CSI _ does no one in the USA have lights in their houses?

[Saltire]

Because all teh crime scenes, they go in with torches and it's all dark. how on earth do they see all the evidence? Why not just put the lights on, or open the curtains

[NoWookinFurries]

They must have sponsorship with the torch manufacturer - DH and I shout 'Turn the lights on' all the time.... and why in CSI Miami can Horatio not hold his head up straight ???

[Saltire]

Don't get me started on Horatio and his bloody sunglasses.

[warthog]

what's with the way he speaks? like every word is a loaded gun.

[Portofino]

I LOVE Csi, but the torch thing always makes me laugh. Surely they would be in there with extra lighting! That and the fact that they solve the crime, including DNA results within 12 hours, when in reality, it can takes weeks/months to get forensics back from the lab.

But hey, reality does not good drama make. It wouldn't be right if Inspector Morse's main protagonist was a thick old biffer, rather than an attractive opera loving lecturer's missus.

[HelloBeastie]

It always amazes me how clean the houses are too, the CSI team will search a house (by torchlight alone, of course) and say, 'Wow! A hair on the bedsheet!' Or maybe, one tiny but crucial piece of soil in the hall..

If you searched my place you'd need a whole van full of evidence bags for all the 'interesting' items you'd find...

[Saltire]

If the CSI team wlaked into my bedroom they would think it had been ransacked. and what on earth were they on last night with CSI NY - oh whatserface is in labour so the whole team has to go to hospital and wait.

[psychomum5]

actually, they have to do that in RL I think just in case of a switch connecting to a spark and igniting gas, or a bomb.....well, so I have been told by my geek brother at least

[Saltire]

Yes but even after they have processed the scene (see I'm getting the terminology right) and go back for another look at something they still don't put lights on and the curtains are always shut - just open them.
Even in houses were the people were sitting having dinner and got attacked and left for dead at 7pm, when people would have at least 1 light on, no the whole house is in darkness.

[psychomum5]

yeah, that is just silly....takes it completely out of the realms of possibility

[igivein]

I worked for 15 years as a CSI. The torch thing isn't as daft as it looks, it's actually easier to find small stuff by shining a beam of light across a surface - the oblique lighting makes the 'stuff' cast a bigger shadow, making it easier to see.
it's also standard to 'alter' the scene as little as possible, so if the lights are on you leave them on, if the curtains are closed you leave them closed (added bonus - newspaper photographers can't take pictures through the windows.
Have to admit though, most CSIs carry a lightbulb in there kit, because it's amazing how many people don't have functioning lights and definitely not tidy houses. I did once walk into a bedroom at a burglary scene and say sympathetically to the householder 'oh no, they've really made a mess in here' only for her to give a big sigh and say 'They've not been in here, this is my son's room'!

[Portofino]

I went to wedding of a SOCO and weapons examiner from the Met once. A senior officer from the Serious Crimes Squad nicked a bottle of whisky from the bar! It was JUST like Prime Suspect .