Crime Scene

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Katrin and we've got an upper intermediate level lesson for you guys today.

This one is all about a crime scene.

That's right.

So we are going to be at a crime scene.

We are with the police officers and we're going to take a look at some very, very interesting

and specific vocab to like police and a crime and all that.

That's right.

So if you are a fan of the TV show CSI or you like some of these investigation police

work TV shows, this is a lesson for you.

That's right.

So why don't we go and listen to the dialogue for the first time.

All right, Officer McGraw, give it to me straight.

What are we looking at here?

Detective McGee, I'm glad to see you.

We could sure use your expertise on this one.

It's a break in, but nothing seems to have been stolen.

We received a call from the Bear family at around 1030 this morning.

They'd gone out for a walk before breakfast and came home to this mess.

Broken chairs and porridge all over the place.

Apparently Mama Bear had made the porridge a little too hot, you see.

They were waiting for it to cool down.

Okay then, let's start examining the evidence.

Have the forensics team been in yet?

Yes sir.

We found some fingerprints on the bowls and are analyzing them back at the lab as we speak.

Hopefully they will be able to identify the burglar soon.

Hmm.

Aha!

What's this?

A strand of golden hair.

This is a very important piece of trace evidence, McGraw.

It tells me the suspect has long golden hair and very few men have long golden hair.

So our criminal could be a woman.

A woman?

Was she working alone?

Did she have an accomplice?

An accomplice?

No.

No, McGraw.

She was definitely working alone.

See here, there are footprints in the porridge.

Here on the floor, small footprints.

This tells me that our suspect is small and could possibly be a child.

A child?

Surely not, sir.

We must follow the clues, McGraw.

The evidence doesn't lie.

Now let's reconstruct the crime.

The suspect came in, sat in each chair breaking the smallest one into little pieces.

Next, the porridge.

She obviously tried to eat it and because it was so hot, she dropped it on the floor,

making this mess.

Hmm.

Interesting.

These footprints seem to lead upstairs.

McGraw, did your officers clear the scene?

Well, there was no one down here.

Maybe we forgot to check upstairs.

Hey, what's with all the noise?

I'm trying to sleep up here.

There she is.

Get her.

Alright, we're back.

So a lot of interesting phrases there.

They are obviously investigating a break-in.

Okay a break-in, yeah.

So someone broke into this family's house.

So they have to investigate the evidence and some of the things that were left behind.

So now why don't we take a look on Language Takeaway, some of the specific words they

used.

Language Takeaway.

Alright the first word that we have is forensics, the forensics team.

Forensics team.

So a forensics team is a team at a police department or police station that studies

the things that are left behind after a crime.

Alright so that team goes and collects the evidence.

So you could look at hair or fingerprints or footprints, things like that.

A forensics team is kind of like a team that puts together puzzle pieces trying to figure

out what the story was.

So as you said, the TV show CSI, the whole show revolves around, follows a group of forensic

scientists who go to crime scenes and look at blood and different pieces of evidence

that are left behind.

Very cool.

So one piece of evidence that a forensics team might look at is a fingerprint.

That's right, a fingerprint or in the dialogue we found fingerprints, the plural form.

Okay so for example, if you go to a police station because the police think that you

have committed a crime, the police will take your fingerprints.

That means they'll put your finger, that means they'll put your fingers into ink and they

will make you push your fingers onto a piece of paper to see what your fingers look like.

That's right.

So our fingerprints have a unique pattern.

Everyone has different fingerprints.

There are no two fingerprints alike in the world, right?

Right, so it's kind of like a form of identification.

Very good.

That's right, so that is your fingerprint.

So moving on, we talked about fingerprints and the scientists who are investigating the

crime scene and they are talking about a very important piece of trace evidence.

Okay well let's look first at the second word there.

We've got the word evidence.

So evidence is something that is usually physical like a piece of clothing or hair that can

be used against someone when we're trying to prove that they have committed a crime.

Right, so for example a weapon or fingerprints, all that is evidence.

Okay so Marco, what's the difference between evidence and trace evidence?

Well as you notice you have the specific word there, trace.

And to trace means to follow or to connect, right?

So what you're doing here is you're taking this evidence to follow or connect the person

that committed the crime.

So for example, fingerprints lets you know who committed the crime.

Okay, or maybe if you have blood you can find out who did this crime.

Right.

But what about like a broken window?

Well that's just evidence.

It just lets you know how the crime was committed, maybe how they got into the house.

But not who did it.

But not who did it.

Okay, so trace evidence helps you connect the crime to the person who committed the

crime.

And well moving on, we found that very important piece of trace evidence which was a piece

of or a strand of golden hair and the police officer said, well this tells me that the

suspect has long golden hair.

So a suspect.

Okay this word, it looks exactly the same as the word to suspect.

But be careful because we say these two words in different ways.

So to suspect, that's a verb.

That's right.

So I suspect Marco did it.

So that means I think or I imagine.

Right, whereas a suspect, a noun, a suspect is a person.

So the person who we think or the person who the police think committed a crime.

Okay.

So for example, we're talking about some trace evidence like long blonde hair.

That means the suspect is probably a woman and is probably blonde.

Very good.

And it's interesting that you use the verb to suspect and a suspect all because you're

not sure yet.

So this person may have committed the crime or may not.

That's right.

So we have to wait until the trial.

We have to wait until we prove this person is guilty before we can say that they actually

committed the crime.

Very good.

Okay.

And well, you have a suspect and usually you also have somebody who is an accomplice to

the crime or to the suspect.

Okay.

So a suspect, as we said, is a person.

It's a noun.

So is an accomplice.

So accomplice is a suspect's helper.

Right.

So basically if you're robbing a bank and I wait outside in the car, right, while you're

robbing the bank, then I am an accomplice.

That's right.

And under most laws, you could be sentenced to jail.

Right.

So the accomplice usually doesn't commit the crime, right?

You robbed the bank, but I just waited outside in the car to drive you out.

So I didn't rob the bank.

Right.

But sometimes accomplices do also have guns and shoot people or knives.

So an accomplice is basically just the helper of the criminal, but they can get in trouble

too.

Right.

So basically it's a person that helps out and knows about the crime, but didn't tell

the police about it.

Exactly.

That's a really important aspect.

Okay.

So a lot of interesting words there all related to crimes.

Why don't we move on now to a couple of different phrases that we have prepared for you on Fluency

Builder.

Fluency Builder.

Okay.

I like this.

This first phrase, it's a phrase you might hear a lot actually in police shows.

Give it to me straight.

Give it to me straight.

Actually, also you can use it when you're just talking to someone and they're like hesitant,

right?

Like, I don't know how to tell you this, but...

I'm not so sure.

I don't think you're going to like what I have to say.

So I can just say, okay, come on, just give it to me straight.

Okay.

I don't like your shirt.

No, I'm just kidding.

It's a nice shirt.

But what you're basically asking for is the person to say, be honest with me.

Be direct.

Be direct.

Straight can mean both of those things, honest or straightforward or quick.

You don't want someone to go around and around and say lots of different things.

So I guess, yeah, that does make sense.

Give it to me straight maybe comes from straightforward.

So to be straightforward is to not hesitate to just say something directly and honestly.

Exactly.

Okay.

So moving on to our next phrase, McGraw is talking about the bulls and he said, well,

they are analyzing them back at the lab as we speak.

As we speak.

Okay.

So this is actually a phrase that refers to time.

So in this instance, what he's basically saying is right now.

They're being analyzed right now or in this moment.

So it's a way of indicating that something is happening at this very moment.

Exactly.

So I could say, did you know that the president is giving a speech as we speak?

Okay.

So that means the president is talking right now.

Exactly.

As we speak.

Okay.

Very good phrase.

Now, moving on to our third phrase, Detective McGee was talking about reconstructing the

crime.

He said, let's reconstruct the crime.

Okay.

So I don't know if any of you watch these crime TV shows like Dexter or CSI.

This is my favorite part because they tell you exactly what they believe happened.

So to reconstruct means to build again or to recreate, to create again.

So basically they start at the beginning and they pretend to follow what happened during

the crime.

So that's basically the verb to reconstruct, to rebuild, recreate.

Okay.

Reconstruct the crime.

Very good.

And what about our last phrase?

Okay.

So our last phrase is again, a very typical police phrase.

We hear this a lot when there's been a crime or on TV when they're talking about the scene

of the crime, that means the place where the crime happened.

And the police say we need to clear the scene or did the officers clear the scene?

So to clear means to empty out.

Right.

But they're not talking about emptying out the evidence or removing everything from the

house.

They're just saying to remove people, right?

Right.

Or obstructions.

Exactly.

So a police officer would want to make all the people go away.

Well, because you don't want people stepping on the evidence or maybe putting their fingerprints

all over the place.

Right.

So it's very important that the officers, the police officers clear the scene so that

they can start their investigation.

Right.

Very good.

A lot of interesting phrases there.

I think we should go back.

Why don't we listen to the dialogue for the last time and we'll come back and talk a little

bit more this.

And we'll come back and talk a little bit more about this really interesting topic.

All right, Officer McGraw, give it to me straight.

What are we looking at here?

Detective McGee, glad to see you.

We could sure use your expertise on this one.

It's a break in, but nothing seems to have been stolen.

We received a call from the Bear family at around 1030 this morning.

They'd gone out for a walk before breakfast and came home to this mess.

Broken chairs and porridge all over the place.

Apparently Mama Bear had made the porridge a little too hot, you see.

They were waiting for it to cool down.

Okay, then let's start examining the evidence.

Have the forensics team been in yet?

Yes, sir.

They found some fingerprints on the bowls and are analyzing them back at the lab as

we speak.

Hopefully they will be able to identify the burglar soon.

Hmm.

Aha!

What's this?

A strand of golden hair.

This is a very important piece of trace evidence, McGraw.

It tells me the suspect has long golden hair, and very few men have long golden hair.

So our criminal could be a woman.

A woman?

Was she working alone?

Did she have an accomplice?

An accomplice?

No.

No, McGraw.

She was definitely working alone.

See, here there are footprints in the porridge.

Here on the floor, small footprints.

This tells me that our suspect is small, and could possibly be a child.

A child?

Surely not, sir.

We must follow the clues, McGraw.

The evidence doesn't lie.

Now let's reconstruct the crime.

The suspect came in, sat in each chair breaking the smallest one into little pieces.

Next, the porridge, she obviously tried to eat it, and because it was so hot she dropped

it on the floor, making this mess.

Hmm, interesting.

These footprints seem to lead upstairs.

McGraw, did your officers clear the scene?

Well, there was no one down here.

Maybe we forgot to check upstairs.

Hey, what's with all the noise?

I'm trying to sleep up here.

There she is!

Get her!

So you mentioned a couple of different shows, such as Dexter and CSI.

Do you watch any of these shows?

I do.

I'm a big fan of Dexter.

And Dexter, as you know, works at a police station in Miami.

His character is in forensics.

He analyzes blood.

Right, he's like a blood expert.

But it's interesting because he is actually, he commits crimes himself.

So he uses his knowledge to help him to not get caught.

Right, so he's both a criminal and he's a police officer.

But he's kind of like a superhero criminal, right?

Because he doesn't kill for fun or pleasure.

He just takes out people who kind of deserve it, right?

Yes, but he does kind of do it for pleasure because he's obsessed.

He can't not kill.

So instead of killing good people, he decides he will only ever kill bad people.

It's a really good show.

I've watched a couple of episodes and it's very, very good.

The same as CSI.

There are a couple of different versions.

There's CSI Miami, New York, and Las Vegas.

But my favorite is Las Vegas.

It's very, very good.

And also Law & Order.

I've watched a couple of episodes of Law & Order.

It's pretty good.

Yeah, they often talk about forensics because they have both parts.

They have the police part and the law part with the lawyers who have to use the evidence

in court.

Very interesting.

And there's also, well, forensic scientists, they take a look at the evidence.

But I think also they examine the body back at the morgue, right?

That's right.

They look at the body to find out what happened to the body.

This is all a part of reconstructing the crime.

So this person is also sometimes called a coroner, right?

Okay, the person who analyzes the body.

It's pretty scary though if you think about it, having to analyze a body.

I think you have to be very experienced.

It's a very interesting...

I don't even know how somebody becomes a forensic scientist, for example.

Do you study this in school?

Oh, you can go to school for it.

Yeah, they have lots of forensic programs.

I think I saw on Discovery Channel, they have a reality TV show about forensic students

and they're actually taken to real crime scenes and then they get eliminated one by one.

I'll have to look it up.

Well, I'm curious to know, have you ever heard of this before, forensic science or forensic

anthropology?

There are lots of people who study this and who do this as a job.

And if you're not interested in that, maybe you could tell us about what kind of crime

drama TV shows you like, because we certainly love them here.

Our website is EnglishPod.com.

All right, we'll see everyone there.

Bye.