The Preliminary Investigation Chapter 2. Copyright ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights...

The Preliminary

Investigation

Chapter 2

Copyright ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2

Initial Response

• The major activities commonly associated with the investigation of a crime.


3

Major Activities

Associated with a Criminal Investigation


4

Preliminary Investigation

• The fact-gathering activities that take place at the scene of a crime immediately after the crime has been reported to or discovered by police officers are all part of the preliminary investigation.

• The scene of the crime is the focus of the preliminary investigation.


5

Preliminary Investigation

• When done correctly, crime scene processing is a slow, methodical, systematic, and orderly process that involves protocols and a processing methodology.

• Crime scenes differ from one situation to the next and may require various sorts of inductive and deductive reasoning.

• Checklist Approach (Good & Bad)


6

Processing the Crime Scene

Deal with Emergency Situations• The first responsibility of any law enforcement officer

is to protect and preserve the personal safety of the public.

• Responding officer should quickly determine whether anyone is injured or needs medical treatment and should summon the necessary health professionals.


7


Determine Whether a Crime Has Been Committed• Officers usually determine whether a crime has been

committed and what that crime is as soon as possible after arriving on the scene.

• Visual inspection of the area and interviewing any victims and witnesses.


8


Establish Crime Scene Priorities• A general protocol on crime scene investigation,

processing, and analysis:– Interview– Examine– Photograph– Sketch– Process


9


• A dying declaration, is a statement given by the victim in anticipation of death.

• If the officer believes nothing can be done to save the wounded person’s life (or sees the victim is not breathing), pursuing the assailant is the better alternative.


10

Identify a Suspect

• Officers should be mindful to examine how the crime was committed and how the perpetrator came to and fled the scene.

• If the suspect has fled the scene, officers should request a broadcast of the description of the suspect, his or her vehicle, if any, and the direction of flight as soon as such information has been secured.


11

Identify a Suspect

• A comparison description allows the witness to look at a person whose height is known and note the similarities and differences between that person and the suspect.

• A composite description is a description obtained by compiling separate, slightly varying descriptions into a whole.

• When there are many witnesses, a composite description should be compiled.


12

Identify a Suspect

• At a minimum, the description of a suspect should include the following: – Race– Approximate age– Height, weight, build– Complexion, color of hair, hairline and hairstyle– Speech characteristics– Basic shape of ears, eyes, nose, and mouth– Dental features, such as overbite and or under bite, or

missing or discolored teeth– Facial hair– Chin and head shape


13

Apprehend the Suspect

• Arrest are best made at the scene of the crime, although this does not always happen.

• In fact, with an exception for murders (62.6 percent) and aggravated assault (55.6 percent), all other crimes cleared by an arrest represent less than half of those crimes committed.

• Less than 25 percent of all property crimes such as burglary, larceny, and auto theft are cleared by an arrest.


14


• When suspects are taken into custody, they are typically Mirandized, or given a Miranda warning informing them of their constitutional rights.

• Miranda warning – A cautionary statement to suspects in police

custody, advising them of their rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present during interrogation.


15


• As a matter of practice, an officer will advise a suspect of his or her rights whenever the individual has been taken into custody suspects in police custody.

• When does one read the Miranda warning?– Prior to interrogation


16


• In other cases, a suspect may flee just as the officers arrive.

• Under such circumstances, the police may pursue the fleeing suspect.

• If the suspect leaves the officer’s jurisdiction while being pursued, the chase may continue and is called a hot pursuit.


17

Gather and Preserve Evidence

• The crime scene should be secured and protected against interference by unauthorized people.


18


• Securing the crime scene may require covering suspected items with paper, boxes, or plastic to ensure they are not moved by wind or damaged or contaminated by falling rain or snow.

• It may also require setting up barricades, taping off the area, or stationing officers to guard against entry into the area.


19


Who is in charge at the rime scene?• Most police agencies expect that the initial

responding patrol officer will remain in charge until a sergeant (or officer of higher rank) arrives on the scene.

• The sergeant remains in command until a detective or an officer of higher rank relives him or her.


20


• Chain of command – A supervisory hierarchy– Levels of personnel from the top to the bottom

providing span of control and regulated communications channels.


21


• Photographing and sketching the crime scene should be done before physical evidence is collected.

• Search for latent fingerprints• Casts of footprints

tracks, and tool impressions


22


• Chain of custody – Proof of the possession of evidence from the moment it is

found until the moment it is offered in evidence at court.• When gathering and preserving evidence, officers

should never touch anything with their naked hands or move anything before it has been recorded (photographed and sketched) and cataloged.

• The goal of investigators is to protect all of the evidence.


23

Recording the Crime Scene• Field notes

– Preliminary– Follow-up

• Loose leaf paper• Spiral• Micro cassette recorders• Officer’s field notes, whether written or recorded, can

be subpoenaed during a criminal court case.• Keep them professional


24

Recording the Crime Scene

• Answer Questions– Who– What– When– Where– How– Why

Sample field notes


25

The Legal Significance of Evidence• To sustain a conviction, it is necessary to establish

that the elements of a crime, as defined in criminal law, have occurred.

• Corpus delicti – All the material facts showing that a crime has been

committed.– Latin for “body of the crime.”

• Prima facie evidence – Evidence good and sufficient on its surface to establish a

given fact or chain of facts, if not rebutted or contradicted, to be proof of the fact.

– Latin for “on the surface.”


26

The Legal Significance of Evidence

• Circumstantial evidence – Evidence of other facts from which deductions can

be drawn to show indirectly the facts to be proven.


27

Rules of Evidence

• Every criminal investigator must have a working knowledge of the rules of evidence

to ensure that the evidence collected during the investigation will be admissible in court.– Rules of evidence

• Rules of court that govern the admissibility of evidence at trials and hearings.


28

Rules of Evidence

• Admissibility is the essence of the rules of evidence.

• Virtually anything may be admitted in court as evidence provided there is no rule that prohibits its admissibility.

• Rules concerning the limitation or exclusion of evidence in a court case center on a doctrine known as the exclusionary rule.


29

Rules of Evidence

• Exclusionary rule – The rule that evidence obtained in violation of

constitutional guarantees against unlawful search and seizure cannot be used at trial.

– According to this rule, when evidence has been obtained in violation of the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, that evidence must be excluded at trial.


30

Rules of Evidence

• Three tests govern a judge’s ruling on admissibility of evidence:– Relevancy– Materiality– Competency


31

Rules of EvidenceRelevancy • The applicability of evidence in determining the truth or

falsity of the issue being tried.– A requirement for admissibility in court.

• Relevant evidence relates to, or bears directly on, the point or fact at issue, from which inferences can be drawn.

• Evidence is relevant when it has any tendency in reason to make the fact that it is offered to prove or disprove either more or less probable truth or falsity of the issue being tried.– A requirement for admissibility in court.


32

Rules of Evidence

• Even if the evidence is relevant, it may be denied admissibility if it is such an insignificant point that it will not affect the outcome of the case.

• Materiality – The importance of evidence in influencing the

court’s opinion because of its connection with the issue.• A requirement for admissibility in court.


33

Rules of Evidence

• Evidence must pass the test of competency.• Competency

– The quality of evidence, or its fitness to be presented, to assist in determining questions of fact.

– A requirement for admissibility in court.– Also used to describe a witness as legally fit and

qualified to give testimony.


34

Types of Evidence

• There are four traditional types of evidence:– Real– Demonstrative– Documentary– Testimonial

• Some rules of evidence apply to all four types, and some rules apply only to some or one of them.


35

Real Evidence

• Real evidence is some item or thing the existence or characteristics of which are relevant and material.

• Examples:– A bloody knife, shown to be the murder weapon in

a homicide.– A broken automobile headlight in a hit-and-run

accident.– Skin scrapings found under the nails of a rape

victim.


36

Demonstrative Evidence

• Illustrates the testimony of a witness.• Typical examples:

– Photographs– Maps– Diagrams of the scene of

an accident– Charts– Animations– Computer simulations


37

Documentary Evidence

Documentary evidence:• Often a kind of real evidence.• Involves documents used as evidence.• For example, letters may be offered as proof of threats

contained in love letters sent by a stalker to a victim. • When a document is used as evidence, it is

authenticated the same way as any other real evidence by having a witness who identifies it.


38

Testimonial Evidence

• Offered as what the witness heard or saw relevant to the questions at hand concerning the crime.

• Sometimes referred to as “eyewitness” evidence.• This must, however, be information heard or seen by

the witness firsthand, and not information told to the witness by a third party, which would constitute hearsay.

Date post:	13-Jan-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	melissa-hicks
View:	212 times
Download:	0 times

The Preliminary Investigation Chapter 2. Copyright ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights...

Documents