Challenges and uniqueness of forensic investigations 

"I joined the police service 17 years ago," recalls Kateryna. "Even before completing school, I knew that I wanted to study and work in the field of law and jurisprudence. However, I wasn't sure which specialization to choose. Therefore, I opted for the course in general law and studied at the university that prepared police officers. During my studies, I had internships at a notary office and a lawyer's office. Eventually, I decided to take a three-month internship with the police, after which I realized that I wanted to work there. Since then, I have been working with the National Police. I served as an investigator, and seven years ago, when the Department of Forensic Support of the Investigative Department was established, I was offered the position of department head. By that time, I had studied forensic investigation and applied what I learned in my work." 

For all these years, Kateryna worked in Donetsk Oblast, and in 2014, she was in Mariupol when the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine began. 

"Was I scared? Of course, for maybe half an hour. But then I pulled myself together. I had professional and life experience that helped me to stay strong and continue my service. But, of course, it was scary. In 2014 and 2015... Throughout those years, I felt fear, not for myself, but for the people we serve and because of the responsibility I had: to serve with dignity and work at the highest level, for those who were watching us in hope of help. I was on duty during the horrifying events in Mariupol, my native city, in 2015, and I vividly remember that day. Thirty-five civilians were killed, and that was the first time I saw so many bodies that we had to identify. It was Sunday, 10 a.m., when the attack happened. How can you explain this horrifying event to a 15-year-old girl or to parents who were looking for their loved ones? We had to do our job and also provide comfort to those people in despair." 

Oksana has been working with the police since 1999 and has held various positions as an investigator. In 2017, she joined the forensic department as a forensic investigator, and by 2020 she had assumed the position of department head. "Our main tasks involve assisting investigators in documenting crimes. We meticulously review the scene, identify, document and eliminate these traces and objects which related to the committed crime and the person who committed it," she explains. 

Kateryna further adds that in her opinion the profession of forensic investigator is one of the most interesting within the entire police system, because every case is unique and there are no identical situations. “Each new case presents a fresh challenge that requires new approaches, new knowledge, and undivided attention. The challenge lies in the critical importance of the examination scene, as it cannot be replicated. Once you leave the scene, it's impossible to recreate it or return to the initial conditions, making it essential to extract the forensic information you need during the examination,” she says. 

Kateryna and Oksana shared that the work demands intense concentration, attentiveness, and perfect coordination. In situations where forensic groups operate in the frontline, time is limited for security reasons. Otherwise, work will continue as long as necessary. “Once we spent nearly 48 hours examining a scene, with multiple forensic groups rotating each other. Each case is different. Sometimes one forensic investigator can be tasked with examining the scene. For more complex cases, a forensic group with mobile laboratories is despatched,” says Kateryna. 

“When working in a team, responsibilities are distributed and work is coordinated. The distribution of responsibilities varies each time. This work is anything but routine,” she added. 

Life and service after 24 February 2022 

At the beginning of the full-scale war Oksana was in Kherson region, in the area which was temporary occupied for several days so she had to leave her family and move to Mykolaiv city to continue her service. “Before the war, the road from Kherson to Mykolaiv typically took a maximum of 40 minutes travelling directly. However, during the hostilities it became impossible to take the straight road. Instead, we had to navigate through fields. Now the trip from Kherson to Mykolaiv took almost 6 hours in a cargo-passenger bus, where the wind seeped through gaps,” says Oksana. “Throughout all the periods of de-occupation in Kherson region, my team and I have consistently been engaged in investigations and documentations.” 

With the onset of the full-scale war, Kateryna continued to serve in Donetsk region. "My team and I often go to the frontline for investigations. Typically, we don't have much time for our work, perhaps two hours or less. There are instances when we are unable to investigate the crime scene due to continuous shelling. Another new challenge arose when we had to conduct investigations in the newly de-occupied territories in Donetsk region. There, we discovered mass and individual graves, requiring us to exhume and identify around 300 bodies. We had never dealt with anything like this before.”