Criminal Investigations-2013-14

Welcome to Criminal Investigation

Investigators attempt to identify, charge, and prosecute the criminal population by operating within an ethical framework in diverse, sometimes uncertain, but always challenging circumstances.

This course is an introduction to the practices and procedures involved in conducting criminal investigations and will provide you with a working knowledge of the relevant principles, techniques, laws and procedures involved, along with an integration of modern tools . You will learn basic theoretical concepts and apply them to the basic elements necessary for criminal case resolution. Topics include learning major goals of investigations, primary functions and responsibilities of investigating officers/agents, specialized investigations and the investigator's relationship with other individuals and agencies involved in an investigation.

As a prerequisite to this class you should have engaged in the prior study of such classic material as South Park, The X-Files or the new BattleStar Galatica (not the old one, ugh). Any of the three will promote a better understanding of the contents of this site.

Dr. Michael Thompson

Laws of Interrogation

By Brandon Gaede

At the beginning of any interrogation the officer who is interrogating the detainee must read that individual their Miranda Rights. If they don't then whatever the detainee says may be thrown out in court. The Miranda Rights are you have the right to remain silent, anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have to right to a lawyer and have them present during any questioning. If you can't afford a lawyer one will be appointed to you. These aren't the exact words a interrogator has to read the detainee, but as long as the interrogator covers the main rights a person has before interrogation. As long as an interrogator reads the detainee their Miranda Rights anything that they say may be used against them in court. Miranda warnings only apply to interrogations, the difference between interrogation and interviews are that in interrogations the individual is being detained, and is being interrogated by the officer. The definition of an interrogation is any question or statement that is used to provoke a response. Also if the officer providing the interrogation uses any physical or psychological intimidation that evidence is going to be thrown out in court even after properly giving them their Miranda warning.

Confessions are the holy grail of any investigation. You can find a person guilty of any crime with enough evidence. Even if you don't have a body for a murder case as long as you can provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the person did it your golden. Granted it may be very difficult to do so, but if you have a voluntary confession it makes the process much quicker. But the courts will throw out the confession if they deem it involuntary. What makes a confession involuntary is if an individual is precipitated by a threat, fear, torture, or a promise. So you can't hold someone for five days and not give them food or water until they confess.

Sources:
http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-rights/miranda-warnings-and-police-questioning.html

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Involuntary+Confession

Photo:http://leggnet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Interrogation-Sample-2.jpg

Joshua Jones
Interview and Interrogations
The three major aspects of criminal investigation are (1) to identify the criminal, (2) to locate and apprehend him (3) and to prove his guilt in the court. During the course of investigation an investigator depends on three major tools available to him which are instrumentation, information and, interview and interrogation. Instrumentation helps him to identify or eliminate a suspect by the use of scientific technology thereby analyzing the collected physical evidences whereas the information is transformed into intelligence to identify, locate and apprehend him. But the significance of interview and interrogation cannot be discarded as it plays major role in investigation whenever there is little or no physical evidence.
The difference between interview and interrogation is that an interview is conducted in a cordial atmosphere where a witness is more comfortable physically and psychologically. On the other hand, whenever a person is questioned in an uncomfortable atmosphere (interrogation room) where he is under the psychological pressure, it is an interrogation. Interrogator, in this case, has more psychological advantage than his suspect. Interrogation is a kind of psychological warfare between interrogator and suspect. Only when an interrogator overpowers a suspect psychologically, he gets a confession or the fact of a case which is not possible otherwise. Interrogation is an art. You can master it through your study and experience. A good investigator is not necessarily a good interrogator. To be a good interrogator you need to be a good actor and must have an insight of human psychology. You should be able to act according to age, profession and intellect of the individual suspect because a suspect could be a lawyer, doctor, scientist, professor, manager or an unskilled laborer and, could be a child, teenager, adult and senior.

There are various kinds of witnesses such as indifference witness, interested witness, hostile witness and child witness. Indifference witness is the best kind of witness for a case because the witness does not have any interest in success or failure of the case. He will always prefer to tell whatever he knows about the case without lying, whereas the interested witness may be a friend, a relative or a potential beneficiary in the case and may exaggerate the fact. As for the hostile witness, he may have close relation or friendship with the suspect and do want to lie to protect the suspect. You may need to interrogate him rather than interview him. Child is a volatile witness who does not lie but is prone to the suggestions. It is worth to have an eyewitness to support a case but you should also know that his education, technical knowledge, physical condition, profession and emotion influence his observation. Don't expect him to tell everything of what happened when the incident took place. He does not observe as what a police officer needs to observe. His information is valuable if it corroborates to the physical or circumstantial evidence collected. Reconstruction of a case is important to verify the truthfulness of the information of an eyewitness.

source:
http://www.lawofficer.com/article/leadership/interviews-vs-interrogations-h
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061116134450AA1aUbG

Chase Pechin
Few facts about Interviewing and interrogating
The current standard protocol for interview and interrogation in most civilian law enforcement agencies relies on a progressively narrowing or “funnel-shaped” model of information gathering. Following an initial stage of rapport-building, which is maintained throughout the interview, subjects are asked to describe events in their own words, without direction or interruption by the interviewer. Next, the interviewer poses general questions to fill in any missing data or resolve any glaring differences in the narrative. More focused and detail-oriented questions are then used to help tie up any loose ends in the narrative and obtain a clear overall picture of the subject’s knowledge. Finally, a rapport is reestablished at the close of the interview to smooth the way for further interview and interrogation if necessary. Then deception is used sparingly and as a last resort.

The standard model is generally effective with most of the everyday suspects questioned by civilian law enforcement and military intelligence teams, it may require modifications and refinements to be useful with the personality types who comprise most extremist organizations and hard-core criminal gangs. Accordingly, based on an analysis of the available literature and my own experience in clinical and forensic psychological interviewing, they have developed a personality-guided model of criminal interview and interrogation that seeks to adapt the style and content of questioning to the personality dynamics of the subject.
For maximum communication among law enforcement and mental health professionals in different service branches, the model is based on the standard diagnostic categories of personality utilized by mental health clinics in the U.S. and elsewhere. While consultation with a psychologist might be useful in especially complex or high-profile cases, more commonly, the experienced investigator is already intuitively familiar with various personality types through his or her daily work with all kinds of people. The present model puts this knowledge in a professional framework and offers some recommendations for refining the technique of information gathering.

Source:
http://crimeandclues.com/2013/10/14/conducting-successful-interrogations/
http://www.w-z.com/police/criminal-interview-and-interrogation/

Marcus Tibbles
A Few Things About Interviews and Interrogations

Interrogating the perp is something that nearly every police officer or detective has to do at some point. Interrogation sounds bad. Typical ideas involving interrogations involve two scary men trying to scare another scary man into giving the interrogators the information they want. Sometimes fingers are smashed with a hammer, or water is poured over a person’s face. Or that’s what popular media would like you to believe. A typical interrogation is more of an interview. Like a job interview, except one side has made poor life choice and the other wants to lock said person up for life, so yeah just like a job interview.
The typical interview uses psychology to get results from the suspect. First by letting them know that they’re in the lion’s den by giving the impression that there is no way out for them. The interviewer may tell the perp they know he or she did it, and they don’t want to hear their side. The interviewer may get the suspect to say something that cues them into a confession, or trick the perp into confessing. The interviewer will more than likely try to be friendly with his interviewee, and try to gain their trust. They will encourage a confession to reduce their sentence, and lighten the punishment. The bad thing with using these psychological tools is sometimes a false confession is brought out. When taking a statement from a witness or a victim you can lead them in the wrong direction and convict the wrong person.
There are several forms of interviewing a suspect. The Reid Technique came about after lie detectors were banned from being used as evidence. John E. Reid was an expert polygraph reader who noticed certain subliminal queues people give off when asked a question. Reid wanted to see if the same queues happened in the interrogation room, they did. These include eye movements and body movements. The Reid Technique is the basis for most police interviews today. Kinesic interviewing is the aforementioned “becoming their friend” form of interviewing. This allows the interviewee to become more relaxed and signs of discomfort and deceit more likely to be seen.
Neurological techniques involve what is going on inside the head. Like The Reid Technique it involves watching the eyes and other parts of the body. Such as if the person is remembering something they look in one direction, and when they are making something up they look in another.
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques tend to be more along the lines of bodily and psychological torture. Yelling at the person, or playing loud offensive music. Of course that is more of a cultural thing, the US military used “Enter Sandman” by Metallica to breakdown its detainees. Sleep deprivation, and use of cold hard fear such as dogs or putting a spider on a man’s face are also used. Water Boarding is about as fun as it sounds, it involves pouring water on someone’s face and making them breathe through a towel. These Enhanced Interrogation techniques are effective at getting confessions, although they may be a false confession. Anyone getting tortured will break and say anything to make the pain stop, unless their into that sort of thing.

Sources:

eHow Police Interrogation Techniques
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniques
ezinearticles.com/?Typical-Techniques-of-Police-Interrogation&id=2376419
Picture Source: Google Images

Steven Nelson
The Life of an Investigator

The job of an investigator is to find information and clues to help the people they work for, find the information they need. They do this using a myriad of techniques including wiretapping, interrogating, and many other methods. Many investigators will tell you the only way to learn how to be an investigator is to actually do the job. Investigating is widely considered to be more of an art than a science. This means that although there are some basic guidelines that should be followed, investigations usually require a an investigator that can think on his feet. Investigators can work for a variety of different organizations such as the FBI, CIA, or local police departments. They can also work privately.
The main job is to collect information. There are many ways they can do that. In most cases the detective will interview his or her client. They will ask them a series of questions to learn what they need to know about the crime scene. Some people get interviews and interrogations confused. Interviews are simple question and answer situations between the detective and either a witness or victim. An interrogation is widely known to be when an investigator questions a suspect, usually within the confines of a lockup facility. When the investigator goes through these investigations or interrogations they use a variety of techniques to determine whether the person they are talking to is telling the truth or not. They pay attention to the body language, slight facial movements and other non verbal communication.
Over the years detectives have used many different tools to collect the information they need. From GPS systems and video cameras to fingerprinting to wiretapping, there have been tremendous steps forward in terms of technology used by investigators. These technologies allow the investigator to observe scenes and gain more detailed knowledge than ever before. A major tool in any investigator’s repertoire is a camera. Investigators must photograph the entire crime scene and those around it. With these photos, the investigator can record everything in the crime scene before it is disturbed. These photos can prove to be invaluable clues. Even with all these innovations there are still plenty of similarities of techniques used between today’s investigators and those a hundred years ago. An investigator’s mind is still by far his greatest tool.
A detective must be a good leader. They must be able to take command of the crime scene. They must be able to ensure the safety of all by making sure that all safety procedures are followed. The leader must be able to properly delegate to others. The detective must properly manage those working under him so as to make sure that they are properly communicating.
A large part of an investigator’s job is documenting the information that he has collected. They may use a tape recorder or a computer to record his findings. Everything he collects highly confidential so it must be kept in a secure place. When the investigator meets with his or her client he can then reveal the information he deems appropriate for the case.
Although Hollywood may paint investigator’s job’s to be action packed car chase after car chase, there is really much more to it than that. An investigator’s job is truly unique.

Sources:
http://www.ehow.com/list_6366557_duties-investigator_.html
http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/respon2.html

Louis Edmiston
Highway Patrol

In the world of law enforcement, there is one group of law enforcement that has one priority in every state. That is to protect the highway system in the United States. This group of law enforcement may be referred to as the Highway Patrol, or the State Patrol. In every state in the United States, the Highway patrol is out there every day protecting drivers who are traveling through the stat. They make sure there are no speeders. They also watch for people who are illegally transporting drugs or alcohol. If there are people who are driving under the influence, the Highway Patrol officers have to stop them, give them either a breathalyzer test, or a sobriety test. If they are drunk, they must be takes off the road in into a county jail so they can be asked more questions and they may have to stay there for a couple days. According to Wikepedia.com, A highway patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties. Duties of highway patrol may include Accident investigation, Commercial vehicle enforcement, Emergency Response, Maintenance, Traffic Enforcement. So there are a lot of jobs that a highway enforcement officer has to do. They have made sure that people are always traveling on the highway safely and that they are able to get to their destination safely. If there weren’t such thing as highway patrol, there would be a lot of accidents on the highway system because there would not be such thing a travelling safely on the highway. Not only do the highway patrol officers deal with safety, they also help drivers who are broken down on the side of the road. If their cars are broken down on the side of the road, the Highway patrol officers will stop and will help them. Before someone can join the highway patrol in a state, they have to go through months of training, not only physical training, but also mental training. They have to take a lot of personality tests so they can be hired by the highway patrol. According to Education Portal.com Requirements for state troopers vary by state and may include a minimum age, specific training and physical capabilities. The police academy is a 12-14 week training program in which police recruits go through the physical and mental challenges that will prepare them for a career in law enforcement. Those enrolled in the academy are taught skills in civil rights, traffic control, first aid, self-defense and the use of firearms. The training does vary by state, but each state does have a program that tests how people will be able to work in the actual line of duty when they are out in the real world patrolling. Some people are not able to finish the training either because of the physical part, or the mental part. That is the certain role of a Highway patrolman.

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_patrol
http://education-portal.com/articles/State_Trooper_Job_Description_Duties_and_Requirements.html

Eduardo Romero
Interrogation and Confessions

A big part of law enforcement includes interrogation and confessions. When a suspect is brought in for questioning, our main goal is to get the suspect to tell the truth. If a confession is out of the question, then we interrogate the suspect.

The end result of an interrogation may help build a strong case used in court but only if done the right way. One big issue with interrogation includes coercion leading to false confessions. It is very likely that those who live in poverty and have minimal education may fall for this deception. Interrogations may also lead to confessions of guilt before a trial is even set. This raises the issue of the innocent men and women taking a spot in prison while the guilty are out and free.

The police have the right to question anyone at any place or time during an investigation. On the other hand, the person being interrogated may plead the fifth, which means that they may remain silent. If the suspect gives a confession, it must be given voluntarily and without coercion for the confession to be admissible in a court of law. If there is any evidence of police intimidation, pressure, duress, or compulsion then the confession will be thrown out and no longer be admissible.

Recording and videotaping interrogations have been mandated in many places. Law enforcement may go against this because they believe that suspects won't confess or they will be less likely to confess to the crime if they are being videotaped. Another reason why some law enforcement agencies are reluctant to record or videotape maybe be because they are using coercion or intimidation to get a confession. Videotaping or recording provides hard cold evidence to the court and pushes law enforcement to follow the rules and not abuse their powers.

One great reason for recording or videotaping an interview or interrogation is when the suspect is left alone and has forgotten the camera was still there. In many cases, the suspects admit while they are alone and gloat about the crime. They may laugh about it, sing about it, or just talk to themselves about it. The suspects may pretend to be handicapped but when left alone, they magically become capable of doing the things they claimed to be unable to do otherwise. Recording Interrogations also removes the need for officers to testify in court and it proves false when the suspect claims misconduct on the officers part.

The United States has the highest confession rates in the world. Three out of four people waive their Miranda rights. 60 % of all interrogation cases have been closed to due confessions. Other places such as Germany only have a 40% confession rate. Some ways that detectives use to get the suspect to confess may be negative or positive ways. Negative ways include telling the suspect that he will surely lose in court and they will find everything out with or without him. Positive ways include telling the suspect how much better he will feel after confessing to the crime and that the families of the victim can finally be at peace. These tactics have proven to be effective in many interrogations, thus allowing the United States to have the highest confession rates anywhere.

Interrogation and confession may not always be an easy thing to do. Both parties may play dirty and not follow the law. Law enforcement may intimidate the suspect into a false confession or the suspect may play dumb but later confess or admit to the crime when left alone. Although recordings and video tapings have been mandated in many places to capture such things, I strongly believe that we should trust our law enforcement and not have to rely on technology for proof. I believe that if you have a career in law enforcement, then you should follow the laws set out for you and everyone else out there.

Sources
http://www.LawInterviews.com/interrogation
http://www.LawInterviews.com/Interviews

Arielle Gil-Sanz
Police interrogation

In our society it is common to treat the police as less than intelligent. We laugh at the antics of law enforcement officers when we read of their mishaps in the news media and figure this to be their normative behavior. The only people we think to be stupider than the cops are the criminals they deal with. After all, if a cop can catch you, you must be pretty dumb, or careless, at least! Most of us also tend to believe that if we wanted to commit a crime, we would get away with it scot free. After all, many crimes go unsolved each year, so our chances are pretty good that we could commit a crime and escape punishment. But if the police suspected you'd committed a crime, would you talk to them? And moreover, would you confess, even though there was no way you could be arrested or convicted of the crime, unless you did confess? "Of course not," you'd say. "Why, I'd have to be a complete idiot in order to do something of that nature!" Unfortunately for you, you are wrong. If confronted by police who use sophisticated interrogation techniques, you probably would confess. In fact, you would probably be very happy to do so. Psychological manipulations can do that to you…..

Eliciting confessions from unwilling suspects in the old days used primitive methods. Torture was an approved of practice in many locations, until the supreme court intervened with decisions such as Brown vs. Mississippi, and Chambers vs, Florida. After that, torturing suspects was strictly a no-no. So the police had to find new and interesting ways to make people confess. Polygraphs were new on the scene, and police quickly became enchanted with the idea that they could tell if someone was lying through the use of machines. "Truth serums" and hypnosis had been tried and found lacking. While polygraphs could (and still do) adequately predict when a suspect is being deceptive, the courts view the machines with skepticism. To this day, even failing a polygraph test means virtually nothing in court. In fact, most states do not allow polygraph results to be admitted into evidence. Polygraphs are still used by police departments as investigative tools. Nevertheless, the cost of training personnel in their use and buying the equipment is sometimes prohibitive, particularly for smaller agencies.

But the polygraph brought forth something else the police could use. Polygraphists, or polygraph operators, began noticing that people who were deceptive during their interrogations also exhibited certain behavioral signs. The polygraphists theorized that these same behavioral signs could be noticed in interrogations where a polygraph was not used, and set out to see if this was true. One noted polygraphist, John E. Reid, eventually developed an entire system of interrogation based upon asking suspects questions and watching their reactions. Reid could not just identify those who were deceptive in their answers, but his system also elicited information from those suspects that was eventually used against them to obtain confessions. Today, Reid's system is taught to most modern law enforcement agencies and any private sector company willing to pay the price. Reid is gone now, but his system of interrogation lives on.

http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/www/Info/confess.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/TheLaw/inside-interrogation-room-houston-homicide-detective-sgt-brian/story?id=11515464

Louis Edmiston
Interrogation Techniques

Interrogation, or also called interviewing, is the process of asking a person questions about the crime they committed and why they committed the crime. People who ware also involved in in the crime or someone who is associated with the crime may be interrogated. This process is done by police officers, military, and other people in agencies who are involved in law enforcement. The goal of the police officers and military personnel who are asking the questions is to get the most information out of the person who committed the crime. They also try to see if they can get the truth out of the person who committed the crime. That is why they use different techniques to see if they can get the most information. According to Wikipedia.com, with the search of interrogation, the techniques of interrogation are Suggestibility, Deception, Good Cop/ Bad Cop, and Pride and Ego Down. All four of these techniques are used on a regular basis during the interrogation process. The first technique is suggestibility. According to Wikipedia, Interrogators seek to increase a subject's suggestibility. Methods used to increase suggestibility may include moderate sleep deprivation, exposure to constant white noise, and using GABAergic drugs such as sodium amytal or sodium thiopental. There may be some lawful issues in terms of this technique but it varies in different states, some states may claim that it is torture due to the point of sleep deprivation.
The next method used to interrogate someone is Deception. Deception is a method that prevents the subject from openly lying to the interrogator and it is used very often in the United States. This process uses high measurements of psychopathology to get the truth. The next method that is used is Good Cop/ Bad Cop. This method used multiple officers that play different roles that are interrogating the subject.
According to myonlinecriminaljusticedegree.com, "Good cop, bad cop" involves two different police or law enforcement officers who interview a suspect at different times, using very different approaches. The “bad cop” is the first officer to interview a suspect, and projects an image of anger, frustration and unwillingness to compromise. This behavior is intended to shake up a suspect and force a confession through fear or coercion. If the “bad cop” technique does not work, that officer will leave, and a “good cop” will take over the interview. The good cop will provide a more sympathetic approach to the interview, even to the point of empathizing with the feelings of the suspect in regard to the accusations, the other officer, or whatever concerns are expressed. This technique works well, especially for first-time offenders, who may be afraid that if there is no cooperation, the “bad cop” could return and continue the traumatic interview. This process is used to get the most information out of the subject because the subject is so confused and will most likely give the most information. That is why this method is used quite frequently in the interrogation process. These processes and techniques that have been explained help officers all around the world get the most information from subjects.

**Sources **
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrogation
http://career.myonlinecriminaljusticedegree.com/2011/03/good-cop-bad-cop-police-interrogation.html

Josh Quiroga
DUI

Everyone by now should already know that drinking and driving is not a good practice to do. Its very dangerous and you put your life at risk when in the situation. Drunk drivers kill about thousands of people each year and even more are seriously injured. Believe it or not drunk driving is illegal in all states, the reason for this is to protect yourself and the others around you. So even if you are lucky to escape from wreckage due to an incident of drunk driving and you were not hurt, you shall still be charged with crime of a DUI. But even though each state has the drunk driving law it doesn’t mean that they treat them all the same. Each state will probably not call it a “DUI”, they might call it a “DWI” or even an “OUI”, but just because there all called something different it doesn’t mean that they don’t have the same consequence.
In Kansas there law towards drinking under the influence determines if you have an alcohol concentration level or (BAC) over .08 percent, if it happens to be over .08 that person will be considered intoxicated by the law. There is also the ‘Zero Tolerance Law” makes it a criminal DUI offense for drivers who are under the age of twenty one who are driving with an negligible amount of alcohol in their system which ranges from 0.00 to 0.02 percent (BAC). Nearly one third of the all deaths are due to 15-20yr olds who are DUI that causes crashes and 35% fatalities are due to teens reckless driving.
Kansas also has penalties for active DUI drivers, which could be license penalties. Everyone knows that driving is a privilege and not a right, so as an act of punishment the law dose have the right to take that away for either a certain period of time or even forever. Kansas’s authorities also have the right to impound your car after a second or third committed act of DUI, but it depends on the given time, which is usually five years. Impounding the person’s car usually causes much less occupancies of drunk driving in the future. Usually if that doesn’t work there is another system authorities use in order to stop future instances of drunk drivers having use of their vehicles. This device is called a Ignition interlock device or (IID’s) which are instrument devices that are used to find alcohol on the person or operators breath before they can start up their car. Just about all states have this law that allows them to install and require the driver to have this in his or her vehicle. The way this device works is by measuring the driver’s blood alcohol level, if the vehicle detects any sort of alcohol on the driver’s breath what so ever it has commands that allow it to just disable itself to stop any occurrence of drunk driving.

Sources
http://dui.findlaw.com/dui-laws-resources/kansas-dui-laws.html
http://dui.findlaw.com/dui-laws-resources/underage-dui-zero-tolerance-laws.html
http://dui.findlaw.com/dui-cases/car-impounded-after-a-dui.html
http://dui.findlaw.com/dui-cases/ignition-interlock-devices.html
http://traffic.findlaw.com/drivers-license-vehicle-info/license-penalties-faq.html
http://dui.findlaw.com/dui-laws-resources/per-se-dui-laws.html

Driving Under the Influence of Weed
Anthony Stephens

If you are pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving, the police officer is likely to ask you to complete three tasks: Follow a pen with your eyes while the officer moves it back and forth; get out of the car and walk nine steps, heel to toe, turn on one foot and go back; and stand on one leg for 30 seconds.
Score well on all three of these Olympic events, and there’s a very good chance that you are not drunk. This so-called standard field sobriety test has been shown to catch 88 percent of drivers under the influence of alcohol.
But it is nowhere near as good at spotting a stoned driver.
In a 2012 study published in the journal Psychopharmacology, only 30 percent of people under the influence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, failed the field test. And its ability to identify a stoned driver seems to depend heavily on whether the driver is accustomed to being stoned.
A 21-year-old on his first bender and a hardened alcoholic will both wobble on one foot. But the same is not necessarily true of a driver who just smoked his first joint and the stoner who is high five days a week. In another study, 50 percent of the less frequent smokers failed the field test.
As more states legalize medical and recreational marijuana, distinctions like these will grow more and more important. But science’s answers to crucial questions about driving while stoned — how dangerous it is, how to test for impairment, and how the risks compare to driving drunk — have been slow to reach the general public.
“Our goal is to put out the science and have it used for evidence-based drug policy,” said Marilyn A. Huestis, a senior investigator at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “But I think its mishmash.”
A 2007 study found that 12 percent of the drivers randomly stopped on American highways on Friday and Saturday nights had been drinking. (In return for taking part in the study, intoxicated drivers were told they would not be arrested, just taken home.)
Six percent of the drivers tested positive for marijuana — a number that is likely to go up with increased availability. Some experts and officials are concerned that the campaign against drunken driving has not gotten through to marijuana smokers.
“We’ve done phone surveys, and we’re hearing that a lot of people think D.U.I. laws don’t apply to marijuana,” said Glenn Davis, highway safety manager at the Department of Transportation in Colorado, where recreational marijuana use became legal on Jan. 1. “And there’s always somebody who says, ‘I drive better while high.’ ”
Evidence suggests that is not the case. But it also suggests that we may not have as much to fear from stoned driving as from drunken driving. Some researchers say that limited resources are better applied to continuing to reduce drunken driving. Stoned driving, they say, is simply less dangerous.
Still, it is clear that marijuana use causes deficits that affect driving ability, Dr. Huestis said. She noted that several researchers, working independently of one another, have come up with the same estimate: a twofold increase in the risk of an accident if there is any measurable amount of THC in the bloodstream.
The estimate is based on review papers that considered the results of many individual studies. The results were often contradictory — some of the papers showed no increase in risk, or even a decrease — but the twofold estimate is widely accepted.
The estimate is low, however, compared with the dangers of drunken driving. A recent study of federal crash data found that 20-year-old drivers with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent — the legal limit for driving — had an almost 20-fold increase in the risk of a fatal accident compared with sober drivers. For older adults, up to age 34, the increase was ninefold.

Sources
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/health/driving-under-the-influence-of-marijuana.html?_r=0

Interrogation Techniques
Josh Quiroga

Interrogation, what is interrogating? Interrogation is the process of questioning or interviewing an individual to obtain any sort of information you may need to acquire for an investigation. The term is mainly used for question certain subjects who are involved with crime, the usual people who are responsible for taking on these sort of investigations would be police or military. When proceeding with an interrogating it must be done by the book, with saying that one must be aware to not violate any civil rights the subject has, but to proceed with caution when trying to obtain useful information. In order to be a very good investigator one must have and know techniques in order to do ones job. There are many techniques one may have, but a very effective one some usually goes in and do would be to use “Empathy.” Empathy is a very powerful tool you can use to your advantage when you know how to use it right. Like for instance you may want to go in and make sure the subject knows that you have completed a very thorough investigation and that all the facts lead up to him/her and that you wish to know their side of the story too. This particular technique is very effective and may work most of the time because when applying this technique with an individual that has truly committed a crime they psychologically become well aware that everything is not alright and believe that they are about to be caught. But when this technique doesn’t work, it would be a smart move for the detective to change into their move into a more aggressive approach. The next technique is usually really effective, it just depends whether the detective has done their research on the subject, which any good detective should do. The technique is to let the subject pretty must just interrogate themselves. The subject will usually most of the time give you false statements and a very weak story stating that they are innocent. Now as the good detective that you may be, you should have done good research on the individual, so when doing listening during an interrogation its easier to catch the subjects in a lie which is just as good as a confession. Another technique you may want to know that really breaks down any subject would be to put stress upon them. When applying this to an individual subject they usual end up breaking down and confessing their convictions because the amount of stress that is upon them is too much to keep up with and they may come to senses knowing that its over for them. The last technique really sticks it right to the subject where you know it hurts the most, but this all really depends on whether the subject has much to lose. This technique is to find out what important to the subject whether it be his children, wife, job, fear of jail, or anything else you know that is important towards the subjects life. Doing this creates a huge advantage in your favor, but when doing this technique you must once again do research on the individual and find out what is most important to him and what he fears of losing most.

Sources:
http://www.policeone.com/police-products/investigation/tips/1880168-Five-tips-for-successful-criminal-interrogation/

http://www.ask.com/question/what-is-interrogation

David Johnson
Criminal Investigations
Characteristics of Interrogation

The definition of interrogation is to examine by questioning formally or officially. The true purpose of interrogation is to learn the truth. Modern interrogation is a study in human nature. Most of us are more likely to talk to people who appear to be like us. Once we start talking, it's hard for us to stop. Once we start telling the truth, it's harder to start lying. When a police officer tells us our fingerprints were found on the inside doorknob of a home that was robbed two days ago, we get nervous, even if we wore gloves the whole time we were inside. With a few exceptions, the police are allowed to lie to a suspect to get him to confess. The belief is that an innocent person would never confess to a crime he or she didn't commit, even if he or she were confronted with false physical evidence of her involvement.

Unfortunately, that's not always the case but it's a big part of the reason why the police are allowed to employ deceptive tactics in interrogation. An interrogation involves active persuasion. The fact that an interrogation is conducted means that the investigator believes that the suspect has not told the truth during nonaccusatory questioning. An interrogation is conducted in a controlled environment. The persuasive tactics utilized during an interrogation, the environment needs to be private and free from distractions. With the questions being asked, the detective will ask non-threating questions that require memory and questions that require thinking, to bring back memory.

The next step is to turn the questioning to the task hand, the detective will ask basic questions about the crime and compare the suspect’s reactions to the baseline to determine if the suspect is being truthful or deceptive. The majority of interrogations are conducted under circumstances in which the investigator doesn’t have overwhelming evidence that implicates the suspect, the decision to conduct an interrogation is in effort to possible obtain evidence to help with the investigation. From reading the text there is a ton of reasons that show interrogations being beneficial. Personally I see interrogation being very beneficial because if the detective doesn’t have a good lead or don’t have a lot of information on the suspect and what actually happened during the crime. For all interrogations the room is set up with a desk and three chairs. The three chairs are one for the suspect and one seat for the interrogator and one for the second detective and then an observation mirror.

Also interrogators need to remember that almost everyone lies when questioned or pressure but that does not mean they are guilt or involved with the reasoning for interrogation. I think the reason a lot of people get nervous because when asking questions the interrogators used words like honestly and frankly, so it’s pretty much like they are accusing you of the crime already before they even know the true background behind the case so they get the truth out of you unless you are guilt and they already know that. From doing all the research and reading over the text about interrogation, I believe that it is a solid process to finding out the truth and getting the answers they are looking for.

Sources
http://people.howstuffworks.com/police-interrogation1.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Interview-a-Suspect
Criminal Interrogation and Confessions by Fred E. Inbau and John E. Reid

Jacob Nath
Fingerprints

Fingerprints are the friction ridges on the hands (fingers and palms) and feet (toes, soles, and heels). Fingerprints have helped detectives for many years book criminals and help with an investigation. In most cases fingerprints are not visible to the naked eye so detectives have to make them visible. To make them visible the fingerprint must contain a substance already on the finger or something put on the fingertip for it to show up. There are natural sources that can make the fingerprints show up without having to expose them with other things. The two main sources would be perspiration and the residue left by the evaporation of the water content. There are also environmental sources that can reveal a fingerprint. Sources such as: dust, pollen, oils, and grease are just some examples.

When fingerprints are not visible and need assistance, detectives use chemicals, powders, and light sources. The main way for them to do it is powders. They call this process, when using a powder to show fingerprints, dusting. Black powder is used on light-colored backgrounds and white powder is used on dark-colored backgrounds. Two main kinds of chemicals used to show fingerprints are ninhydrin and cyanoacrylate fuming. Using chemicals is not as fast and effective as powder. When using ninhydrin, the fingerprint can take up to 3 days to show up. When using powder it is an instant show and can speed up an investigation rapidly. This is why powders are the most commonly used method for extracting fingerprints.

When booking a criminal, printer ink is used in some cases. This substance makes the fingerprint visible and helps with recording them. On east-shore.com, they explain the process of ten printing. This process provides the ability to scan the card and see if the victim has been through the system already. This process basically allows them to match up fingerprints if there is a match. If the crime scene has fingerprints but there are no possible suspects. They will run the fingerprints through the scanner and see if there is a match. If there is a match, a fingerprint technician must look over the results and make sure there are no errors and that the match is in fact legit. There are some different types of fingerprints that detectives find on scenes. Not so “different” but in odd places. These fingerprints could be on butter, chocolate, adhesive tape. If a print is three-dimensional, it is called a plastic print. These kinds of prints are found way less than latent prints but non-the less they are prints.

Sources
http://www.east-shore.com/cjsys.html
Criminal Interrogation and Confessions by Fred E. Inbau and John E. Reid

Kyle Spencer
Interrogation and Confessions

What is an interrogation? The online dictionary defines interrogation as two things. The first is to examine by questioning formally or officially. The second definition is to transmit a signal for setting off an appropriate response.

When many people think of an interrogation their minds jump to water boarding or means of torture to get answers, as we see from hollywood these ways are depicted in a ton of movies. Because of this many detectives and agencies prefer to call an interrogation and “interview” simply because it is portrayed as a less radical approach.

An interrogation is used mainly by detectives to gain information and a voluntary confession for their cases in court. If the information the detectives are receiving in their interview is not trust worth or said upon the free will of the criminal or associate of the criminal, then their case wont hold up in court. If their confession or information was given to them based upon threats or inducements such as “if you confess, I will make sure you will not go to prison,” in their interrogations the cases can be denied admissibility unless there are certain circumstances offered by the prosecutor. However there are flaws to inducements such as a suspect might confess to a false crime because he or she feels trapped. The rule of law states: An investigator cannot offer the suspect a promise he cannot keep. To get around this many detectives drill statements at their suspects such as “it would be better for you to tell the truth.” “The best thing you can do is confess.” or “Things will only get worse for you if you do not confess.”

There are several tactics used to gain information in interrogations or better said as “interviews” that differ from the use of inducements such as a “good cop, bad cop” kind of thing where one cop pressures the suspect and hits them with “low blows” figuratively and pressures things on the suspect to see if he or she breaks. If that technique is not working then the “good cop” comes in and is trying to smooth things out with the suspect and keep things simple and get inside the suspects head to gain information.

All in all, the detectives have to build a case with the crime scene information, testimonies and if their lucky a confession to settle their case and put the suspect where he or she belongs. These cases can take a long time through excruciating hours or be simply as a nights work. The cases all differ and there are many variables but in America our detectives and task forces get the jobs done with the leading amount of confessions per case and fill the county and state cells with our nations criminals.

Sources
http://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/1629960-Interrogation-procedures-Promises-of-leniency/

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/interrogation

Daniel Bolte
Investigating
Criminal Investigation

In the last decade the job of a criminal investigator has changed because the advancements of technology, such as cell phones, computers and the internet. Today’s investigator needs to be specialized in complex systems, societal differences, and also organization theory. A main subject a criminal investigator needs to know is: How to determine if a crime has been committed. The best way to determine if a criminal act occurred knowing all the criminal laws is key. Also a need to collect all physical evidence of a crime scene. There are certain keys to address a criminal act, When, Where, Who, What, Why and How?

Collecting all the evidence of a crime is very difficult, it’s a tedious job to record every aspect of a crime scene. One of the ways to for detectives is taking the evidence to a examination laboratory. In the article Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation by the Worldwide Law Enforcement Consulting Group Inc. states the opinion of how it is law enforcements job to keep peace within a society, “Criminal investigations are conducted primarily for the prevention of crimes. When crimes occur, Law Enforcement is responsible to the community it serves and must discharge it’s duty by immediately investigating such incidents. Ideally the investigation will cause the violator to appear before a court so as to answer for his/her behavior. Ultimately and probably most important, is that the investigation, detection and apprehension of the criminal, effectually serves to curtail recidivism thereby reducing overall crime.”

The article also explains what an investigator should be keying on finding “What does the investigator attempt to obtain during his/her investigation? The answer is information. What does the investigator hope to develop as a result of obtaining or gathering this information? The answer is evidence. All investigations, regardless of purpose, involve the task of gathering and evaluating information. The investigative process should be viewed in terms of gathering information, rather than attempting to obtain evidence. This is not to say that an investigator should overlook obvious items of evidence or items that can potentially become evidentiary in nature.”

When a case is in full gear, the investigator has a job, that job is to collect hard physical evidence on a perpetrator. This can become very difficult because the evidence necessary to bring the criminal to justice needs to be perfect. The physical evidence needed to be obtained would consist of DNA, blood, fingerprints or any marks from tools used during the crime. The article describes, the precautions “The investigator must be cognizant of the limitations and capabilities of the crime lab and its technicians, as well as accepted protocols, in order to properly process potential evidence. The investigator, while submitting physical things to the crime lab for examination, does not forfeit the responsibility and duty of attaining an expertise in the recognition, collection and preservation of physical evidence. The extent and value of information obtained from physical items examined, greatly depends upon the ability of the investigator at a particular scene to recognize potential evidentiary matter.”

This barely dents the necessary steps to get to the bottom of a crime. There are many details that cannot be over looked. The article I used describes many things an investigator should look for in a crime.

Sources
http://www.worldwidelawenforcement.com/docs/FUNDAMENTALS%20OF%20CRIMINAL%20INVESTIGATIONS.pdf
Criminal Investigation: By James W. Osterburg/ Tichard H. Ward

Breanna Jo Emahizer
Investigations
Mike Thompson
Wiki essay 2
Interviews
The interviewing process is a very important process that needs to be done carefully and throughly. Planting a false story and convicting the wrong person is one of the possible outcomes to the situation if done incorrectly. This can be avoided with the proper approach to interviewing a suspect or a witness. The interviewing process can either be a success or a total fail depending on what questions are asked. Again this deals with how the interviewer or investigator approaches the subject of the crime and what he or she had seen. The game plan and getting the truth should be the main focus as soon as the interviewer walks into the room. They should have a game plan that accords to the situation and they should definitely not plant information and create a false memory in the witness or a neutral party due to fear of a false accusation or false conviction. The interview should also be in a private or more distanced place from the distractions going on at a scene or in a public place. It’s a good tool to know the method that’s been used for generations, and the reason it’s been used is simple. It works. This method of both interviewing and investigation is known as the Reid Technique. As defined by Wikipedia “The Reid technique is a method of questioning subjects to try to assess their credibility and to extract confessions of guilt from a suspect.” This is the technique that has and will more than likely still be taught in academies and in training for the purpose of obtaining a true confession as easily and swiftly as possible. Interviews can sometimes be a very sensitive and or delicate situation. The interviewer needs to be aware of that when gaging what questions to ask to get the true happenings instead of a false memory.

False memories, a term that has come up several times in the first paragraph, and for a very, very good reason. This is an incredibly important ideology that needs to be remembered. Hopefully it even remains lurking in the back of every investigator and interviewer’s minds as they deal with every investigation or case that arises. Knowing exactly what to do and how to approach the interview process will help it go smoothly, and quickly. The investigators learn everything they need to know in both being on the case or the class room. It’s a very useful technique, reading people’s expressions, and body language will help either name them as a suspect or clearly not involved. Expressions that people make without knowing, can tell a lot about the person or the person’s situation. It can also be a way to let the investigators know if he or she is lying or if he or she is telling the absolute truth. Micro expressions are what say the most about someone especially in a “high pressure situation, or just a relaxed interview. This will let investigators and or interviewers catch microscopic signals that many people can overlook. However to the right person, who is paying attention it can mean something incriminating or not. That is for the investigator to decide.
Works Cited:
Information: http://www.reid.com/services/r_integrity.html
Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reid_technique
Google images for image

Cordae Mckelvy
Interrogation

A criminal investigation is where you go through a series of steps and methods in hope of finding a criminal. The first thing you would want to do is gather information. Make sure the information you gather is relevant and factual. False information can lead you in the wrong direction and slow down the case. By the end of the case you will know the truth. To avoid wasting time, only receive information from the right reliable sources.

During an investigation there will be interviews and interrogations held. Understand that an interview is not the same as an interrogation. An interview is just a regular conversation held in public with someone with the intent to solely receive information. The purpose of an interrogation is to receive a confession. During an interrogation the conversation is more accusatory and private. There is an order in which this should be done for the most effective time consuming outcome. Interviews should always come before an interrogation. This is because; when going into an interrogation you want to be sure that you know everything you need to know before attacking someone and looking for a confession.

Understand that not all confessions are good confessions. You are not only looking for a confession, you are also looking for the truth. It is possible for someone to give a false confession due to an interrogation held. Sometimes interrogators can have such good evidence and findings on why someone is to blame for a crime, that the person being interrogated starts to believe that they are the criminal and give a false confession. When interrogating suspects the one who are less likely to be the criminal should be interrogated first. Doing this will rule out possible suspects, making it easier to find the criminal.

There is more to a confession than asking questions and making accusations. To get a confession takes more than just verbal communication. Like I mentioned before, you hold interrogations in a private environment. This space not only needs to be free from people but also free from any sort of distractions. There shouldn’t be any loose objects for the suspect to fumble with, no loud distracting colors, or bright lights. The suspect and interrogator should sit right across from each other with nothing in between them and on the same eye level. Suspects that are not in custody sit right by the door. Suspects that are in custody sit right next to an observation mirror.

It is the job of the interrogator to be able to understand and interpret all forms of communication. Body language is just as important as what the suspect is saying. “They also look for verbal cues like tripping up your story, sounding anxious when you talk. What they do is they ask a series of questions that trigger anxiety, and then when you show anxiety, that's confirmation that you're probably lying.”-Reid. Signs of anxiety consist of not being able to be still. The suspect may shake their legs, pick imaginary things off of their clothing or fold their arms. As you can see investigation is much more than probably expected. To become an investigator takes a lot of training.

Sources

Inbau, Fred E, et al. Criminal Interrogation and Confessions. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1986. Print
n.p Beyond good Cop/Bad cop: A look at real-life Interrogations. NPR December 5, 2013. Web. 3 March, 2014.

Forensic & Investigative Hypnosis
By KaiLee Homburg

For many investigations it may be difficult to find a witness to support evidence or next to impossible for detectives to find a witness who can recount important details to incriminate a suspect. In such circumstances it may be necessary, once a witness has been found, to help increase the exactitude of the witness’s testimony in order to complete a successful investigation. However, the question of how to acquire specific facts from a person’s memory can arise. A plausible solution to this dilemma might be the use of forensic and investigative hypnosis.

The idea of using hypnosis to solve crimes can sound preposterous since most people think stereotypically and imagine a magician tricking a volunteer into acting foolishly for an audience. On the contrary, the forensic type of hypnosis is used to dial into a person’s memories and heighten them for investigative procedure, not for the purpose of silly entertainment. This does not mean that a person’s memories are altered, rather they are accessed in a more successful and meticulous manner than normal everyday recollection. When forensic hypnosis is performed correctly, the subject is able to access their memories as if they were reliving the experience and is able recite any needed information to the investigator present.

Regardless of hypnosis’ poor reputation, it has been found useful in several studies. In 2009, Wagstaff found forensic hypnosis increases recall through relaxation and eye-closure, which promotes focus and decreases distractions (Traditional). Even if one still has skeptical views about this type of fact-finding practice, yet another study shows a hypnosis interview and a cognitive interview provide up to 30% more accurate information than that of a standard police interview (Traditional). These studies can provide a better background of what actual forensic hypnosis is and supports that it has tangible benefits for investigations.

Forensic hypnosis has requirements, even if it has not been widely accepted. Just like a doctor is mandated to be certified before practicing and treating patients, one must also have the correct qualifications before retrieving memories from a witness through hypnosis. In order to conduct an investigative hypnosis session, the interviewer is required to have adequate training and education in the field and should decide whether the circumstances truly demand the session. A forensic hypnotist should also be prepared to be called as an expert witness to evaluate an interview lead by a different forensic hypnotist to validate evidence in court (Forensic). The necessary credentials that can be required to accompany a hypnotist for use by law enforcement, not only involve training and education but may further include certification as a forensic psychologist or psychiatrist to obtain a more professional assessment (Forensic).

Accurate information is always needed to help detectives solve a case, especially when leads are in short supply and there are few witnesses to provide statements. In cases like this, standard interviews may not be enough to provide sufficient clues as to the nature of the crime or features of a suspect. However, if a witness’s memory can be enhanced or focused to pinpoint necessary details in an investigation, then the forensic hypnotic tactic should be given a chance to gain an edge on the case. No matter the debate over the legitimacy of forensic and investigative hypnosis, it has still proven useful in the assistance of crime solving in several studies. When an investigator can throw out the stereotype associated with hypnosis, and decide if the situation calls for a hypnotic interview, then an experienced practitioner can surely bring new details from the witness to be used in the investigation.

Arielle Gil-Sanz

Law enforcement is a sophisticated business, and not quite as filled with the bumbling idiots that the media portray it to be. As in any line of work, there are the usual collection of misfits and those who are merely on the job for the paycheck. Law enforcement techniques have had to evolve over the years, and tried and true systems have evolved with everything the police do. One of the basic problems the police have always had is how to get criminals to confess to the crimes they have committed. Since crimes are usually committed in secret, or with some degree of stealth involved, they can be hard to solve. Contrary to common belief, fingerprints and other types of physical evidence are hard to come by at crime scenes. And witnesses are either not around when the police need them, or have only the bare minimum of information to provide. It's not as if the police deliberately ignore information when it's available; it's just not usually there in the first place. So the police are left with the one piece of evidence that juries love to hear: the confession.Eliciting confessions from unwilling suspects in the old days used primitive methods. Torture was an approved of practice in many locations, until the supreme court intervened with decisions such as Brown vs. Mississippi, and Chambers vs, Florida. After that, torturing suspects was strictly a no-no. So the police had to find new and interesting ways to make people confess. Polygraphs were new on the scene, and police quickly became enchanted with the idea that they could tell if someone was lying through the use of machines. "Truth serums" and hypnosis had been tried and found lacking. While polygraphs could (and still do) adequately predict when a suspect is being deceptive, the courts view the machines with skepticism. To this day, even failing a polygraph test means virtually nothing in court. In fact, most states do not allow polygraph results to be admitted into evidence. Polygraphs are still used by police departments as investigative tools. Nevertheless, the cost of training personnel in their use and buying the equipment is sometimes prohibitive, particularly for smaller agencies.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/hypnosis/1.html
http://www.forensiceducation.org/
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Ryan Kosolofski
Wiretapping

Wiretapping is a form of accessing the most common form of a person communicating with another of long distances; telephones. Simply put, wiretapping is connecting some form a of listening device to the circuit within a phones that carries information between phones. This act of gathering information has been around since as early as the 1890’s, at least in US law enforcement (which will be the focus).

So what are the methods of wiretapping? Well with a home phone there are 3 main ways. A hardwire tap can be accessed from a nearby telephone pole or a bug can be planted directly into the wall socket, the handset, or anywhere along the phone line where afterwards a nearby operative with the right equipment can listen in on the bug. The other way is easy to spot as it is just a simple recording device attached to the phone line. The bugging of a person’s phone is actually the most common way as it allows the operatives to be mobile if they need to be while most other ways require a stationary listener and thus they increase their own suspicion. As well, a bug is the most common way to wiretap a person’s mobile phones as all it needs is a simple added chip to the circuit board.

So how about the history of wiretapping? Well that is one long story as there has been around for nearly a hundred and twenty years. Between now and then a lot has happened including advances in the technology needed to the point of where it is today. So instead let’s look over the major points in wiretapping history, at least the legality side. Officially wiretapping wasn’t constitutional until 1928 where a Supreme Court decision concluded that wiretapping did not come under the constitutional protection of the fourth amendment. Of course later, in the 1934 Federal Communications Act it was once again made unlawful where it was stated that “…[No] person not being authorized by the sender shall intercept any communication and divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such intercepted communication to any person…” A loop hole was found around this where divulgence meant disclosure to people outside the government. If this condition had not been met than wiretapping didn’t officially happen. This has since been the view point of the government on wiretapping and in fact the article part in the Federal Communications Act that made it unlawful was partially abandoned in 1968 for good. Finally in 1986, the U.S. government enacted the Electronic Communication Privacy Act which regulated wiretapping as well as e-mail hacking and accessing pagers.

Now that is a brief history of wiretapping, but how does the police acquire the ability to wiretap? It seems rather simple for the police to get the ability to wiretap as all they have to do is go to the right person depending on the state of the case and obtain an order authorizing the interception of a wire or oral communication. In Federal cases the attorney general is the person that can issue an order while in a state case the principal prosecuting officer of the state is the one who can order a wiretapping. The application must be in writing and sworn before being submitted to the appropriate person. Even then though it is still on the judge’s discretion whether or not they will allow for the wiretapping to happen. The order can remain at a max of thirty days or shorter if the goal is achieved before that. Now though it seems wiretapping has become warrantless due to the current government. Does that mean an end of freedom for everyone?

Doubtful but to each their own.

Wiretapping isn’t only for spies in movies and in real life but those cops that keep cities safe as well as the government can listen in on anyone if they think it is needed. Don’t dismantled your phone over it though because you are probably not important enough to them.

Sources:
Criminal Investigations, A Method for Reconstructing the Past
http://people.howstuffworks.com/wiretapping3.htm
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2022653,00.html

Joshua Jones
What are the Specialized investigators and what they do
The Specialized Investigations Division investigates large scale drug, prostitution and gambling operations, as well as gang and terrorism activity. Street drug sale investigations are conducted by the Crime Suppression Units of each Precinct. The Specialized Investigations Division uses specially trained drug detector canine units to search for drugs.
What Investigators usaully investigate:
Crime Stoppers
Narcotics
Gambling and Prostitution
Gangs
Counter-Terrorism
Seizure and Equipment
r-BOSTON-BOMBING-INVESTIGATION-large570.jpg?6
Who's at the Scene?
Police officers are typically the first to arrive at a crime scene. They arrest the perpetrator is he's still there and call for an ambulance if necessary. They are responsible for securing the scene so no evidence is destroyed.
The CSI unit documents the crime scene in detail and collects any physical evidence.
The district attorney is often present to help determine if the investigators require any search warrants to proceed and obtain those warrants from a judge.
The medical examiner (if a homicide) may or may not be present to determine a preliminary cause of death.
Specialists (entomologists, forensic scientists, forensic psychologists) may be called in if the evidence requires expert analysis.
Detectives interview witnesses and consult with the CSI unit. They investigate the crime by following leads provided by witnesses and physical evidence.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/csi.htm
http://content.met.police.uk/Article/What-is-the-investigation-process/1400006933335/1400006933335

Chase Pechin
The FBI Investigating Gangs
The FBI's main goal is to protect and defend the United States, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners.

Some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with about 1.4 million members are criminally active in the U.S. today. Many are sophisticated and well organized; all use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal money-making activities, which include robbery, drug and gun trafficking, fraud, extortion, and prostitution rings. In 2011, gangs were responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crimes in most jurisdictions, and up to 90 percent in others. Investigators today are redoubling their efforts to disrupt and dismantle gangs through intelligence-driven investigations and new initiatives and partnerships.
Gangs continue to commit criminal activity, recruit new members in urban, suburban, and rural regions across the United States, and develop criminal associations that expand their influence over criminal enterprises, particularly street-level drug sales. The most notable trends for 2011 have been the overall increase in gang membership, and the expansion of criminal street gangs’ control of street-level drug sales and collaboration with rival gangs and other criminal organizations.
The FBI works on all sorts of gangs. For example street gangs, prison gangs, prostitution, drugs, neighborhood gangs. All these types of gangs are different. But what the FBI has found in common with all these gangs is that they all involve some sort of drug. The FBI takes gangs seriously because a lot of these drugs get smuggled into the United States somehow. The FBI will always be cracking down on gangs.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/what_we_investigate
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/what-does-the-fbi-investigate-41477/

Marcus Tibbles
Special Investigations by Agency

Smuggling things into or out of places is nothing new. As far back as things have been illegal, banned, or otherwise not wanted there have been smugglers. Obviously we can’t have these illegal things on our streets, so we have ICE. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an agency under the Department of Homeland Security that keeps the contraband out of our country. Unlike the ATF who like to straight up give criminals weapons, ICE prefers to take illegal weapons away from bad people. ICE does drug investigations on incoming drugs. They look into what ways the drugs are coming in; either through boats, over land vehicle, private plane, or the ever classy underground tunnel. In addition to drugs, ICE will investigate Human Trafficking and Smuggling businesses. Whether it’s bringing in illegal aliens, or sex trafficking, ICE is there to investigate. ICE will even investigate stolen artifacts either being brought into the country or are already in the country.
The DEA is for investigating drug crimes that are happening inside the borders. They investigate the drug trade on local and interstate levels. The DEA seeks to find all the drugs and end their maker’s illegal businesses. The DEA FAST team is an international team that helps other countries investigate their own illegal drug trade. The FAST team has seen success in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, also known as the ATF specializes in investigations of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives. The ATF will investigate firearms manufacturers to ensure that they are keeping with current firearms regulations. They will also investigate gun shops to ensure that they are following current selling regulations, ensuring that there are no guns missing or that the owners are not selling to people they shouldn’t be. They also do arson investigations, with specialized arson investigators who go through a two year training course. As well as using fire dogs that can smell certain substances.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation better known as the FBI deals with all the other crap that needs investigating. The FBI will investigate terrorist attacks such as 9/11 or the mailed anthrax in 2001. They even investigated domestic terrorists like the Unabomber, or the Beltway Snipers who terrorized Washington D.C. Cybercrimes are investigated by the FBI. Crimes like identity theft, fraud, and cyber intrusions are all cybercrimes. Sextortion is also a cybercrime, one such investigation found a 31 year old man using Facebook to extort sexual photos of underage girls. The FBI will investigate corruption in public officials. The FBI considers these investigations important because of the scale and effects of corruption on the community.
The FBI is also into investigating organized crime. Whether it’s the Italian mob, Russian gangsters who came over after the fall of the Soviet Union, or African schemes involving fraud or drug trafficking. These investigations are important because organized crime can affect labor unions, monopolize financial institutions, and bring drugs to a community. White collar crimes are also investigated. Bankruptcy fraud, insurance fraud, health care fraud, and financial fraud are all white collar crimes.
Sources:
Image found on google images
http://www.ice.gov/index.htm
http://www.atf.gov/
http://www.fbi.gov/
http://www.justice.gov/dea/index.shtml

Eddie Romero
Driving Under The Influence

Driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated is a life threatening and dangerous crime. Its not only dangerous for the driver, but for the passengers, pedestrians and other drivers as well. Driving under the influence exhibits many characteristics of how the person is operating his or her vehicle. One driver may be speeding, the other may be driving too slow. One driver may be swerving from lane to lane while another may be driving on the sidewalk. In any case, an officer has complete and utter the right to pull the driver over and preform a sobriety test.

The driver also has the right to decline the test. If declined, the officer may read the driver his or her miranda rights and arrest them. Once arrested and booked, the driver will get a blood alcohol test done. Either way, they will find out if you are under the influence or not. If the driver does not decline, the officer will preform a field sobriety test. The field sobriety test includes breathing into a breathalyzer, asking the driver to walk a straight line, checking for dilation of the pupils, ask the driver to say the ABC's and etc. If the driver fails, then he or she is arrested and charged with a DUI and is taken into custody.

Drivers may be pulled over if an anonymous tip calls in for suspicious driving. If the driver is under the influence, they may be charged with two separate crimes depending on the state it was committed in. They could be charged with Driving While Intoxicated and violating the states Per Se laws, which mean having a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or higher.If a driver is pulled over for a broken taillight or expired tag, then the officer has no right to start a DUI investigation without any probable cause. Probable cause may include the scent of alcohol, blood shot eyes, open containers, slurred speech, and etc.

There are 4 different types of evidence that the prosecution uses while prosecuting those arrested. The evidence used include physical signs and symptoms, field sobriety test, chemical test and driving pattern. If the prosecutor can not provide one or any of these different types of evidence, then the defense may use it to the defendants advantage and have the case thrown out. The prosecution has to convince a jury 100% of the defendants guilt, if there is any doubt, then the jury must find the defendant not guilty.

Every state has adopted 21 as the legal drinking age and have also allowed to pass ALR laws which allow officers to take the license of those who fail or refuse a sobriety test. Every state also has a zero tolerance law that prohibits anyone under the age of 21 to have any alcohol in their system whatsoever. The consequences for drinking while driving or drinking under age are surprisingly harsh. In some states, even first offenders may be facing license suspension and jail time. Habitual Violator laws provide felony penalties for three DUI convictions. The driver may lose his or her right to drive, own a weapon or even vote.

If you are convicted of a DUI or DWI, the state will now require you to complete a DUI school or assessment program. Its much more active then just sitting in class for hours on end and passing a written exam. Most recently the driver must take counseling in order to determine the extent of his drinking problem, and proper measures will be taken to figure out what is needed to get his or her license reinstated. In conclusion, drinking and driving wont be worth it in the end. If there is an absolute need to drink, then call a cab. Save your life and the lives of everyone who comes in contact with you. Don't drink and drive.

Sources:
http://www.bayareaduidefense.com/dui_investigation/
http://www.totaldui.com/breathalyzers/field-sobriety-tests/default.aspx

Gunnar Hays
Rape Investigation

Of all the specialty types of investigations in police work, one of the most demanded and fastest growing fields is rape and sex crime investigation. Reports of rape and other sex related crimes have grown steadily since 2005, and it is an import part as an investigator to handle theses crimes efficiently.

When rape is reported there are two crucial elements of the investigation authorities must carry out. First off, police must make sure that the victim is taken to receive proper medical attention to help them recover and to also establish that there is physical evidence of the crime. The second thing is the protection of the crime scene and other key evidence. There may be just one or multiple crime scenes but whether it’s a vehicle, a bedroom, or any other area police must secure the crime scene and the evidence there. It’s also important to get evidence from not only the victim, but from the suspect once he is arrested, for example the suspects clothes. Also once a crime scene is taken care of the police can start investigating the area around the crime scene looking for eyewitnesses or other evidence of the crime.

Another key aspect of rape investigation is interviews, specifically the victim. Generally if the victim is in well enough physical condition the first officer on the scene will conduct a preliminary interview. These interviews are not long and detailed but simply try to get basic and necessary information like who did the crime or a description of them, where the crime took place, events that lead up to the crime, information about weapons or vehicles used, and any other specific information the victim volunteers. It is not crucial at this point to get all the detailed evidence especially because the victim might be too traumatized but the preliminary interview is where investigators can start to get a hold on the case.

law+%26+order+SVI+season+12+mariska+hargitay+chris+meloni+s+key+art.jpg

The next important step is follow up interviews. Once the victim has begun to heal and is more capable it’s important to start getting more specific information. Doing several interviews might cause trauma so it is important for an investigator to get the information he needs in fewer interviews. Many times it is necessary for investigators to get guidance from rape counselors so they know how to handle the situation. When conducting these interviews it is important to be gentle but also straight forward and to the point so information can be found. Not only do investigators interview the victim, they also interview witnesses who could provide information about either the crime or events leading up to the crime. Sometimes witnesses may be biased or give conflicting statements, investigators must not lead into responses and handle these interviews carefully.

The most crucial part of these sex crime investigations is getting physical evidence. Evidence can be found at the crime scene, near the crime scene, or one the people involved. The goal of this evidence is to prove the victim and suspect were together, sexual relations took place, force was used, and what role the people played. With modern techniques and technology it’s as important as ever to get even the simplest forms of evidence because even that can be crucial. Common evidence to obtain can be more material like clothing, bed sheets, or other objects at the crime scene. Other evidence necessary to gather includes physical evidence of the victim or suspect including head hairs, pubic hairs, oral swabbings, mucus samples, fingernail scrapings, vaginal swabbings, penile swabbings, blood, semen, and physical marks on the people involved. Evidence like this is key in determining what really happened so it’s important these various types of evidence are collected and handled properly.

Rape and other sex crimes are very real and serious problems faced every day by hundreds of people. It is important for investigators to do their job in a professional and unbiased manor to make sure the facts come forward and justice is served.

Sources:
Criminal Investigations, A Method for Reconstructing the Past
http://www.crisisinterventioncenter.org/

Casey Temmel
Suicide Investigation

Policemen the all around the world are finding themselves dealing with more suicidal individuals. During time of suicides, a lot of the time is used to investigate successful and non-successful ones.

When working on a suicide case there are some qualifications you have to determine first. If it is a homicide, an accidental suicide, or an intentional suicide. Thorough investigating will determine this later in the investigation.

Accidental suicides can consist of wrist cutting, drowning, and misuse of firearms. Wrist cutting is practiced more by teenagers than anybody else. The main goal teens look for is self-mutilation. But however, all of the bleeding that leads to it may lead to the suicide. We usually don’t think about it, but drowning is a huge one also. The water will deprive the brain from getting oxygen that it needs to operate. The body’s natural reaction for coming up for air is a reflex that will sometimes not work. When death occurs in drowning the level of oxygen to the brain becomes too low to sustain to the brain cells. Also the misuse of firearms will get the best of people. The number one way is not knowing how to operate it, by shooting oneself unintentionally.

Intentional suicides are more common around the U.S. When a person "jumps" to commit suicide will be at a high altitude. For example: from a window, balcony, roof, high building, or a type of bridge. Jumping to commit suicide is the least common way to die, (less than 2%) of all reported cases. Overdosing is another way one can cause suicide. The way a person overdoses is taking larger quantities than needed. "Feeling good" is a reason why someone will do it, but does not always work out that way.

As we all know, suicide is not the best way to go out. And law enforcement officers all over the world are trying to put stops to it. A few ways to prevent it is having a close relationship with people and family members in general. Being alone and feeling that way gives people too much time to think about things and see the worst in life. Being positive on everything will be better for humans and fellow law officers.

Sources: www.wikipedia.com
(needs source)

Alex Harris
Burglary

In a crime where you can lose either a small amount of money, a copious amount of money, or even where it can deny a family of their most valued assets, burglary is a difficult crime to investigate. Burglary is a crime that affects many levels of society all around the world.

Even though this crime is generally categorized as a “property crime,” it directly impacts the victims who are recurrently feeling violated by the offense. Over a 20-year period it’s estimated that more than 70 percent of all households will be burglarized at least once, and about half of those urban residents will be offended at least two or more times. The likelihood of being a household that experiences the crime is higher in central city homes, in the homes that have younger people heading them, in a home where a black person is the head of the household and in a home where there is six or more people living there. If you think about it, those would seem to be the most vulnerable homes in the criminal’s eyes.

According to the book, Criminal Investigation: A Method for Reconstructing the Past, burglary was reported for 22.7 percent of the number of property crimes in the year 2008. The success rate of catching a burglar depends highly on the actions of the first officer on the scene. Others such as the crime scene technicians and the crime lab fingerprint analysts, and the strict determination of the investigator in using interviewing skills, the crime pattern analysis and the available records to identify a suspect. So basically the chance of the crime being solved is in the hands of the officers and the resources they have and their ability to uncover clues. The crime is harder or easier to investigate depending on the burglar’s skills or lack of skill and expertise. Often the crime involves forced entry accounting for 61 percent of burglaries, and more than 32 percent are entries without force (unlawful entries) the lasting 6.4 percent were forcible entry attempts. During the summer months this crime rate raises as well.

As I said earlier, burglaries affect the victim in various ways. Either tons of money, a little money, or a families valuable objects that has little financial value. Understanding the type of burglary, traits of the crime, the area or neighborhood of where the crime has taken place will help in explaining and describing the suspect which in turn will help catch him or her. For example, if a middle-class or poor residence is burglarized, you can suspect a younger group to have committed the crime, the same age group can be assumed if there’s a broken window for entrance. Many types of criminals can be determined by entrance or what tools they use for entrance, what they take, how they take it (for example: rummaging through a dresser drawer then taking those contents would lead to an experienced burglar) which neighborhood they steal from, or which victims they choose to concentrate on.

When trying to solve a burglary the victim should be asked to think over the past few weeks, if they noticed anything unusual or any individual who stood out to them. Among those few questions, they could also be asked if there’s a unique timing of the burglary? If there’s any prior attempts or successful burglaries? Who knew about the property and location? Is the property unique in a way there might be art pieces of something expensive to the house? Have there been any similar burglaries in the area? Did any publicity appear in local newspapers, or on Facebook or any type of media sources?

Burglaries are going to happen. Being observant and cautious can help you avoid being a victim of the crime.

Sources:
Criminal Investigation: A Method for Reconstructing the Past
https://www.google.com/search?q=burglary

Zach Sheldon
Specialized Investigations Wiki- Identity Theft

Due to the ever increasing amount of internet usage, you know there will be a downfall to the easily accessable web. Identity theft is a common and serious problem, when a person can obtain your information through multiple ways. If they get a hold of your personal information, like date of birth, social security, address information, credit card information, ect. They could use that to get into your bank accounts or into ATM’s and use your money for their own personal gain. The damages causes by identity theft is very harsh, ruining your reputation, destroying your credit scores affecting your future purchases, running up credit cards, and depleting your bank accounts until there is nothing left.

Finding and stopping your identity thief is difficult, and can be a time consuming thing. Forcing you to deal with the pain and suffering for many years. There are many ways they obtain your information, but the two most common types are Phishing and Spoofing. Phishing is a method where they try to get your information straight from you. They will email you and make situations up, where you need to immediately respond with information or else bad things can happen to you.

They can be pretty crafty, as the new movie The Identity Thief that just came out will show you. They can sound very legit, making you very comfortable so you will easily hand over information. They can also call you, which would be harder to figure out if it’s fake because talking to people can make you feel more comfortable, which was the method use in that movie to get the information. Another common type of identity theft is spoofing, where they call on behalf of another organization, tricking you into thinking your cooperating with a serious business trying to help you.

Agencies have been fighting off identity theft for a long time now, and have taken many precautions to stopping it from happening. While most of it can be stopped by asking the person trying to get your information for proof they are real or by meeting face to face with so called business people, it sometimes is very hard to decipher. The government has made harsh penalties to people who try to steal identities, making it a federal crime to produce, steal, or use any information illegally obtained or made. Once they figure out the perpetrator, they can usually find proof of their crimes fairly easy. Since most criminals purchase items with the stolen money, they tend to keep those items.

Matching receipts or video records of that person buying those things with the stolen information can lead to a quick arrest, but finding that person in the first place can be a source of difficulty. By destroying your documents and receipts, you can quickly slow down or prevent identity theft. Shredding them is a fast and easy way with a paper shredder, or getting mail and delivering mail straight to the post office can keep people from taking it from your mailboxes. The problems with identity theft have become more common than ever with the internet being so popular, and people will use the methods talked about above to get your information, whether its phishing or spoofing, emailing you, calling you or straight up trying to get it by trickery, criminals will do anything to get your information. So destroy important documents instead of throwing them away, and double check those unrealistic emails and phone messages, they could be a trick to get your information.

Sources
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0272-how-keep-your-personal-information-secure
Criminal Investigation: A method for Reconstructing the Past

Jaeger Thompson
Specialized Investigations-Arson

Arson is a crime that has been on the rise since 2006. The reason for this being that the housing market has been sinking since said year. Although the government says that the housing market is steadily improving it’s still far from booming. Many people that have never committed a crime in their lives have resorted to committing arson for the insurance benefits. This is not a suggested practice as the risks far outweigh the rewards.

Arson is a felony that is punishable by imprisonment or death. The punishment for this crime depends on the varying degrees that are used. First degree arson is when arson is used as a method to commit homicide and second degree which is where the fire results in significant property damage. The risks of being caught using arson to defraud the government don’t outweigh the many risks that a person undertakes when trying to commit this crime.

There are several reasons why arsonists would set a fire. These include: insurance fraud, starting the fire as a joke, using the fire as a means to point out a fire hazard, and sexual gratification. These reasons are only a few of the many different reasons that arson occurs. Arson is not a joking matter and as stated above can result in severe consequences.

There are different ways to investigate if arson is what occurred. Insurance fraud the investigators will expect to find the remains of stock such as: metal clasps, zippers, fastenings, and other metal traces. If none of these are found it suggests that the building may have been empty and someone could be attempting insurance fraud. In a case of sexual gratification the arsonist will usually remain at the fire long enough or be a spectator long enough to achieve their sexual release. In an example at one fire the police had to continually tell a bystander to move back or they would have to arrest him. He later confessed to starting said fire.

Investigating arson starts with interviewing any surrounding witnesses to the fire such as the person who called the fire department or anyone who arrived there before them. Once the fire has been contained and the temperature drops it makes the building safe for them to investigate. The investigation involves beginning at the bottom of the building because fire moves upwards. Some other key points that investigators look for in an arson investigation to find where the fire started include: lingering heat, the depth of the charring, flaking of building materials like cement or plaster, distorted plastic, metal and glass resulting from long burning, and structural damage.

The next step after they have determined the point where the fire started is determining the cause of the fire. Usually most arsonists will use an accelerant such as petrol or kerosene and something to start the flames with such as a lighter or matches. The starter could be complicated like a timed device or as simple as a use cigarette. A lot of the time the starter or the accelerant survives the fire. Also the investigators can smell any lingering fumes from the accelerants and they might be able to see where the liquid pooling marks or trails along the floorboards. If none of this is at the burn sight the investigators use hydrocarbon detectors to see if there is anything that was used to speed up the fire. If they find anything they send it to a lab for analysis.

Arson is a crime that isn’t to be taken lightly. The punishment for committing this particular crime can be severe. Even with the housing market flailing it’s not worth the risk. A person or family can always find a new place to live. Home is with loved ones. Don’t risk going to prison and destroying a family for money. Money is material and can always be replaced. The love and trust of a family, once it’s shattered can never be the same.

Sources: Criminal Interrogation and Confessions Fifth Edition
library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00206/mt_arson.html
http://www.kake.com/findit/wednesdayheadlines/40760802.htm

Kathy Brooks
Specialized Investigations

According to our text specialized investigations include homicides, auto theft, burglary, vice crimes and gang related crimes. Specialization can be based on a categorization of offenses into crimes against the person and crimes against property.

Specialized units are usually located at a central headquarters, and in large towns and cities there are individual units that handle each crime: a homicide unit, a vice unit, etc. In small towns like Colby, we have one detective that handles all those types of cases. Granted in Colby most of the crime is drug or alcohol related, in February 2013 there was a homicide. Not only were our officers not allowed to investigate the case because the victim was a member of our local EMS, but our detective does not have the experience to investigate a case such as this. Investigators were brought in from the Kansas Bureau of Investigations to handle the case.

Even though the units in large cities like New Orleans, Nashville and San Bernardino County, California have the same basic units; homicide, vice, drug, auto theft and gang, their main focuses differ. According to the website for the Specialized Investigations Unit in Nashville, TN, their focus is mainly on large scale drug, prostitution and gambling operations along with gang and terrorist activity. Each precinct has a Crime Suppression Unit that deals with all street drug sales. They also include Crime Stoppers and a Counter-Terrorism Unit in their Specialized Investigations Unit.

While in New Orleans, LA the Specialized Investigations Division focuses on identifying repeat violent offenders and trying to connect these offenders to violent crimes and illegal narcotic activities. The Specialized Investigations Division is made up of two parts: the Narcotics Division which includes Vice Crimes and Asset Forfeiture; and the Intelligence Section that includes the Intel Subversive unit, Code 6, Federal MOU and VCAT (Violent Criminal Abatement Team).

In San Bernardino County, California the county Sheriff’s office has the Specialized Investigations Division. Its services are offered to all the law enforcement agencies in the county. Their main focuses include Homicide, Crimes Against Children and Hi Tech Crimes, those that involve computers and such. In 2008 they added a Cold Case Unit to the Homicide Division, since it began the have been 25 cold case murders solved.

So as you can tell police departments in different areas of the country have very different areas of crimes that they focus on and use their investigative departments for.

http://www.nashville.gov/Police-Department
http://www.nola.gov
http://www.sbcounty.gov/sheriff/specialized_division

Anthony Mckinley

When family or friends first learn that a loved one is deceased there is a feeling of disbelief and shock. When those same family and friends learned the deceased has committed suicide, bewilderment is also added to those emotions. When the family or friends fail to agree with the labeled cause of death as suicide, they conduct their own inquiries. They contact all prospective agencies involved, police, coroner or medical examiner, treating physicians, pathologists, EMT's etc.. When a family still feels the facts do not add up to suicide, it is common for an uninvolved third party to be contacted. The uninvolved third party is most often an experienced private investigator. Here are the 3 stages of Death Investigation.

The 3 stages of a Death Investigation are Examination, Correlation, and Interpretation. All are important, each stage needs the input of all involved in that stage of the investigation and each may need specialized input. In addition, each stage may require a bit of different investigators for it to be accomplished in the best interest of the investigation. Each of the 3 stages must be included in every investigation.

The Examination phase includes examination of the death and what may have led up to the death. Also included in this stage is examination of the scene with supportive photos of the body. Photos that document the scene well allow investigators to refer back to them and also as a reminder for forgotten and potentially missed details. The body is examined for the investigation. External examination and documentation is always done. Internal examination (autopsy) may also be needed, sometimes it will not give up any real information. Weighing all of the possible out comes, as we say in the trade, “cutting”, if the internal examination is deemed to offer nothing to the investigation it is not done. Also included in the investigation phase is the examination of the results of ancillary tests. Those tests may include toxicology testing, x-rays, other blood testing among the array.

During the Correlation phase information collected by all of the agencies involved in the investigation is brought together. The pieces of information collected are compared and contrasted. We consider what hangs together and what argues against each of the possibilities in our differential list of possibilities. What bolsters what? What lessens the possibilities? We work together to build a case and fit as much as possible together like a jigsaw puzzle.

The last stage of the investigation involves Interpretation. Here we develop not only the Cause and Manner of Death, but also the case, the story, that supports the conclusions we finally arrive at. The Manner is a multiple choice question. The Manner is either natural or not and the “not” category is further broken into homicide, suicide, accident, or undetermined. Undetermined is not used a lot, but sometimes you can’t answer the question. The Cause of Death is an open-ended question with nearly unlimited possibilities. It never ceased to amaze me just how varied the cause can be

Slower and steady, going through all of the steps, is most often the way to get it right and we want to get it right the first time. Snap judgements can come back and bite you. Our constituents deserve nothing less.
http://www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/investigations/crime-scene/guides/death-investigation/Pages/complete.aspx
http://dr-sachin.blogspot.com/2011/10/steps-in-medicolegal-death.html

Heather Abel
Illegal Drug Investigations

Earlier this year, a father and husband died of a drug overdose while children were left in his care. This incident prompted an investigation to discover where and how he got a hold of enough drugs to kill a man. The main goals of drug investigations are to arrest drug dealers, and seize assets gained through criminal and illegal measures by those same drug dealers. Many local law enforcement agencies primarily seek to bust wholesale or mid-level drug dealers; however they can also bust street-level dealers, close “crack houses”, and arrest large-scale operations. As a result, all narcotics such as marijuana, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and illegally obtained prescriptions are all subject to drug investigations.

Drug investigations are often conducted by the drugs and vice divisions of local county or state-level police departments. Often, the drug investigation departments are the largest ones in such divisions by the sheer number of police officers, funding, and resources. In some localities, there are no less than 20 officers or detectives dedicated to these very drug investigations. The operations of these divisions are supported by funds that pay investigation expenses, such as drug purchase money or informant payments.

Here in Kansas, we mainly deal with drugs: marijuana, and methamphetamine. In the first three months of 2013 (1/1 - 3/31), Kansas Bureau of Investigations has already seized 390 marijuana plants and 11.50 pounds of processed product from a total of four counties. In those same three months, KBI has also busted 20 methamphetamine operations, and actually seized 11 meth labs, but that just a fraction of the 1,951 busted operations in the entire United States. Without DEA funding, it costs local law enforcement agencies approximately $3,500 per meth lab to contract clean-up services. The illegal importation, manufacture, sale, and use of drugs have increased more rapidly than the resources for combating them.

When it comes to investigating and prosecuting a drug case, it takes little evidence of involvement for the government to obtain an indictment under the federal drug conspiracy statutes. In order to get a conviction for drug conspiracy, the government need only prove that the alleged conspiracy existed and that the defendant knowingly became a member of the conspiracy with the intent to further the conspiracy. The government need not prove that you ever actually possessed cocaine, marijuana, heroin, or whatever drug is charged. The government possesses vast technology designed to detect and gather evidence of drug conspiracies. Nevertheless, by far the most common method of gathering evidence is the old fashioned way: from snitches and rats (“confidential informants” and “cooperating witnesses”). The government offers deals to people with drug charges in exchange for a bigger supplier. They try to work their way up the ladder to get to the main dealers at the top. Unfortunately, a lot of the illegal drugs in our country come from the Mexican drug cartel, and drugs will always be available.

http://www.attorneys.com/drug-crimes/what-does-a-drug-investigation-entail/

http://www.accesskansas.org/kbi/de/index.shtml

http://www.jensendefense.com/articles/drugconspiracy.html

Traffic Stops

*By Brandon Gaede*

Traffic stops or being pulled over may be one of the most common things a police office will do. It is also one of the most dangerous things they will do, because the officer may not know the person. The individual may pull a gun on the officer and start firing. They may also seem normal until you tell them that you smell marijuana. Then next thing you know it you’re on a high speed chase. The reason police officers pull people over is to investigate if a much harsher crime is being committed.

One of the ways a police officer will get someone to pull over is turn on the lights to the car, and if that somehow doesn’t get the persons attention the officer may honk, or turn on the sirens. Once the individual has come to a complete stop off of the roadway the officer may ask the driver if he knows why the officer pulled him over. After that the officer usually asks for the person’s driver’s license or anyone else in the vehicle to run them and make sure they don’t have any warrants. If the license or licenses come back clear then the officer will give them back to the owners. Then the officer may ask where are you headed? Where are you coming from? What are you going to do there? Do you have any luggage? Have you had anything to drink? Do you mind if I search the car right quick? Anything that would give them probable cause to search.

Some people may say that police officers need a warrant to search your car are stupid and deserved to be slapped across the face. The United States Supreme Court has upheld that officers do not need a search warrant to search a motor vehicle, only probable cause. The reasoning behind why police officers only need probable cause is because motor vehicles can move, instead of a house which can’t really move. The Supreme Court has ruled on many cases over officers searching motor vehicles, even including airplanes.

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRI3tJXxm2xMEQKlSOc23L5Bd1X-Gqck989_-bPSO1siTxg_-JxjQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_exception

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_stop

Breanna Emahizer
Wiki essay 1
Computer crimes
Investigations

To start off with, whatever you put on the internet and think it is gone just because you press erase history, or delete cookies. You are completely wrong. There are ways to get to those deleted files. I bet you know why your parents put on that child lock now huh? I bet it’s all starting to make sense now. The fog is lifting, and the waters are parting. It may seem cliché but not everything is as it seems on the internet. Not everyone is who they say they are, and not all of them are interested in your best interest. The internet can be a dangerous place where predators lurk and they commit crimes. Crimes of misinterpretation as well as identity theft and harassment and threats towards someone who’s not done anything to deserve it.
Computer crime or Cyber-crime refers to any crime that involves a network and a computer, and exploitation of the internet is known as Net crime. An Australian Nationwide survey found in 2006 two of three convicted cyber criminals were between the ages of 15 and 26. Cyber-crimes cost up to $100 billion dollars annually and can provide jail time as well as fines that range in price from small to large.. Some common forms of computer crimes can include fraud, obscene or offensive content, harassment, threats, drug trafficking, cyber war and cyber terrorism. Computer crimes are specifically proscribed by the computer fraud abuse act. This act was put in place by congress in 1986 as an amendment to the existing law. The existing act was the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. This act was written to clarify and increase the scope of the previous “18 U.S.C. § 1030” which was supposed to limit federal jurisdiction in theory.

Computers can end up playing a semi important role in investigating crimes. Like computer forensics uses technology to examine digital media in a sound way so as to identify, preserve, recover and analyze data that’s found on computer hardware. For example with all of the technological advances we have made today, it makes it easier to track objects as well as people with GPS, and it makes it easier to see whom called who based off of digital phone records as well as phone bills. Investigators can use the information from a computer to help solve crimes as well. Even where the computer is not used directly, it could still contain a log file.
A log file, or log is a file that records either the events which happen when a software or operating system is in use. It can also be the personal messages between different users in a conversation that are on a communication software. Many operating systems, software frameworks and user systems use some type of logging. There are different types of logs, such as event logs, transaction logs, and message logs just to name a few. Another useful little trick that can be used is called a data logger. A data logger is an electronic device that records data over time in relation to location with a built in instrument or sensor. They vary between general purposes types for a range of measurement devices to ones that go into very specific devices that are used for measuring one specific environment or application type.
Cookies, and data delete buttons are great until you realize that what you’ve done is on your computer’s hard drive. It could be used as evidence against you. Especially in the case where you have done something illegal. So remember kids, be smart on the internet and on your computer. It will help you out in the long run.
Works cited
http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreports.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_crime
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logfile
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/cyber
blog.lifestore.aol.com

Murder Investigations
Kyle Spencer

Throughout, the many investigations conducted in departments everyday; a common occurring one is murder investigations especially in the larger cities. According to http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Miami-Florida.html there were 69 murders per 100,000 people just in Miami, Florida. Fortunately, these murder investigations generally provides all the information within it’s self to produce a warrant to make the arrest of a suspect. The most common information gathered from murder scenes is the evidence from shell casings/ residue, body fluids, and fingerprints.

The helpful things about murders conducted by a firearm are shell casings, and gunshot residue. When a gun is shot obviously there are the bullet casings which are traceable but the most valuable evidence is the residue from the gunpowder. The residue is left behind in traces that can be found on the

shooters hands or on the victim. Investigators can retrieve the residue by using tape to pull it off the skin or materials, and or cotton swabs. The investigators will then send the samples to a forensic technician who uses a Greiss test to detect chemicals produced when a gun has been fired.

Along with gunshot residue, bodily fluids are a main source of evidence. Investigators will collect any fluids from saliva, blood, semen, tears, and any other fluid. There are a wide array of tests used to gather the information from body fluids. Blood for example is tested with the Kastle-Meyer test which uses phenolphthalein. This chemical will appear pink if there is blood present. Another commonly tested fluid is Saliva. Saliva is tested with the phadebas amylase test. This test detects a-amylase which is an enzyme that shows a blue dye if present.

Another, useful piece of evidence is the DNA acquired from crime scenes such as finger prints. Our human DNA is a unique tool that defines every human individually. This gives investigators an advantage on their suspects because any convicted suspects will show up in the law enforcements database. This will give them easier access to knowing the who, what, when, where, and why questions. However, the only flaw to this system is identical twins. Their sets of DNA will show up as the same genetic codes.

All in all, murder investigations can be broken down and solved through many ways such as bodily fluids, DNA, and the evidence left from firearms. However, with the help of technology and the lack of intelligence from criminals more and more murders get solved daily making our daily lives just a a little bit safer.

works cited
http://science.howstuffworks.com/forensic-lab-technique4.htm
http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Miami-Florida.html

Lydia Oliver
[[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111025213928/unsolvedmysteries/images/b/b0/Pamela_mason.jpg]]

Coolidge v. New Hampshire
My wiki is about Coolidge v. New Hampshire, this is a case where a man murders a 14 yr. old girl, and because of a conflict of interest gets away with it. In this wiki I will discuss this case and make you well acquainted with the facts and events as they happened then.
On January 13, 1964, a 14 year old girl by the name of Pamela Mason received a call from a man for a babysitter and responded. Eight days later her body was found, murdered, at the side of the highway.
In the police investigation into the murder, some information came about that Coolidge had been absent from his home the evening of the young girl’s disappearance. The police then on January 28th went to Coolidge and questioned him. During the questioning Coolidge produced 3 guns, 1 rifle, and 2 shotguns. Coolidge agreed to take a lie detector test on the following Sunday.
On that Sunday, while the lie detector test was being administered, two plain clothed detectives went to Coolidge’s house where his wife and mother-in-law waited his return, and explained that her husband was in serious trouble and they asked for all of her husband’s guns and some clothing he might have been wearing the night of January 13. Mrs. Coolidge did as she was directed (not knowing that her husband had only shown them 3 guns before) gave the officers all 4 guns that Coolidge owned.
Due to further investigation the police had enough probable cause to arrest Coolidge and obtained search warrants. Sometime later, after arresting Coolidge, the police had his cars towed to the police impound where the Pontiac was searched a few days later.
At the trail vacuum sweepings, including traces of gun powder were introduced as evidence against him. Also introduced as evidence was a .22 caliber Mossberg Rifle as the murder weapon, even though there was a conflicting ballistics report.
Then they finally introduced vacuum sweeping from the clothes that he was possibly wearing. Pre-trial motions to suppress this evidence were denied by the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
The jury found Coolidge guilty and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of conviction and granted certiorari to consider constitutional questions raised by the admissions of this evidence against Coolidge at his trial.
At his appeal, Coolidge contended that the search warrant for his Pontiac was invalid because it had not been issued by a “neutral and detached magistrate”; The court agreed and the conviction was reversed.
Coolidge was a very lucky man, he goes out and murders a 14 yr. old girl, and gets away Scott-free because of a conflict of interest on the attorney generals part. I feel that if the attorney generals signature was good enough for the arrest warrant and the other search warrant, then it was good enough for the third warrant. It was obvious that Coolidge murdered that poor girl, I just can’t understand the way the justice system works sometimes. I hope that in reading my wiki you will know now a little more about the case of Coolidge v. New Hampshire.
resources
Wikipedia
jacqueline shandy