Criminal Investigation - Cover Identity and Story - Assignment Example

Criminal Investigation - Cover Identity and Story Section I Part I: Cover Identity and Story My name is Ronald Patterson and I am from California. I lost my father when I was four years old. I had two sisters. After the death of my father, my mother who was jobless moved to the temporary accommodation provided by Emergency Assistance Unit (EAU) (Kozol, 2012). We faced immense financial issues and my mother was unable to send me to a school when I turned five. She got a job, but it was very low paid. She was unable to take care of me, as she was to go to work on daily basis. I just got out and played with other boys of the area who belonged to somewhat same backgrounds. There were people who sold drugs there and were involved in other criminal activities like stealing, terrorizing people, and so on. We formed a gang of our own and started enjoying activities such as troubling and terrorizing people, stealing things and snatching money from people. My mother was worried about my sisters and me. She enrolled me in a nearby school, but I always ran away from there to join my friends. I got arrested thrice till now. Once because of a street fight when I was sent to children’s jail, then because of stealing and hitting a woman in the juvenile jail and then once more to juvenile jail because of breaking in a house. Otherwise, I am good player at doing certain activities for which, I get away without being arrested. Every time when I was arrested, I met with new friends who supported me in my life. I started living away from my mother and sisters when I turned fifteen. I do not know anything about them now, as I lead a self-reliant life now. I do not like to live with family or friends, as I like a lonely and independent life. However, I enjoy drinking and playing games with friends. Previously, I was in California and I ran from there because I had a clash with some people who tried to kill me. I need a place to live and want some work, so that I can earn something for my survival. I can also live with someone who is ready to accommodate me and I can do the work that he assigns me of whatever nature it is. I can do all the works that a person can do. I can sell products legal or illegal as I have already sold drugs before in California. Nevertheless, you know that I have left the place now, so everything here is new for me and I want someone to help me. Part II: In two to three pages, explain how you chose this identity and how you will make it work. How does it fit your knowledge and experience? How will you remember your story and keep your statements/facts consistent? I chose the identity of a criminal with the help of Kozol’s book, “Fire in the ashes: Twenty-five years among the poorest children in America.” The book narrates real life stories of many homeless families who underwent certain circumstances due to which, their children witnessed criminal happenings and get indulged into that environment that made them criminal. Therefore, I used a cover identity of a criminal Ronald Patterson (an imaginary name) who had run from California in order to save his life from killers who were after him. I can use clothing that is informative that I am in bad condition and homeless. I should also get myself prepared about California, its famous places, pubs and criminals involved in drug selling there. Such details can be obtained from police department there. I would like to investigate about drug sellers and buyers and for that, I can use the cover identity of a person involved in that business. With the above-mentioned story, I can get the drug selling or buying work that can eventually introduce me with the criminals’ involved. For making this identity work and for gaining information about the whole network, I can do this work for sometime for gaining trust of the buyers and sellers so that they can introduce me with high level criminals in this profession. I can also use their given accommodation and work for them for some time, and for giving information and facts about their criminal doings, I can work as an investigative informer. However, everything requires secrecy and concealment of my true identity as an investigator. By using the cover identity, I can remain in the company of drug sellers and buyers with the help of which, I can find further of their linkages. I know that this is not an easy task, as I have to remain in the guise for a long time to make myself trustworthy in their eyes. By winning their trust, I can get to hidden information about their network, from where the drugs are coming for selling to further buyers, who are the consumers and how are they targeted, where the root of the drug market is and so on. I can find answers to these questions by maintaining my cover identity and hide myself from being exposed. Therefore, my disguise should be convincing and trustworthy (Henry, 2012) Kozol’s book is quite informative and knowledgeable about the environment and background of criminals and their families. I gain an idea to use a cover identity that appeared catchy to me. From the stories of criminals, I extracted some information that suited my cover identity of a criminal. Henry (2012) informs that one should assume a cover that he can maintain. If someone questions a person under cover, he should be ready to answer all the questions rightly in order to avoid suspicion. For playing undercover, one must be a very good actor so that he can fit in the new role (Orthmann & Hess, 2012). Therefore, before taking on the deceptive role of drug dealer, I must practice the role so as to remember my cover identity and role required. The act of selling drugs to drug buyers and becoming a drug dealer is illegal for an investigator, but entrapment is allowed. Entrapment can be defined as “the conception and planning of an offense by an officer, and his procurement of its commission by one who would not have perpetuated it except for the trickery, persuasion or fraud of the officer” (Orthmann & Hess, 2012, p. 234). I will use entrapment for trapping the drug dealers. As an undercover investigator, I would carry no identification other than the cover ID and should remain the communication with the law enforcement officials covert (Orthmann & Hess, 2012). For remembering the details about my cover identity, I will have to remain in the role and have to practice a lot, so that I remember details and my cover identity is not exposed. Section II 1 . What are the fundamental differences between supervising patrol officers and investigators? Why are some very effective patrol supervisors ineffective when assigned to supervise investigators? What can patrol supervisors do to improve their chances of success when assigned to supervise investigators. Apparently, investigative management is quite a difficult job and quality supervision of patrol officers as well as investigators result in better case solutions. While supervising patrol officers and investigators, the supervisors are required to take care of certain fundamental differences between the two. Patrol officers are responsible to provide intelligence information about a crime and investigators are responsible to investigate on the basis of given intelligence (McDevitt, 2012). Preliminary investigation of a criminal happening is conducted by patrol officers and in supervising the patrol officers, they must be trained in the “recognition, discovery, recovery, and preservation of all evidence that may be obtained at a crime scene” (Becker & Dutelle, 2013, p. 153). Therefore, patrol officers should be trained to be preliminary investigators, so that they can collect initial evidence and document everything for further investigation. The patrol officers should also be communicative and responsive along with other tasks at hand in order to deliver all the needful information to the investigators (Becker & Dutelle, 2013). Rand studies clarify that patrol officers are not just “crime reporters”, rather they solve many crime cases during initial investigation. They must undertake the job of preliminary investigators. Investigators are given more cases than their capacity in a limited time frame. Patrol officers must share the burden of dealing with investigation besides crime reporting (McDevitt, 2012). Patrol officers have less investigative skills; they should be transferred to investigative units for gaining experience. Patrol officers have to work for a limited daytime in specified areas, but investigators may have to work for longer durations, as investigations of cases or criminal happenings need more time. Patrol officers must be in contact with criminals for their further investigation by investigators. Disconnection of patrol officers is normally not highlighted, but if investigator fails to solve a case, he is highlighted (McDevitt, 2012). A patrol officer with probationary period just has few years of patrol experience, but an investigator is beneficial for agency during his probationary period because of his initial experience as a patrol officer. Patrol officers are mostly supervised during their job and are required to document their whereabouts, but investigators want liberty in discharging duties. The investigators’ imagination, initiative and other investigative efforts are stifled with too much supervision. Following job of investigators is more difficult than supervising patrol officers (McDevitt, 2012). Some very effective patrol supervisors appear ineffective when assigned to supervise investigators as they are used to situations where they usually supervise a fixed number of subordinates that have to do certain fixed tasks in fixed time duration. In the given time, the officers usually do their work and leave. In addition, the effective patrol supervisors supervise their subordinates with much discipline and order. Everything needs to be documented and reported. When these supervisors have to supervise the investigators, they prove to be somewhat ineffective because they apply their patrol style of supervision on the investigative unit. Investigators need less supervision and more liberty to work. They need a loose structure, more autonomy and less structured environment (McDevitt, 2012). Patrol supervisors can better supervise the investigative officers if they are given much liberty. It does not mean that they are not held accountable for their actions. Much liberty and autonomy can result in bad reporting and incomplete investigation. However, in place of daily reporting, a weekly reporting of the found evidence and details can be collected from the investigators. They can be allowed to be creative and given more time for investigation, as unlike patrol duty, investigation needs more time. The supervisors should also work for trust building between the investigative team and the supervisors so that they can work in a collaborative and supportive environment (McDevitt, 2012). The supervisors can also encourage the patrol officers to work in close collaboration with investigators so that they can learn from each other. The communication process between the two should be encouraged for better reporting and documentation (Becker & Dutelle, 2013). Overall, the supervisors have to learn working with different law enforcement officials in order to manage their work effectively. 2 . How can you make investigators more accountable without stifling their creativity and effectiveness? Investigators need liberty in working, but they are to be held accountable as they have to report about their investigation and other required work. They cannot be given full autonomy that they can misuse by wasting their time and effort. The investigators can take advantage of the liberty given to them. A little advantage is ignored by the supervisors, but if these activities effect the performance of investigators, there is enough trouble for the law enforcement department. In case of no accountability, the investigative work will be affected wrongly. Accountability of investigators should be less, but proper, as their overall performance should be evaluated in order to assess their work and progress (McDevitt, 2012). The control measures for the investigators should be obligatory, but simple. All the required information just as the case details, investigator details and the collected data should be kept simple and up to date for keeping track of the cases that the investigators are handling. The supervisors should manage weekly reporting that should cover all the progress on the investigative cases. Time keeping should be there. The span of control should be small so that the supervisors can supervise with improvement, have better accountability of the performance of subordinates, and can evaluate the accomplishments of the investigative team (McDevitt, 2012). 3 . How can supervisors manage the use of informants? How can supervisors reduce inappropriate conduct related to confidential informants and their use by investigators? References Kozol, J. (2012). Fire in the ashes: Twenty-five years among the poorest children in America. Random House LLC. Henry, Alan. (2012). How to Choose (and Maintain) a Cover Identity. Retrieved on 4 March 2015 from http://lifehacker.com/5960441/how-to-choose-and-maintain-a-cover-identity Orthmann, C. H., & Hess, K. (2012). Criminal investigation. Cengage learning. McDevitt, D. S. (2012). Managing the investigative unit. 2nd Ed. Charles C Thomas Publisher. Becker, Ronald F. & Dutelle, Aric W. (2013). Criminal Investigation. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Read More