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In this supplemental report, your job as the acting supervisor of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) is to address policy problems from an investigative standpoint (i.e., are the officers at your police department responding to crime scenes effectively). Policy problem areas to focus on include, but are not limited to, the following considerations: spelling/grammatical errors, the officer not listing the correct charges, an incomplete or incorrect list of stolen or damaged items, or not verifying serial numbers in the NCIC database. These are just some policy areas that could be noted while you read this report. Please note that spelling and grammatical errors were deliberately inserted into this burglary report to see if the students can recognize them.
Create a Word document that will address the administrative policy elements (or pitfalls) you observed while reading the patrol I/O report.
Please upload a Microsoft Word Document to answer the questions below:
1. Is the narrative structured correctly? If so, then outline how the narrative is structured. If the narrative is not structured, provide policy guidance and implementation procedures that are based on currently accepted empirical practices.
2. Is it factual, accurate, objective, complete, concise, clear, and free of grammatical/spelling errors? If the narrative is factual, accurate, and objective, outline how it meets these qualifications. If not, provide policy guidance and implementation procedures that are based on currently accepted empirical practices.
3. Is it audience-focused? If the narrative is audience-focused, then outline how it is audience-focused. If the narrative is not audience-focused, provide policy guidance and implementation procedures based on currently accepted empirical practices.
4. Are the criminal statutes appropriate? In other words, should additional charges be added to the case? If not, what charges are applicable, and provide policy guidance and implementation procedures that are based on currently accepted empirical practices.
5. Was the crime scene processed thoroughly? If not, what steps would an investigator have to follow up on? If not, provide policy guidance and implementation procedures that are based on currently accepted empirical practices.
1. 4th amendment considerations: Never assume a victim of a burglary automatically gives a patrol officer who responds to a burglary complaint full access to search the complainant’s home.
2. Evidence Oversight Policy Issues, such as not comprehensively documenting the scene (i.e., photography), not collecting or addressing sources of inculpatory and exculpatory evidence items, not adhering to crime scene perimeter check policies (i.e., sometimes referred to as “neighborhood canvas” —-verification of other homes, etc.).
6. Was the accuracy of the NCIC information verified by the patrol officer through official receipts provided by the victim? If not, what steps could the investigator take to verify the victim’s information (i.e., serial number of stolen items)? If not, provide policy guidance and implementation procedures that are based on currently accepted empirical practices.
1. Think about this: What “proof” (other than the complainant’s word of mouth) would a criminal investigator be able to use in court that the reported serial number on the weapon was, in fact, the serial number?
2. In other words, serial numbers given to a responding officer MUST BE INDEPENDENTLY verified before being entered into the NCIC database. Moreover, what checks and balances exist, in terms of policy, to ensure that the dispatcher entered the correct serial number into NCIC (think about the times that you have mistyped a number—if a dispatcher types in the wrong serial number into NCIC, major issues follow).
