Investigative Plan
Investigative Plan
Introduction
The rate of crime in the society has increased. Studies have shown that the rate of crime in the society has increased as law enforcement agencies do not take the right measures to prevent crime. Most law enforcement agencies do not use an investigative plan when investigating crime in the society. For instance, law enforcement officers do not use an investigative plan when investigating robbery. This makes it difficulty for law enforcement officers to get the right information. An investigative plan has a lot of benefits to law enforcement officers. First, investigative plan helps law enforcement officers carry out their duties in an organized manner.
Most law enforcement officers do not carry out their activities well and this leads to poor results. Also, an investigative plan helps law enforcement officers get the right information. A large percentage of law enforcement officers do not utilize an investigative plan when analyzing a crime. This forces them to get incomplete information. For instance, a law enforcement officer might get the wrong information concerning robbery in the areas. This leads to poor judgment and failure to prevent crime in the society. Lastly, an investigative plan provides a reference for an investigation and ensures that all the aspects of a crime are indicated in the plan and are covered in the right time.
Investigative plan
A well developed investigative plan should have several elements. First, the plan should focus on the investigation process and ensure that all the elements of a crime are addressed. Second, the investigative plan should include only the necessary procedures and avoid duplication of steps. Also, the plan should ensure coordination investigation activities of various units in the organization. In addition, the investigative plan should provide stability to the process incase the staff change. Also, the investigative plan should improve communication with prosecuting officers. It should outlining the investigation and strengths and weaknesses of the case. The investigative plan should provide a frame work to be used in the final report. Lastly, the investigative plan should help law enforcement officers train un experienced employees in the organization (Sennewald &Tsukayama, 2006).
Steps of an investigative plan
An investigative plan contains several components. That is the predication and elements to prove. Also, the plan contains the opening steps and investigative steps. The first step in the investigative plan is predication. Predication is said to be a short statement that outlines why the case has been opened. An investigation officer should state clearly why he opened the case. This will make it easy for law enforcement officers to handle the case. It will also guide other officers in the agency in investigating the case. A predication has several features. A predication contains the main allegation and the origin of the allegation. Also, a predication contains the date the law enforcement officers received the allegation. For instance, after receiving a robbery case, an investigation officer should write the predication (Sennewald &Tsukayama, 2006).
The predication helps identify the offense that has been committed. This helps law enforcement officers identify the elements to prove so as to establish whether the criminal activity occurred (Sennewald &Tsukayama, 2006).
The second step is proving the elements of a crime. An investigation officer should outline the elements of a case that should be proved. Proving the elements is vital as it helps the officers prosecute the case well. The elements should help the investigation officer state the criminal violation. This lays a framework for other steps. In case of a robbery in the community, an investigation officer should state the elements of a robbery that need to be proved. This will help prosecute robbery cases effectively (Sennewald &Tsukayama, 2006).
The third step is preliminary procedures. There are various preliminary steps that investigation officers should follow to obtain information on the victim, the complaint and the suspect. The investigation officer should review the files before the investigations. This will help the investigation officer get enough information about the crime. He will know who committed the crime, the victims of the crime. This will in turn help arrest the suspect. Also, it will help prevent robbery in the area as the police officers will get enough information to help design action plans (Sennewald &Tsukayama, 2006).
Another step is conducting interviews. Interviews are important as they help investigation officers get the right information about a crime and the suspects. The investigation officer is supposed to interview several people. For example, the investigation officer will interview the suspect, witnesses and the victim. This will help one gather enough information to carry out the investigation. Most law enforcement officers do not use investigation plans and they end up getting fake information. This makes the results invalid. An interview will help ensure the results are valid. Step four, five and six include interviewing the victim, the suspect and the witnesses respectively (Sennewald &Tsukayama, 2006).
The seventh step is obtaining and reviewing public records. Investigation officers should review public records to get information about the criminal, the crime and the victim. Public records may give information about a criminal and help one prepare good investigation report (Sennewald &Tsukayama, 2006).
The eighth step is conducting a criminal background so as to identify other parties that are involved in the crime. Most criminals learn criminal behaviors from other gangsters. Knowing the criminal background helps one have enough information to address crime in the society and catch people who have committed robbery. For instance, understanding the criminal well helps identify other people in the society who commit robbery. This makes it easy to develop measures to prevent crime (Sennewald &Tsukayama, 2006)
An investigative plan should include steps to resolve issues and complete the investigation process. The investigation officer should state parameters that are needed to show that crime has happened. Also, the investigation steps show the people to be interviewed and the records to be analyzed. The investigative steps should be parallel to the elements that need to be proven. For example, incase of robbery the investigation officers should analyze bank transaction records to determine the amount deposited in the accounts (U.S Marine Corps, 2007).
After identifying the records to be analyzed, the investigation officer should forward questionable documents for further investigations. Then he should brief the prosecuting officers about the results of the crime. This will enable the prosecuting officers to carry out the case well. The last step is preparing a final report that is based on the information contained from the investigation (U.S Marine Corps, 2007).
Technology assistance to be used in the investigations.
Modern technology has changed how crimes are investigated and how law enforcement agencies solve crimes. Technology has made it easy for investigation officers to get information about a crime and the criminal. In early days, people found it hard to get information immediately after the crime, but technology has enabled people to get information immediately after the crime. Investigation officers get information about a crime in seconds or after several hours. Technology has made it easy for law enforcement officers to get information from national database. Most suspects escaped because the law enforcement officers were not able to get in formation from the database. The national database is linked and this helps one access multiple databases from different states. This helps address crime and get the suspects. For instance, electronic databases will be used in this investigation plan to address robbery crime in the society and arrest the suspects (Kovacich &Jones, 2006).
Another technology that will be used in this investigation is modern cameras. Modern cameras provide law enforcement officers with many options when indentfying suspects at a crime scene. The digital memory allows law enforcement officers store more information about the crime, thus providing adequate proof. The modern camera will be used to identify suspects and the crimes they have committed. They will also provide enough information to support the cases. Modern cameras provide clear pictures of the suspect and this makes it easy to identify the suspect (Kovacich &Jones, 2006).
Bullet identification technology will also be used to identify the bullets used. It helps law enforcement officers identify the origin of the bullets. This provides policy officers witch enough information to start the investigation process. In the past, police officers have not been able to identify the origin of the bullet and the bullet used, but technological advances have helped overcome the issues (Kovacich &Jones, 2006).
Lastly, DNA technology will be used to identify the suspects. DNA technology allows law enforcement officers to analyze the Deaths will help the police will be able to match the suspect to the scene of the crime. The law enforcement officers will use DNA from the saliva and blood. The DNA from the blood, saliva is more effective than finger prints. This will ensure the law enforcement officers effectively address the crime and catch the suspects. The technologies above will make the investigation process to be easy and provide adequate information to be used when writing the final report (Kovacich &Jones, 2006).
Measures to use when studying crime patterns in the area
There are various measures that can be used to analyze the patterns of the crime in the area. That is the timing of the crime, the position and the groups involved in the crime. First, a law enforcement officer should determine the time the robbery crimes occur. The robbery crimes in the area can occur day time or night. In this case most of the crimes occur during the day. Most people in the area commit crimes during the day. Knowing the time the crime happens is crucial as it helps the law enforcement officers address crime in the area. For example, the law enforcement officers will be able to identify the crimes that have happened during this timed. Also, it makes it easy for law enforcement officers to arrest the suspects and charge them (Kovacich &Jones, 2006).
Another factor that will be used to analyze the crime in the society is groups involved in criminal activities. Young people and adults men are mostly involved in crime. This is because of lack of employment and environmental conditions. Most youths in the area do not have jobs and this forces them to commit robbery so as to sustain themselves. Also, the rearing environment encourages crime among the young. A large percentage of the youths in the society have not been brought up well and this has resulted to increase in criminal activities. Also, illegal drugs have led to increase in robbery crimes among the youth. Apart from the youth, adult men commit robbery crime because of lack of employment and influence of drugs (Kovacich &Jones, 2006).
The position of the crime will help identify crime patterns in the area. Most robbery crimes happen in the urban areas, but not rural areas. This is because most youths and adult men in urban areas are not employed (Hess &Orthmann, 2009).
Synthesizing the data
The data collected during the investigation process will be analyzed using statistical methods. For example, the data collected will be grouped according to the variables available. This will help prepare graph that will be used to make meaningful conclusion. The data collected will be based on the timing of the crime, the groups that commit the crime and the position the crimes are committed. The data will be grouped according to the three variables and graphs will be drawn from the data. For example, if most of the robbery crimes in the region occur during day time, then the investigation officers will know that the highest number of robbery crimes are committed day time and enact the necessary measures. Also, the results from the analyses might show that adult’s men and youths in the area commit robbery crimes more than women. From the results the officers will identify ways of addressing robbery crimes in the area by targeting the youth and adults (Hess &Orthmann, 2009).
Investigative units
There are various investigative units that will help in the investigation operations and catch the perpetrators. The investigative units include youth crime unit. The youth crime unit will help investigate crimes committed by youth in the area. Most youths in the area are involved in criminal activities and the youth crime unit will help address crimes committed by the youth and catch the suspects. The youth crime unit will have two investigators to help in the operation (Hess &Orthmann, 2009).
Another unit is major crime unit. The major crime unit helps investigate various forms of crimes. For instance, it helps investigate violent crimes and crimes involving robbery. The investigation officers in the major crime unit will help in investigating robbery crimes in the area and arrest the suspects (Hess &Orthmann, 2009).
Additionally, the narcotic unit will part of the investigation units that will help in the operation. The narcotic unit will help in investigating crimes that result from illegal drugs. Youths and adults in the region commit robbery crimes under the influence of illegal drugs. The narcotic unit will help in addressing the crimes that result from misuse of drugs and arrest the suspects. The three units will work together to investigate robbery crimes in the area. The investigation officers in the units will work according to the steps states in the investigation plan to solve the crimes and arrest the criminals (Fijnaut &Jacobs, 1991).
Equipment and supplies to be used
The law enforcement officers will need to use equipment when carrying out the investigation. The equipment includes finger print equipment like brushes and powders. Examples of brushes used in crime investigation are fiberglass etc. Also, one needs magnifying glasses to use when taking finger prints. Other equipments include photographic equipment. The photographic equipments are used to capture the crime scene and the suspects. Investigators can use various types of photographic tools like cameras and films. Also, the investigators can use lens and measuring tolls. Modern cameras will be used to capture the crime scene. In addition, the investigation officers will need evidence packaging supplies. Examples of evidence packaging supplies include paper bags, metal containers, glass containers .Also, evidence tapes, marking pen and staplers will be used to pack the evidence (Fijnaut &Jacobs, 1991).
Further, the investigation officers need blood collection supplies. The blood collection equipments are important as they help the investigation team carry blood for DNA testing. In order to carry blood for DNA testing, the officers should have sterilized clot squares and thread. Also, they should have a scalpel and scissors. The team should carry distilled water and glass microscope plates. In addition, the team should have disposable scalpel blades. Lastly, the team should carry deceased print tools. The kit contains black ink and plain papers. It also contains ink removers and tissue builders. The supplies and equipment will help the investigation officers carry out their duties. They will ensure that the investigation officers have adequate resources to use during the process. This will in turn help them provide enough information to address the crime and arrest people behind the robbery crimes in the region (Fijnaut &Jacobs, 1991).
The money allocated for purchasing the equipment is not enough. This will affect the investigation process if no actions are taken. The investigation team will not have enough resources to carry out the investigation. Thus, this will lead to poor results and lack of enough evidence. To overcome the problem, the investigation officer should seek for funds from outside sources. He should ask for assistance from donors and other organizations that can support the investigation process (Fijnaut &Jacobs, 1991).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the investigative plan will work well if the investigation officers follow the steps outlined in the document. They should identify the case by stating the predication. Then after that the investigation officer should identify the elements of prove. Other steps include examining the records of the criminal, carrying out interviews. Also, the investigation officers will forward the documents to the prosecuting officers and writing the final report. The investigation officers need to use various measures so as to know the criminal patterns in the area. For example, the investigation officers will analyze the timing of the crime, the position of the crime and the group that commits the crime. Also, the investigation team will use the current technology when carry out investigation. It will use electronic databases to identify criminal information and arrest suspects. The information will be used to address the crime.
The investigation officers will use the modern cameras, bullet detecting technology during the investigation. Results gotten from the investigation process will be used to design measures to prevent robbery crime in the area. Also, the information will be used to arrest suspects in the area. The investigation officer will use suppliers and equipment during the operation. They will use evidence packaging supplier, blood supplies and photographic equipment. The investigation plan will help eliminate crime in the region by identifying the causes and developing measures to prevent robbery crime.
Reference
Fijnaut, C., &Jacobs, J.B. (1991).Organized crime and its containment: a transatlantic initiative. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
Hess, K.M., &Orthmann, C.H. (2009).Criminal Investigation.Cengage Learning
Kovacich, G.L., &Jones, A. (2006).High-technology crime investigator’s handbook: establishing and managing a high-technology crime prevention program. Butterworth-Heinemann
Sennewald, C.A., &Tsukayama, J.K. (2006).The process of investigation: concepts and strategies for investigators in the private sector. Butterworth-Heinemann
U.S Marine Corps. (2007).Counterintelligence.Cosimo, Inc
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