Foundations of Criminal Investigation “Our current system of criminal investigation is a direct result of what we have learned and what we have inherited from the past.” Explain the history of criminal investigation. 1 Identify how research affects criminal investigation. 2 Discuss the objectives of criminal investigation. 3 Distinguish the difference between inductive and 4 deductive reasoning. Explain the expanding role of the patrol officer as criminal 5 investigator. Discuss the solvability factors in a criminal investigation. 6 Describe the preliminary investigation process. 7 Source: © Arthur Turner/Alamy 1 BB_70920_ch01_ptg10_hr.4c.indd_70920_ch01_ptg10_hr.4c.indd 1 11/5/12/5/12 44:09:09 PPMM INTRO CAN MURDER BE JUSTIFIED? In March 2006, Mary Carol Winkler, the wife of a the jury of her alleged abuse at the hands of her hus- minister in a small Tennessee town, shot her hus- band, with whom she had frequent arguments. She said band of ten years, Matthew Winkler, in the back with that the shooting was an accident and that she had a 12-guage shotgun while he slept. Throughout the actually been trying to reconcile with her husband at the ensuing trial, Winkler, along with family and friends, time of the murder. She also claimed that although the claimed that her husband had mistreated her and gun had discharged, she could not remember having that the mistreatment had inspired the shooting. On pulled the trigger. She explained her flight to Alabama April 20, 2007, Winkler was convicted of voluntary by saying that she had been trying to get away from her manslaughter. angry husband. After the shooting, Winkler Winkler was ultimately convicted was arrested in Orange Beach, DISCUSS The law recognizes that under of voluntary manslaughter and Alabama, where she had fled some circumstances there sentenced on June 8, 2007, to with her three young daughters, 210 days in prison, 5 months of and extradited to Tennessee. can be justification for the taking of which she had already served. There, a grand jury indicted a life. When investigating a homicide She spent some time in a her on charges of first-degree that—according to the suspect—is Tennessee mental health facility murder. and then served the remainder justified, what investigative resources of her sentence on probation. When Winkler took the stand Eventually, she was awarded in her own defense two days should be considered beyond those custody of her children. before her conviction, she told of law enforcement? The study of criminal investigation involves probing several competence, modern-day investigators must be well versed in different fields at once, and is therefore a difficult task about the law. Legal skills include a working knowledge of criminal law, which to write. For example, it is important for an investigator to constitutional law, and rules of evidence, all of which are essen- understand the basic techniques of collection and preservation of tial for successful prosecution of a criminal case. This chapter is evidence, but to do so, a fundamental understanding of criminal- designed to give the reader the underlying essentials of this field istics or forensic science is often required. In addition to technical of policing, which is both rewarding and challenging. ▶ The History of Criminal Investigation The roots of America’s system of criminal investigation go relationships were established with local business owners, back to the towns and cities in England during the eighteenth in particular pawnbrokers, who were provided with lists and nineteenth centuries. The ensuing crime wave forced law of stolen property. Fielding encouraged them to contact enforcement officials to take drastic measures. As a result, thief him if any stolen property came to their attention. Fielding catchers were recruited from the riffraff of the streets to aid law took seriously his new duty as crime fighter and promptly enforcement officials in locating criminals. Two classes of thief employed new crime-fighting methods. One such method catchers were identified: (1) hirelings, whose motivations were was the appointment of a handful of parish constables mercenary in nature; and (2) social climbers, who would impli- acclimated to night watchman duties. These trackers soon cate their accomplices in order to move up the social ladder. began performing criminal investigation functions and In England, the first police worked only at night and were became well known as successful thief takers by using originally called the Watch of London. They soon developed their ties with London’s criminal underworld. Originally into the Old Charleys , who were paid by the residents they called “Mr. Fielding’s People,” they soon became known as served. These parish constables originated in London in 1253 the Bow Street Runners , the first well-known investiga- and lasted until 1829. tive body in England. Fielding’s runners were not paid as police officers but rather in terms of thief-taker rewards, a percentage of all fines resulting from successful prosecution Criminal Investigation in England of thieves. The Bow Street Runners The Bow Street Runners were forerunners of a trend in During the 1750s, crimes such as burglary and street rob- policing for specialization within the police force. In fact, by bery were rampant in England. Fielding took on the chal- 1800, the Bow Street Police Office was considered by many to lenge of reducing the profits realized by criminals. Working be the leading law enforcement organization in the area. 2 Chapter 1 Foundations of Criminal Investigation BB_70920_ch01_ptg10_hr.4c.indd_70920_ch01_ptg10_hr.4c.indd 2 11/5/12/5/12 44:09:09 PPMM The London Metropolitan Police made only minor strides in pro- The great watershed in British police development occurred in tecting the vast areas under their LEARNING Explain the 1829 with the establishment of the London Metropolitan Police jurisdictions. Indeed, it was in OUTCOMES h istory of criminal Department. Officers of the department were dubbed bobbies these areas that criminals could 1 i nvestigation. after the department’s founder, Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel. easily hide and witnesses would The “new” police were England’s first paid, full-time police often move away, making detec- GLOSSARY force, consisting of about 1,000 uniformed officers. In addi- tion and apprehension of crimi- tion, they replaced the old constables, such as the Bow Street nals a discouraging task. thief catchers People recruited Runners, who had ultimately gained a reputation of incompe- Following the lead of from the riffraff of the streets to aid law enforcement officials tency and inefficiency. Indeed, the bobbies were required to London’s police force, the first professional police forces were in locating criminals during the meet rigid standards of professionalism. Minimum standards European Industrial Revolution. included minimum weight and height requirements and stan- established in the United States dards of literacy and character. at Boston in 1837, New York in Old Charleys The first police Technology in crime detection began to flourish during the 1844, and Philadelphia in 1854. worked only at night and were nineteenth century with the creation of a personal identification By the 1870s, almost all originally called the Watch of London. They were paid by the system by Alphonse Bertillon, the director of the criminal identifi- major U.S. cities had munici- residents they served. cation section of the Paris Police Department. The Bertillon system pal police departments. As in was based on the idea that certain aspects of the human body, such England, criminal investiga- Bow Street Runners A group of as skeletal size, ear shaping, and eye color, remained the same after tion by public law enforcement English crime fighters formed by a person had reached full physical maturity. It used a combination was viewed as politically haz- Henry Fielding during the eigh- of photographs with standardized physical measurements. ardous because it favored only teenth century. In the mid-1840s, the study of fingerprint patterns became those who could pay. But the bobbies The name of London a popular means to identify suspects in crime. Although the rapid growth of cities produced Metropolitan Police Department use of fingerprints is commonplace today, it wasn’t until the violence, crime, and vice activi- officers; they were named this late nineteenth century that it was learned that a person’s fin- ties that demonstrated a break- after the department’s founder, gerprints could act as a unique, unchangeable method of per- down of social order in small Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel. sonal identification. Such discoveries have been credited to the communities. Growing inci- Bertillon system An early crimi- Englishmen William J. Herschel and Henry Fields, who were dents of mob violence between nal identification or classification working in Asia at the time. Protestants and Catholics, immi- system based on the idea that grants and Native Americans, certain aspects of the human The Creation of Scotland Yard and abolitionists and pro-slavery body, such as skeletal size, ear For many people, much misunderstanding has existed about the groups were probably the most shape, and eye color remained function and role of Scotland Yard . Some believe that it represents crucial catalysts for expanded the same after a person had a single police authority in Great Britain. In fact, it is the head- police functions. reached full physical maturity. quarters of London’s Metropolitan Police and has never exerted This system used a combination The Pinkerton National of photographs with standardized any authority over other police organizations in Great Britain. Detective Agency physical measurements. Although London’s Metropolitan Police was founded in 1829, it took more than 10 years to organize a detective branch. Even Pinkerton’s National Detective Scotland Yard One of the first then, however, “the Yard” was only a small division within the Agency, founded in 1850 by criminal investigative bodies department.