Burglary as a Crime - Essay Example

Burglary is a type of crime in which the culprit gains a forced or unauthorized entry into a building. In committing a crime, criminals normally consider the risks involved in the crime and the benefits that every crime promises. Most burglaries have minimal risks since, in most of the forced entries into private property, the buildings are always unguarded thereby presenting little threat of either detection or arrest. The monetary benefit presented in every scene depends on the nature of the crime.

Criminals, therefore, carry out research on the houses they are to break into. Unfortunately, the more monetary benefit every break in promises, the more security they are likely to encounter. This, therefore, solicits increased research on the safest entry and means of evading the risks, which may at times entail the use of forceful resistance.Evidence forms the basis for every investigation, after burglaries, detectives called into the scene busy themselves with the identification and collection of evidence that may lead to the arrest of the culprits.

Once at the scene, the detective's tape off the area. This keeps the public or other third parties away thereby minimizing interference with the evidence collected. The detectives should only let authorized personnel into the area; these include fellow detectives and victims of the burglary. The police should protect outside areas, such items as plastics and tarpaulin to prevent any foreign interference. The area should be effectively protected, no item should be moved or relocated, and no unauthorized activity should be carried out until the area is completely processed (Bryan, 2004).

Among the things that detectives look for in the investigation process include pieces of clothes that could be torn during the robbery, dusting the scene for fingerprints and looking for any item that could possibly have been left behind by the gang in their exit from the scene. Such evidence is used to describe the culprit. If effectively analyzed results in either the arrest of the criminals or the matching of the criminals with those in police databases. Investigating a burglary requires keen-eyed detectives to easily pick trails that are possibly left by some of the most experienced robbers.

The first step is the collection of any form of evidence or trail which may never seem consequential to the final arrest of the robbers. The most obvious ways of gathering physical evidence include the use of cameras to capture photographs of the scene and dusting for fingerprints. If the building or the facility had CCTV monitoring systems, the use of the video recorded in the surveillance camera provides an edge in the investigations since it provides visible evidence of the scene. The physical appearance of the criminals is used to match up to any criminal within the security outfit’s database.

Modus operandi is a legal term that refers to a particular way of doing things. Calling for the formulation of a modus operandi in the investigation of burglary scenes may prove to be detrimental to the efficacy of the process.