Although it was not a major factor under study, a significant effect of condition on the number of secured traces was found. On average, participants secured most traces in the murder condition and least in the suicide condition. It might be the case that participants in the murder condition approached the crime scene as a more serious case in which they did not want to risk not securing possibly important traces. Also, crime scene investigators, like all employees in the police force, have to work cost effective. Securing and sending in traces for further analyses costs money. It is more common to make these costs for solving a presumable murder case than to exclude the possibility that a likely suicide might actually be a murder.