obvious, an officer can not pronounce someone dead. That must be done by medical personnel. Often times, the officer will take photos while they are waiting for medics, if it seems obvious the person is dead.

Next, photograph everything. Medical help is the first priority, and documenting the scene is next. Sketches can be done to supplement photos.

After the scene is documented, you look for evidence. This can be anything from phone messages, emails, letters, notes, etc. Again, you have to realize a suicide note can be staged.

Next comes the interviews. Family, neighbors, friends, employers, etc. You find out if the person has mentioned suicide, or if they had any enemies.  

If you get a new lead, you go back to the beginning and go through the whole process again. You repeat this until all leads are exhausted, or until a conclusion is reached.

Some deaths are classified "undetermined" because there is not enough evidence to prove otherwise.

Answer 2

They'd want to rule out the possibility of a homocide before they went on to say it was a suicide (I really don't know if police officers care nowadays...). They'd call in the forensics unit, the forensics unit would be the one to investigate everything around the area. If they found anything suspicious, such as another person's fingerprints, or another person's genetic materials (DNA, if you'd preffer), then they'd want to look for a match because it is not a suicide. No matter what they find they will look for any information from family and friends, or notes/website entries/anything on computer harddrive, that would mention anything about what lead to the suicide, if they found out that the person was living a perfectly happy life, then it probably wasnt a suicide, unless they were on some kin of anti-depressent that went wrong...

Hanging: What they were hung with | Is there anything they stood on? If not, how did they hang themselves from such heights (Meaning homocide, person put them up), It's careless mistakes by the killer that turn what is thought to be a suicide into a homocide.

Shooting: What was the trajectory of the bullet? (the angle of the fatal shot). If there are not powder burns near the victims skull, or on the victims hands, it wasnt suicide. Was the gun was at an angle that made it impossible for the victim to shoot themself?