The last straw of the investigation

"Welcome to CSI Luxembourg!", says Marc Melchior with a broad grin as he walks through the corridors of the police building in Hamm. Above all, Melchior is forensic scientist and criminal investigator. "That represents 98 percent of our work …" He looks over at his colleague Rachel Pleger before continuing. "… and we are the two lucky ones who are allowed to do this in addition." He points to the two large screens on the tables in front of us. "I put special focus on 'are allowed to do' because it's a welcome change from the regular workday."

Few would share this enthusiasm for something that is always associated with crime, suffering and trauma. And yet, it must be remembered that it is a job with a serious background that can be so creative at the same time, and is much more than just creating the most realistic possible pictures of potential criminals. "In our actual work, people are either no longer alive or we deal exclusively with police officers and investigators", Melchior says. "In our department, we see the most severe things. We mainly deal with serious criminal cases or those with a high level of complexity." Fatal traffic accidents, fires, sexual offences, to name a few examples.