Conduct Investigations Flashcards
What are the two teams in a serious crime investigation?
- Investigation
2. Support (also known as the Operation Headquarters Team)
What are the factors that affect decision making?
there are 3
- Individual bias
- Verification bias
- Availability errors
Describe
Individual bias
(It is a factor affecting decision making)
Decision making unconsciously affected by an individual’s perceptions of people, places and situations
e.g. perceptions based on prejudice, diversity, criminal record
Describe
Verification bias
(It is a factor affecting decision making)
When thinking is channelled towards focusing on making decisions that support a certain point of view, thereby overlooking other alternative lines of enquiry or sources of material
e.g. a witness account that wrongfully ID’s an offender.
Describe
Availability error
(It is a factor affecting decision making)
Availability error occurs when a person bases their decisions on material that is vivid and dramatic, emotionally charged, but it may not necessarily reflect the scope of material on which to make a correct decision
e.g. focusing on a victim’s account and over looking the collection of forensic evidence
What are the four steps to the appreciation technique?
- Aim or objective
- Factors
- Courses Open
- Plan
Appreciation technique:
Describe Step 1: Aim or objective
A short statement of intent beginning with a verb.
Read page 11
Appreciation technique:
Describe Step 2: Factors
A factor is a statement of truth about some known influence or circumstance.
(Read page 11)
Appreciation technique:
Describe Step 3: Courses open
Courses open ate the options you can identify after having assessed the factors and the deductions made from the factors.
(Read page 12)
Appreciation technique:
Describe Step 4: Plan
Select the most appropriate courses for attention and plan the action you can take.
(Read page 12)
Two forms of written appreciation:
Full appreciation
Short appreciation
What are the 4 key areas of knowledge, understanding and skills that underpin a good investigation?
- Core legislation
- The characteristics of crime
- National policies and procedures
- Investigative techniques
What is a reactive criminal investigation?
Starts with the discovery of a crime
What is a proactive criminal investigation?
Starts with information or intelligence analysis indicating that an individual or a group of individuals is engaged in criminal activity
Draw the diagram showing the stages of criminal investigations
Found page 15
Does material always become evidence?
No
Material attrition
total material gathered by an offence > the material gathered by police > material that is admissible as evidence
What are the steps to applying the investigative mindset?
There are 5 principles.
Principle 1: Understand the source of the material
Principle 2: plan and prepare
Principle 3: Examine all material
Principle 4: Record and collate
Principle 5: Evaluate
Define hypotheses
A suggested explanation for a group of facts either accepted as a basis for further verification or accepted as likely to be true
When would a full appreciation be used?
High level or difficult tactical or administrative problems
When would a short appreciation be used
Urgent or pressing matters requiring immediate attention
What is ‘material’?
substance of any kind, including information, sounds, images
obtained in the course of a criminal investigation that has some bearing on any offence
True or false
Material may or may not become evidence
True
True or false
Material gathered during a course of an investigation always becomes evidence
false
