CHAPTER 1 Criminal Investigation: An Overview © Mario Tama/Getty Images Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressedNOT content does not materially affect the overallFOR learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves SALE the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 18926_ch01_ptg01_hr_002-037.indd 4 17/01/12 10:37 AM Outline Can You Define? A Brief History of Criminal The Follow-Up civil liability Investigation Investigation community policing Criminal Investigation Computer-Aided crime Definitions Investigation crime mapping Other Terms Defined Problem-Oriented Policing criminal intent criminal investigation Goals of Criminal Investigative Productivity criminalist Investigations The Investigative criminalistics Basic Functions of Function: The criminal statute Investigators Responsibility of All Police culturally adroit Characteristics of an Personnel data mining Effective Investigator Interrelationships with deductive reasoning Others—Community An Overview of the elements of the crime Investigative Process Policing exculpatory evidence Major-Case Task Forces The Preliminary felony Investigation: Basic Law Enforcement forensic science Considerations Resources hot spots Crime Scene Investigators Avoiding Civil Liability inductive reasoning intuition investigate leads Locard’s principle of exchange misdemeanor modus operandi (MO) On April 19, 1995, Trooper Charlie Hanger ordinance res gestae statements Oof the Oklahoma Highway Patrol was traveling north on Interstate 35 when Do You Know? he saw a 1977 Mercury Marquis with no license plate. Hanger pulled the car over, j What criminal investigation is? j What the major goals of criminal investigation are? and the only occupant, a white male, got j What basic functions investigators perform? out. While Hanger was questioning the j What do effective investigators do? driver about the license plate, the trooper j What characteristics are important in investigators? j Who usually arrives at a crime scene first? noticed a bulge in the man’s clothing. j What should be done initially? When asked, the man admitted he had j What to do if a suspect is still at a crime scene? Has recently fled the scene? a gun and was arrested. The driver— j How the crime scene and evidence are protected Timothy McVeigh—was later found and for how long? j What responsibilities are included in the preliminary responsible for the bombing of a federal investigation? building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 j What the meaning and importance of res gestae people and left hundreds injured. Some statements are? j How to determine whether a crime has been would say that the arrest was just plain committed? luck. However, experience and alertness j Who is responsible for solving crimes? j With whom investigators must relate? often play important roles. j How to avoid civil lawsuits? 5 Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressedNOT content does not materially affect the overallFOR learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves SALE the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 18926_ch01_ptg01_hr_002-037.indd 5 17/01/12 10:37 AM 6 j SECTION 1 j Introduction An observant police officer can looking for a new edge. That edge might initiate an important criminal be a new method or approach to criminal investigations, or it may be the result of investigation, sometimes without taking advantage of new developments in realizing it at first. Criminal the forensic and management sciences. investigation combines art and science (“Recognizing Innovation,” 2003, p.140) and requires extraordinary preparation Because no two crimes are identical, and training. And in today’s high- even if committed by the same person, tech society, where information flows each investigation is unique. The great faster than ever and citizens expect range of variables in individual crimes results more quickly, investigators makes it impossible to establish fixed need to step up their technology and rules for conducting an investigation. teamwork skills—they need an edge. Nevertheless, some general guidelines The International Association of Chiefs help to ensure a thorough, effective of Police (IACP) declares, investigation. Investigators modify and It’s a new world and the role of the detective adapt these guidelines to fit each case. has changed dramatically. In the old Investigators need not have world, shoe leather was the detective’s primary tool. Luck and persistence superhuman reasoning ability. They were cornerstones of success. The key must, however, proceed in an orderly, to managing a detective bureau was systematic way, gathering facts to motivating the investigators. analyze and evaluate. This chapter Now, in the information age, where technology advances daily, shoe leather introduces decisions to be made and is still important—as are luck and the actions to be taken. Subsequent persistence—but aggressive detectives chapters explain each step of the and their supervisors are constantly preliminary investigation more fully. criminal turned crime fighter who is considered the father A BRIEF HISTORY OF of modern criminology. In 1811 Vidocq organized a plain- CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION clothed civilian detective unit called the Brigade de la Sûreté (Security Brigade), and in 1812, when the police realized the Contemporary criminal investigation owes its genesis to value of this unit, it was officially converted to the National several notable individuals and events, the first signifi- Police Force, with Vidocq appointed head of the unit. cant one being the 1748 appointment of Henry Fielding as In 1833 Vidocq created Le Bureau des Renseigne- Magistrate of England’s Bow Street. In 1750, as a response ments (Office of Information), which combined private to widespread crime and disorder throughout his juris- police and private investigation into what is considered diction, Fielding formed the Bow Street Runners, which the first private detective agency. Interestingly, most of became the first paid detective unit. the agents were ex-criminals. As head of the unit, Vidocq Another noteworthy individual in the evolution of crim- is often recognized as the first private detective in his- inal investigation was Eugène François Vidocq, a former tory. Vidocq is credited with introducing undercover Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 18926_ch01_ptg01_hr_002-037.indd 6 17/01/12 10:37 AM CHAPTER 1 j Criminal Investigation: An Overview j 7 work, ballistics and criminology. He made the first plas- ter shoe cast impressions and created indelible ink and unalterable bond paper. The exclusive Vidocq Society—a fraternal organization whose members are both law en- forcement professionals and nonprofessionals and meet monthly in a social setting to evaluate and discuss un- solved crimes, often homicides, officially brought to them by other law enforcement agencies—is named after him. Also around this time, in 1842, England’s Scotland Yard created an investigative branch. Meanwhile, in the United States, the first municipal detective divisions were beginning to take shape. Allan Pinkerton, who immigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1842, played a significant historical role in modern police investigations. He was appointed the first detective in Chicago in 1849 and was a cofounder of the Northwest- ern police agency, which later became the Pinkerton Na- tional Detective Agency, whose symbol was a watchful eye and whose motto was, “We never sleep.” Pinkerton’s agents were the forerunners for the U.S. Secret Service, and his agency was employed at the federal level for many famous cases including protecting Abraham Lincoln in his presi- dency. Pinkerton developed several investigative tech- Henry Fielding (1707–1754) niques still used today in law enforcement that include Henry Fielding (1707–1754) engraved by Samuel Freeman (1773–1857) (engraving) (b&w photo), Hogarth, William (1697–1764) (after)/Private Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library stings and undercover work, as well as the surveillance methods of shadowing and following targets or suspects. He was also known for working on a centralized database of criminal identification records that is now maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Investigative units also began cropping up in other police agencies after Chicago’s lead, with Detroit estab- lishing a detective bureau in 1866, followed by New York in 1882 and Cincinnati in 1886. The use of biometrics and identification systems in criminal investigation began in 1882, when French police officer Alphonse Bertillon, now considered the father of personal identification,