Conducting Investigations Flashcards
What is an incident?
An incident is defined as, an instance of something happening; an event or occurrence.
What is the NDM?
Code of ethics. Gathering information and intelligence. Assess threat and risk and develop working strategy. Consider powers and policy. Identify options and contingencies. Take action and review what happened.
What is a Criminal Investigation?
An investigation conducted by police officers with a view to it being ascertained whether a person should be charged with an offence, or whether a person charged with an offence is guilty of it.
What are the two methods of criminal investigation?
Reactive - this starts with the discovery of a crime and seeks to bring offenders to justice by uncovering material that identifies suspects and provides sufficient evidence to enable a court to determine their guilt.
Proactive - this usually starts with an intelligence analysis that a particular individual or group is involved in criminal enterprise.
What is risk?
Making rational, effective and defensible decisions can be difficult especially in the complex environment of policing which is characterised by uncertainty.
What should you do when arriving at an incident?
Preserve life / Identify victims and witnesses / Preserve scene / secure evidence / identify suspects.
Why is the golden hour important?
Best evidence is obtained / accounts given when memory is freshest / physical evidence secured and not disposed of or lost / suspects located early, maximising opportunities to recover property and forensic evidence / case progressed expeditiously saving time, money and ensuring victim, witness safety / public protection and confidence increased.
What is the ABC approach?
Assume nothing.
Believe nothing.
Challenge everything.
What are the 3 types of evidence?
Primary - an original document or a statement about its content.
Direct - evidence that is know personally to the witness because they have personal experience through their senses.
Secondary - evidence that has been reproduced from an original document or substituted for an original item.
What is the chain of evidence?
Where it was found. Where is was seized. The time of seizure. The date of seizure. Whom it was seized by and What was done after it was seized.
What are the 4 investigative strategies?
Identifying a line of enquiry to pursue.
Determining the objective of pursuing a particular line of enquiry.
Conducting the investigative action and gathering the maximum amount of material which may generate further lines of enquiry.
Identifying the investigative actions necessary to efficiently achieve that objective taking into account resources, priorities and proportionality.
What is the investigative and evidence evaluation?
Establish current position / analyse / identify actions / take action / repeat
Evidence in investigation.
Best evidence is direct evidence ie, known personally to the witness because they have:
- personal experience through their senses, eg saw, hear or touched.
But if this is not available or limited then the search needs to be widened.
What types of evidence are there?
Physical - documents / objects. Forensic - fingerprints / DNA Digital - computer records / CCTV Expert witness evidence Intelligence
What is material defined as?
material of any kind, including information and objects which is obtained in the course of a criminal investigation and which may be relevant to the investigation.
