It is said that "one picture is worth a thousand words". This implies that pictorial testimony has more value than ten witnesses. The witnesses may give different views on the same issue, and, furthermore, they may forget some of the facts. Due to human error, omission, and defects such as old age and sight problems, they are contributing factors for people to give different accounts of the same events. The study entails the various roles of photography, such as recording the crime scene and that photography is considered as evidence in court. Investigators may use them for both suspects' and witnesses' interviewing. Furthermore, witnesses and victims may use them to refresh their memories, and the court uses them to prove the matter at issue. This indicates that photographs have a major role to play in the judicial and investigation processes. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

It is said that "one picture is worth a thousand words". This implies that pictorial testimony has more value than ten witnesses. The witnesses may give different views on the same issue, and, furthermore, they may forget some of the facts. Due to human error, omission, and defects such as old age and sight problems, they are contributing factors for people to give different accounts of the same events. The study entails the various roles of photography, such as recording the crime scene and that photography is considered as evidence in court. Investigators may use them for both suspects' and witnesses' interviewing. Furthermore, witnesses and victims may use them to refresh their memories, and the court uses them to prove the matter at issue. This indicates that photographs have a major role to play in the judicial and investigation processes. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

In this research, the role of forensic science with the use of forensic photography in the crime scene reconstruction process was evaluated. The researcher identified how SAPS detectives and Crime Scene Technicians (CST‟S) are currently conducting crime scene reconstructions by adopting forensic photography; furthermore, other methods in which forensic photography could be used to conduct crime scene reconstructions were explored. The researcher made use of an empirical design, as the information available on the research topic was limited. The empirical design, together with a qualitative research approach, allowed for real-life observations. The simple random sampling method was used to select 20:10 partcipants for this research as follows: Ten (10) detectives that investigate murder cases, and another ten (10) CST‟S that conducted crime scene reconstructions in the Durban Policing Area (DPA). Data was obtained using qualitative data collection methods that included a literature study and interviews. The findings of this research provide that the value of forensic science, as well as the use of forensic photography in the crime scene reconstruction process, was established. Evidently, detectives and CST‟S are not doing everything possible to reconstruct murder crime scenes. For recommendation, this research suggests that SAPS detectives and crime scene technicians (CST'S) adopt the fundamentals of forensic science when reconstructing murder crime scenes. / Criminology and Security Science / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)