A home burglary investigation, the objectives of this type of investigation, and how the objectives will relate to a successful completion. The first objective of a home burglary investigation is crime detection. Typically a home burglary is reported by the homeowner, once they have returned from being away. It could be found by the detection of property loss, or a forced entry point. A report by neighbors who keep an eye on their neighborhood and observe the burglary in progress is another example of crime detection. Naturally, a better outcome would be to have someone, a witness who sees the suspect enter the residence, report it. This will take us to the second objective much more quickly. A burglary in progress is dispatched immediately with a minimum of two officers, while a burglary report is dispatched within thirty minutes with a one officer response (Columbus Police 2007). The police will be dispatched to a burglary in progress quicker and with a larger response.
The second objective is locating and identifying suspects. If it was a burglary in progress the responding officers will secure the outer perimeter and then conduct a systematic search of the residence looking for the suspect(s) (Columbus Police 2007). If the suspect(s) are located, an arrest is made. If the suspect(s) are not located, the responding officers will preserve the scene and any evidence which may have been left behind. This will make the residence safe for investigators to be in the area, and allow them to collect evidence.
Now that the crime has been detected and perpetrators have been cleared from the area, officers can move on to the next objective of locating, recording, and processing evidence while observing all constitutional consideratio...
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...n of legally obtained evidence and statements. Each and every person involved in the process of the evidence collection and processing must be available for trial. If one of these parties is not available, it may cause some doubt in the juror’s mind, as to what was done with that piece of evidence. The case must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In conclusion if any piece of this investigation is not followed by using established guidelines, the outcome will not lead to the successful conviction.
Works Cited
Columbus Police (2007). Patrol subdivision, standard operating procedures, section 3.
Song, Sora. (2002, October). Body of evidence: all the high-tech gadgets and tests won't matter a bit if evidence isn't meticulously gathered at the scene of a crime. Time, 160(17), 28-29. Retrieved January 21, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 633215341).
McCormick, Charles T. Handbook of the law of evidence. 2nd ed. St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1972. Print.
Gardner, T. J., & Anderson, T. M. (2013). Criminal evidence: Principles and cases (8th ed.).
...furniture which may be locked. They then use the small paint chips and metal as evidence and process them the way that individual piece of evidence should be processed.
In the criminal justice system, the best chance of a fair trial and justice lies within cases that include physical evidence. Physical evidence, whether fibers, fingerprints, or DNA, can give a jury proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Physical evidence can convict a criminal, or it can free an innocent man. It can bring closure to families and to the law enforcement that work the cases. The following cases will show what physical evidence does in a criminal trial and the vast impact it can make. For each case I will examine how the physical evidence was important to the case and whether or not it could have made more of a difference if the presentation of the evidence were different. The five cases are: the Mosley case, the Warren case, the Chandler case, the Frediani case, and the Swift Case.
Under common law some many years ago, burglary was the breaking and entering of a dwelling during the night for the purposes of committing a felony or a larceny (Bernasco and Luykx 2003). Under common law, there were a couple reasons for this specific definition of burglary. First, as Bernasco put it, breaking is the act of creating an opening by disabling any part of the dwelling meant to serve as a prevention tool against intrusion. Secondly, nighttime was an important element of burglary by common law standards; law-makers viewed people as unable to protect themselves during the middle of the night. Under common law, it was not enough to merely enter a dwelling, the act of breaking had to exist; if the entry occurs through an unlocked door, then burgl...
Lyman, D. Michael; Criminal Investigation, The Art and Science; 3rd edition, 2002 Prentice Hall. Pgs. 188-200.
Fundamental to the criminal investigation process is striking a balance between effective law enforcement and achieving justice for offenders, victims and the community. Whilst the expansion of police powers increase efficiency of this process, it simultaneously impedes on civil liberty rights of the community. Similarly, the reporting of crime, the gathering of evidence and bail have varied impacts on this precarious balance between the investigation’s process role in assisting police detain offenders and upholding the fundamental rights of the community, victims and offenders.
The police conduct a preliminary investigation then later conduct a secondary or follow up investigation. The primary goal of the preliminary investigation is to secure the crime scene to protect the integrity of the evidence. The follow-up investigation is when they thoroughly collect, preserve and relinquish the evidence to the evidence tech in the lab with a chain of custody form.
In most cases, law enforcement involves investigation of all forms of suspected, potential or actual criminal activities and presenting evidence arising from investigation to the courts for determination of criminal culpability and subsequent punishment. Law enforcement is also concerned with detaining criminal suspects pending further investigation or judicial action. These, however, are not the only responsibilities or functions of law enforcement. Law enforcement is also concerned with deterrence and prevention of crime as well as enforcement of all the orders given by the law courts such as writs or warrants. In addition, law enforcement play an important role in ensuring public safety, maintaining public order, operating c...
We have already established that for the police to be involved, the crime has to be committed. Once the crime is committed, someone has to report about the crime being committed and when the report has been made, the police begin its job and starts investigating that report to determine if a crime have been committed. O...
The role in which police departments follow is the detail of patrolling communities, responding to emergency calls of service, and conducting investigations in an effort to follow up reported crimes. Reactive policing is responding to a crime that has already been committed. Police officers patrol areas within their own jurisdictions not only to look for crime, but to also be visible so to deter crime from happening. “Routine Patrol” includes the additional element of response time. Officers out patrolling their communities is required in order to facilitate response in a timely manner to dispatch
Gardner, T. J., & Anderson, T. M. (2013). Criminal evidence: Principles and Cases (8th ed.).
Make sure the crime scene is safe and secure. Once the crime scene is secured, that will be the time to start questioning the victims, witnesses and or the suspects. This would also be the time for some officers to conduct neighborhood canvassing (Hess, K.M. & Orthmann, C.H., 2013). I believe this strategy is important to a follow-up investigation because the witness might hold back information, because they might feel that the information they have is not useful.
First responders play a crucial role in the establishment of a crime scene. Upon arriving at the scene, the first responders have checked for living victims and have rendered aid. It’s important to create a perimeter around the crime scene (this can be altered if additional evidence is found outside the initial crime scene). Only emergency personnel should enter and exit from the central entry point to control contamination, by creating an exit point; it helps avoid any excessive traffic through the crime scene. By secure the scene to ensure that no evidence is misplaced or damaged, or otherwise compromised. Do a cursory check of the crime scene to obtain any transient evidence and secure any weapons found at the scene (in this case it was already at the scene with the suspect). Crime scene analysts and investigators communicate with first responders and are quickly briefed on the situation, and now a more thorough search can be conducted.
The success of the criminal investigation process in achieving justice can be seen through its efforts to balance the rights of the victim, offender and the community, this is evident in the areas of police powers and discretion. Police powers constitute police officers to exercise special powers such as search and seizure and the use of reasonable force. These powers are outlined in the Law Enforcement (Powers