Silent witness

[Samblain]

In real life do pathologists go out and investigate crime, acting like policemen.

[crete]

no they go out and act like pathologists

[spudqueen]

At a wedding I was at recently I met a lady who was a pathologist who said that most of her work is laboratory based though she does sometimes go out to crime scenes.

[LazyGun]

CSi in particular, whilst being very entertaining, is guilty of blurring the lines between the role of a pathologist and that of an officer of the law.
99% of a pathologists time is spent in the laboratory. Scenes of Crime, in this country at least, are usually police officers trained in collecting physical evidence (SOCO or Scenes Of Crime Officers)

Whilst finding these sort of shows entertaining, I often find their holier than thou attitude and arrogance a little irritating :)

[fotografics]

As a former police photographer, it's fair to say that "Silent Witness" is very inaccurate when it comes to the "crime" work of the pathologists. They're only part of a team and the police would soon send them packing if they got involved like they do on the telly program.
The whole point of pathologists, soco and other civilian support services is to be "accurate and impartial". In other words you just report the facts. Once you start getting involved in investigating the case, the temptation to make the evidence fit your theory would be overwhelming.

Whoever writes "Silent Witness" seeems to be promoting the pathologists as far, far more important in an investigation than they really are.

I know that a bit of artistic licence is needed to make good television but wheras "Waking the dead" and "New Tricks" are also about ficticious departments, they still keep within the bounds of possibility. Silent Witness is way, way off track.