The other officers who arrive at the scene, will aid the SOCO team in cornering off the scene using crime scene tape, in order to establish a boundary which cannot be crossed by any unauthorised personnel, in order to keep the evidence safe from cross contamination, and to keep any surviving victims safe, in case of the return of the perpetrator.
Once the scene is safe and secure, the police will then be divided into maintaining the scene's security, and interviewing witnesses/victims; this job is usually taken by the higher ranking officers such as detectives, who will collect witness statements, and interview witnesses back at the police station. Sometimes, if a police officer comes across a piece of evidence which is precarious, and may become contaminated soon, the officer may collect the evidence, or at least take note of the evidence. All other evidence collection is left for the forensic team.
The OJ Simpson Case
During the OJ Simpson case, the first attending officer secured the scene, and attempted to avoid contaminating any of the blood on the path at the scene, however once the rest of the police team arrived, they stepped in all of the blood, causing the scene to become contaminated, as this evidence could no longer be used. Even though a Common Approach path was not set up by the SOCO team, common sense would dictate to set one up.
The officers also did a poor job of interviewing the area around the crime scene, meaning that potential witnesses where never interviewed, and therefore were never involved in the case. Many witnesses came forward, however due to the high profile nature of the case, their testimonies were often contaminated through press interviews.