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MARY'LAND STATE'S ATTORNEYS' ARSON INVE.STIGATION AND PROSECUTION () MANUAL 1.0 ""I~ IIIII~ liii I 1.1 ,~, .- 111111.8 ~..... \ i, 'il o 111111.25 1~1I1.4 1"11~·6 ~» " (:' .-.:, MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS-1963-A u OFF I eE OF THE !, MARYLAND STATE'S ATTORNEYS' COORDINATOR o Microfilming procedures used to create this fiche, comply \iJit9 BALTIMORE the standards set forth in 41CFR 101-11.504. 198;1. 1 Points of view or opinions stated in this document are f i those of the author{s) and qp not represent the official i' \1 .", I,' position or policies of the U: S. Department of Justice. 'U.s. Departrnent of Justice Natlonallnslltute of Justice 0' ,,. .. This document has been reproduced exact/y as rer:elved from the person or organization originating it. 'f:iolnts Qf view o/!oplnlons stated In this document are those, of the authors' and do not necessarily National Institute of Justice represent the offlelal position or pOlicies of the National Institute of United States Department of Justice Just/ce. Washington, D. 20531 Permission to reproduce thrs copyrighted material has been C: granted by • Public Domain 1""'. i ._____ U_.~S~.~D~OJ~,~L=EAA~~~ ______ G } o~~ 18 1982 to the Nat/onal Criminal Justice Reference SelVlee (NCJRS). D 'I , Further reproducllon outside of the NCJRS system requires permis­ ,1 sion of the copyright owner. "ACQUISITIONS , " 'J ... ,-'~- ~-----~------------ 'I AC~{OWLEDGEMENTS The publication of this State1 s Attorneys' Arson Manual was made possible by a grant from the federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, awarded through th~ Maryland Governor's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of ~ustice, to address th~ problem of arson in \.- Maryland. :\ The text was researched and written by Bruce C. Frame, Esquire. David H. Hugel, Maryland State's Attorneys' Coordinator, was responsible for editing and publishing the manual. I I ! I .1 ./ ,1 . I! ; !I I r~' \"" () t 1 , t· ~. I 1 ( TABLE Of CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1 Arson Defined and its Motives Explained Chapter 2 Fire and Arson - A Glossary Ghapter 3 Arson Investigation Procedures and the Use of Scientific Evidence Chapter 4 Arson Fraud and Organized Crime-Using RICO As A Weapon Chapter 5 Search and Seizure Problems in Arson Cases Chapter 6 The Prosecution of Arson Cases in Maryland Chapter 7 Special Trial Tactics for Arson Cases Appendix - Profile of the Fire and Investigation Checklist ( . II Bibliography j ( ~) ~) :,1 I", ') -1- '---------... _---_._------ -------~ r r INTRODuc'rION This manual was designed to provide a convenient reference for Maryland State's Attorn~ys to aid them.in the investigation and prosecution of arson cases. It should also be helpful to fire investigation p~rsonnel and other law enforcement officials responsible for conducting arson investigations. The manual contains the basin scientific ~ and technical information necessary to achieving an understanding of incendiary fires,~ review of Maryl~nd statutes and case . ,II . law on arson', suggested trj.aJ," tactics for prosecuting arson cases as well as other re'le\,vant information on this rapidly ,I spreading crime. A compreht~nsive bibliography of publications (-) dealing with arson is also included fQ~""those seeking more inde'"Pth information on the subject. (( Be:fore proceeding "further, '}t is essential for the :-\-';';,' .... 1J reader to appreciate the nature''.;)f the crime itself.. Arson I,j \ .. ..,)~ ::1 o V is first a crime 6f violence. Thousands of deaths and injuries are""a:ttributable each year to arsop-.-caused fires. ~1~:_1 Arson is. also a crime against\property. As :~~",e shall see G (.'~;>l later, while its full scope has not yet been "determined, ~"';. arson may~well be the single most cqstly property crime. ~) i : Arson is an elusive crime, ~ince\,.,...r the fire often consumes or damages much of the evidence which pOints to its very existence. The fact of I: the~ crime often emerges only a,fter a cpmprehensi ve and sophisticated investigation of the fire scene,'\, itself ,;) () ( o .....' , ____ ..... \:- __.-'((i. ________________ -"----'- __iC /I 11 i:j has been made and property and business records have been ) subsequent years will, howev~r, include arson along with reviewed. other felonies, helping to identify the magnitude of the Most important, however, arson is pervasive. The ,", arson problem and drawing public attention to arson-related attention in recent years to arSon control, reduction and 10sses.2 prevention is starting to bring to light the fact that what Even with partial statistics, however, the scope was once thought~of as a problem confined to big cities, has of arson related crimes is enormous. Estimates published by spread to communities of all size from the smallest to the the National Fire Protection Association indicate that nine largest. Arson can be found in farm towns and suburban percent of all building fires and 17 percent of all building communities as well as the crowded residental areas of big fire losses involved in one sample period were clearly due cities, in factories, schools, offices and homes. Arson may to arson.3 If only one-~alf of fires classified as cause strike anywhere at any time. 'iunknown" are included, nearly 200,000 fires acnnually - and Despite its long history "arson is probably the ,', 36 percent of all dollar losses from building fires are most neglected c~ime in the United States, if not the world," 4 .J arson-caused Some estimates run higher. according to the National Fire Academy. {f ~ \, ) -c»- No type of building is immune from arson caused According to some estimates, arson has increased .1: fires. A study of'1974 incendiary building fires showed 400 percent in the last decade, causing an "estimated 1,000 'J that while only 7 percent of one and two family dwelling deaths and 10,000 personal injuries annually. Property loss i fires were arson related, over 75 percent of school and estimates range from $3 to $10 billion a year, including I,. I college fires were incendiary or suspicious. This same 1 I lost jobs and taxes. ! study indicated that over 30,000 apartment building fires It has been in the past impossible to determine were ~aused by ar.sonists, 5 and that ov.er 43,000 motor vehic,le the exact number of arson-caused fires, and the total dollar fires were incendiary or suspicious in origin. cost of such fires because limited fire investigation In order to put arson losses in some perspective, resources have resulted in a lack of complete and reliable the tabl:e below compares them with, losses due to other ,} data. In fact, until 1979 arson was reported as a "Part II" f1 serious crimes. Loss data ~or crimes other than arson were f l 'J crime in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, along with dru~k~:e(S obtained from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports.6 and disorderly conduct. Uniform Statistics for 1980 and >~1r o ) -5- -4- _.-"-- .. '"----------------------------- -------~----"'''------~---,-----, :/ I: Ii 'I ) believed to be growing ata much faster rate ~han all other TABLE - Property Losses from Seriou~ Crimes, 1974 arson's, although firm "statistics are not ava,iIable for many tJ 1/ ;'l years past. It has be~n cat~gorized as "America's fastest Offense p:r6perty Loss Average· Loss ($ millions) per Offense($) I growing crime" and"~he onlyi/crime monopolize~\ by the white I) \ collar class".9 I~ is estimated tha~ arson for profit cases Robbery 142 321 \ 0391 j Burg~ary "1,181 make up as much as 15 percent of all arson cases. FBI Larceny 816 156 ! a I invoivement in arson for hire began to accelerate in 1978 Auto theft 841 1,246 'I I wi t'h the beginning of intensive training of agentis and the ~rson " ) Incendiary and 616 3,294 investigation of such cases to determine the involvement of suspicious .~\ , organize~ crime in arson for hire cases. Much FBI work has Incendiary and 1,284 2,558 suspicious plus been centered on "inner city arson ,_,~ases" where a pattern 1/2 unknown cause () of property transfers, insurance policy ma~;!.pulations followed '~ ,J? a 69% of this was recovered. by incendiary blazes have been determined to be motivated by 10 Within the narrow definition of known cases of (} insurance fraud. arson, losses were comparable to the other property crime No less serious, and no less exclusive", is the catagories. If we use the broader definition, arson losses amateur '~,firesettertf in the employ of a small business or " were greater than all other crime catagories. In either ,homeowner who has fallen on hard 'econ,omic t~es and seeks to '0 case, the loss per offense was higher for arson than for any liquidate his property by forced sale to his insurance 7 company. Again, s~a tistiQ,s are not fully reliable, however, other offense. One observer has pointed out that for the economy one insurance industry estimate pl.aced this type ,of fire at as a whole, the loss from arson is greater still than for 11 nearly one-fifth of all known cases of 1\ arson. other crimes, for while it is of no co~solation~,~,.::t;~l!~()f)i: The Law Enforcement ,Assistance Administration ,1, victim, robberies, burglaries and other theft offenses "may estimates that for every 100 arson-caused fires there are be viewed as an involunt~ry transfers 6f assets with little only nine arrests resulting ~n but two convictions.