Intended as an instruction manual for police investigators in Venezuela, this criminalistics handbook concentrates on crime scene evidence. The methods described are not the only possible ways of conducting this part of the criminal investigation, but they are among widely recognized and accepted police practices. First, general standards applied to collecting evidence in any setting and possible situation are described, with suggestions on how to mark each exhibit, preserve it, pack it, label it, and send it wherever necessary. Next, guidelines outline effective notetaking and using the investigator's notebook. Then remarks center on the physical evidence usually found at the crime scene and detail the items that can be found. Finally, precise instructions on how to handle each piece of evidence are provided, including murder weapons, bullets, shells, blood, hair, fabric shreds, rope, dirt, grass, tire marks, footprints, and fingerprints. Four appendixes illustrate how to collect (1) handwritten samples, (2) printed or typewritten samples, (3) other samples and impressions, and (4) plaster of Paris casts. A bibliography containing 10 references is appended. --in Spanish.