Colorado POST Practice Exam 2025 - Free Law Enforcement Practice Questions and Study Guide.

Gathering physical evidence typically involves collecting items that can be directly linked to a crime scene or the individuals involved. This includes tangible objects such as clothing, hair, and footprints, all of which can provide critical information for forensic analysis and contribute to the investigation.

Case reports, on the other hand, are documents that summarize the findings and details of an investigation. While they are crucial for understanding the context and circumstances surrounding a case, they do not constitute physical evidence in the same way that clothing, hair, or footprints do. Physical evidence is something that can be physically collected and analyzed, while case reports serve more as a narrative summary of the collected evidence and investigative processes. Therefore, case reports do not fit the definition of physical evidence, making them the correct answer in the context of this question.