Public criminal investigations and private security investigations - Research Paper Example

PUBLIC CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PRIVATE SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS Introduction Public criminal investigation relates to the process through which the government through one arm of the police department that is charged with the responsibility of investigations takes up initiatives aimed collecting crime related pieces of information and gathering them to form concrete evidence. The evidence is then used to apprehend the perpetrators through the initiation of court proceedings (Brown, 2001). The police department applies the use of small pieces of evidence such as fingerprints, traces of blood, use of eye witnesses to gather information as well as the items located at the scene of the crime. On the other hand private security investigation is a form of investigation that is undertaken by private individuals known as private investigators who are available for hire by the government or by private individuals who are after some information that they feel no need to inform the police. Private vs public investigations Private investigators who carry out private security investigation usually work closely with the defense attorneys working on capital punishment as well as other criminal defense cases. They must be licensed by the licensing authority who are available in every state so that their operations can be regarded as legal and not infringing on the rights and freedom of other citizens. They answerable to the individuals who have employed them to carry out the investigations as well as the registering body that may call them from time to time in order to keep track with their operations. On the other hand, public investigators who are mainly drawn from the police department are licensed to operate by the respective police department. Such investigators have more direct access to information and crimes scenes as opposed to their private counterparts who must take a very low profile in order to locate very sensitive information needed to apprehend the suspects. Private criminal investigations can be applied in the unearthing of a criminal activity that is about to be undertaken by a gang. This is because the private criminal investigators can easily camouflage themselves in the midst of the gangs without being detected. This could be a limit to public criminal investigation as the investigators cannot easily hide their identity for a long time without detected by the suspects. Private security investigations is marked by a number of risks that are not likely to be witnessed by their public counterparts. They are likely to take up many dangerous chances in the course of their investigations. A case in point is that of an investigator on surveillance may risk the hazard of running a red light so that they do not lose track of the main subject. In the case, the investigator can easily be knocked down by an over-speeding vehicle. In many instances, private security investigators assume more risk as they are paid based on the amount if credible evidence that they are able to gather as opposed to public criminal investigators who are assured of their income since they are fully employed by the government (Becker & Dutelle, 2013). The fact that the earnings of private investigators is based on the information provided, may tend to lower the efficiency of an investigation process as they may tend to be bias order to meet their targets. On the other hand a number of factors tend to limit the efficient operations of public criminal investigations the difficulty in proving the relevance of the many pieces of information that public investigators are able to gather. In many cases, their information is inaccurate or is incomplete. The technicalities in proving a suspect as guilty in a court of law such adhering to certain set rules and procedures that governs the collection and presentation of evidence may limit the operations of and role of public crime investigations. Scientific methods that are applied in public criminal investigations include the use of polygraph which is commonly referred to as the lie detector which is to detect if suspect is saying the truth or lying. Interrogation of suspects forms the main function of criminal investigations hence it must be taken with a lot of care and precision. The use of crime laboratory offers a great form of assistance in criminal investigations. The laboratories are equipped to deal with a wide range of physical evidence through scientific analysis. Some of the techniques applied include fingerprinting, voiceprinting, DNA fingerprinting, photography, photomicrography, ballistics and document examination. Forensic science is applied in the analysis of blood and urine samples so as to identify traces of chemical substances found in the bodies of victims of homicide (Stelfox, 2009). DNA samples can be obtained from body fluids, weapons or clothing fibers which are then taken to the laboratories to be studied by the forensic experts. The experts work closely with the public criminal investigators as they normally have limited access to the crime scenes. Another scientific approach to investigations include gunshot residue method which involves analysis of burnt or unburnt particles from the explosives, collection of some components of the bullet, the cartridge case and other weapons that may have been used in the crime. The gunshot residue kit is applied in the determination of the elements such as the composition of the granules and the patterns that can be identified by the deformation of the bullets. A challenge facing criminal investigations is suppression of hearing that arises from digital evidences. This is in relation to the hearing process by the judges who looks into the evidences and then determines if they will be admissible or they violates the codes of ethics. The judges who do not know the process that investigators go through in order to collect evidence may tend to frustrate them by discarding all the information gathered and this tends to lower the pace of investigations. Conclusion The public criminal investigators relies heavily on private security investigators. This is evident in the fact that there is flow of information from the police informants and the undercover agents who are mainly private investigators called upon to assist the police department. Private security investigators are limited in the sense that they cannot conduct forensic investigations on the samples collected and in such cases, they must coordinate with the police to allow studies into the samples. References Becker, R. F., & Dutelle, A. W. (2013). Criminal investigation. Burlington, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Brown, M. F. (2001). Criminal investigation: Law and practice. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. Stelfox, P. (2009). Criminal investigation: An introduction to principles and practice. Cullompton: Willan. Read More