Criminal Investigation

Michael J. Palmiotto

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781466570511
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Criminal Law
• Index: Law

Criminal investigators need broad knowledge of such topics as criminal law, criminal procedure, and investigative techniques. The best resource for these professionals will distill the needed information into one practical volume. Written in an accessible style, the fourth edition of Criminal Investigation maintains the same reader friendly approac

Historical Review of Criminal Investigation

1

Contents

Introduction

Roots of Investigation

Investigations in America

The Role of Patrol Officers

The Modern Investigator

Summary

Key Terms

Review Questions

References

Introduction

The practice of investigating individual conduct can be traced to antiquity. When a society, tribe, group, or family establishes laws, customs, or rules, it expects members to obey them. All cultures recognize that when rules are violated, someone must determine who and what has been violated and who committed the violations. To find the answers, an investigation must be conducted. Although information on early investigative activities is clouded within an historical maze, some knowledge of its development does exist.

Roots of Investigation

In early tribal and clan life, the people performed the police task. When behavior occurred that violated the rules of the clan, all members were responsible for identifying the violator and determining the means and degree of sanctions to be imposed. This was known as kin policing. The process was often swift, certain, and absolute. Offenses considered serious usually resulted in torture, banishment, or death. Lesser offenses led to flaying or a similar corporal punishment or giving property to the offended family as atonement for the transgression. To prevent future violations and identify the offender, it was not uncommon for the tribe to brand or mutilate the culprit.

Among the ancient Hebrews, the kings, high priests, and elders had the law enforcement responsibility. Individuals were appointed to apprehend and punish law violators. This process continued even under Roman rule. For example, the decision to arrest Jesus was made by the chief priests and elders. Also, the high priest and elders gave Paul the authority to arrest and commit to prison Christians he apprehended. Ancient Babylon codified its customs into the Laws of Hammurabi, which dealt with individual responsibilities to groups and private dealings between individuals. Messengers were assigned the responsibility of carrying out the law. A judicial system was established and violation became a crime against the state. The early Greek city-states developed the precursors of today’s police. Pisistratus, the ruler of Athens, established a security system to protect the highways, the tower, and the ruler. Sparta developed police called epohi whose members were appointed by the ruler. They were given almost unlimited powers, including the authority to investigate, try, and punish individuals.

During the fifth century BC the Romans adopted their first written laws. The Twelve Tables dealt with legal procedures, property ownership, building codes, and punishment for crimes. After the Twelve Tables were approved, specialized police officials called Quaestorees Parricidi were appointed to track murderers. These were the forerunners of the modern detective. It was their responsibility to “track down” murderers for the state (Thorwald, 1964, p. 4). Through their conquest of the Mediterranean world, the Romans influenced the legal and law enforcement systems of Western Europe. From the collapse of the Roman Empire through the early Middle Ages, formal law enforcement and criminal investigation were almost nonexistent as tools for social control. Various noninvestigative methods were devised to identify individuals who committed offenses. In trial by ordeal, accused persons were required to submit to some ordeal, such as placing their hands in boiling water. If their hands were burned, they were considered guilty. If their hands were uninjured, they were thought to be innocent—but possibly witches. In trial by combat, the victor was deemed to be telling the truth. Another method was the court of the Star Chamber, which derived its authority from the king and used brutal, legalized methods or torture to force confessions from suspects.

By the thirteenth century, the emerging European powers began to develop their own structured legal and law enforcement systems. One important concept was the classification of crimes. The English also defined the legal age of reason. Enforcement methods included the hue-and-cry system, the watch-and-ward system, and the office of sheriff.

In 1750 Henry Fielding, a London magistrate, established an investigative force known as the Bow Street Runners, who were known colloquially as thief-takers. The group accepted cases only from those who could afford their fees (Pringle, 1958). In 1753, John Fielding succeeded his brother Henry. Many of the practices they developed are still in use, such as hiring informants and conducting criminal raids. Although the Metropolitan Police of London were established in 1829, it was not until 1842 that an investigative unit was founded. Within London there are two police forces: the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police, which was formally established by the City of London Police Act of 1839. Due to a series of brutal murders, twelve police officers from the Metropolitan Police were taken out of uniform and made detectives (Thorwald, 1964, p. 35).

Most studies of American law enforcement emphasize our English heritage while neglecting the investigative contributions of the French. The first formal use of the detective in modern times began in 1810 with the establishment of the French Surete (security). Its founder, François-Eugène Vidocq, was a convicted criminal who believed that only criminals could fight crime. In a single year Vidocq and his twelve investigators “arrested 812 murders, thieves, burglaries, robbers, embezzlers, and cleaned a den of criminals into which no inspector would ever have dared to venture” (Thorwald, 1964, p. 4).

Vidocq believed in obtaining intimate knowledge of criminals’ habits and methods of committing crime. He planted undercover investigators in prison to obtain information. Long after Vidocq’s time, the Surete continued to use ex-convicts as informants and to plant undercover agents in prison. The Surete maintained accurate records of every known criminal’s name, alias, crimes, and sentences.

Investigations in America

The evolution of American criminal investigation has been greatly influenced by our social, political, economic, and legal needs. Exactly when the first detective was appointed in America is unknown. However, in 1789 the U.S. government appointed investigators, known as the Revenue Cutter Service, to prevent smuggling. In 1829, the U.S. Postal Service appointed detectives to investigate mail fraud.

At the municipal level, Francis Tukey, head of the Boston police department, appointed three detectives in 1846. Tukey’s men recovered $16,000 worth of stolen property in 1850 and $62,000 in 1860. In the city of Boston, detective work was becoming an essential component of the police department (Lane, 1967, p. 109).

In 1857 the New York City Police Department designated twenty police officers “detectives.” This force was divided into squads responsible for specific crimes. Each squad maintained records of complaints and arrests. Each detective was required to submit daily reports on the progress and disposition of the case (Costello, 1972, pp. 402–404).

Philadelphia initiated a detective unit in 1859, Chicago formed a bureau in 1860, and Massachusetts established a state investigative unit in 1865. The Detective Bureau of New York City was created by an act of the legislature in 1882. The bureau was placed under the authority of Thomas Byrnes, who led it to national and world reorganization. Byrnes assigned a detective to Wall Street to curtail forgeries, pickpocketing, and larceny. He used informants, emphasizing the need for detectives to learn the criminal’s procedures for committing criminal acts, and required disciplines and secrecy during the investigation (Costello, 1972, pp. 416–417).

The most successful investigative agency during the nineteenth century was not associated with a public law enforcement agency. Allan Pinkerton’s initiation into investigation occurred in 1847 when he assisted a local sheriff in arresting a band of counterfeiters. In 1849 Pinkerton became Chicago’s first detective. The next year he was appointed a special mail agent by the U.S. Postal Service to investigate post office thefts and robberies in Chicago. In the early 1850s Pinkerton opened a private detective agency, which eventually became known as the National Detective Agency. This agency was the investigative agency into the Hibernian Organization, known as the Molly Maguires, in Pennsylvania. The Molly Maguires was arguably the first labor movement in the United States or, alternatively, a terrorist organization. According to James D. Horan,

They were the nineteenth-century prototype of the present Federal Bureau of Investigation and a forerunner of Interpol. By 1872, they had established a liaison with the important police organizations of Europe, for the exchange of information about international crime and criminals, and most of the frontier sheriffs and heads of metropolitan police in the United States sought their assistance. Though it is a little-known fact, the Pinkerton’s pioneering Rogues’ Gallery founded a basis for the modern FBI’s Criminal Identification Bureau, the largest in the world. (Horan, 1967, p. x)

Pinkerton developed an excellent system of underworld informants. His investigators, known as operatives, infiltrated criminal gangs. They also investigated a case for Western Union in which messages were being intercepted before they reached their destinations. Pinkerton operatives required that all suspects arrested be stripped and all body cavities be checked. The Pinkertons are also credited with employing the first female detective, in 1856.

The Role of Patrol Officers

In municipal police departments, the patrol officer plays an important role in the investigative process. Usually the patrol officer arrives at the crime scene first. How he or she handles the initial investigation may affect how the case proceeds through the criminal justice process. Depending on departmental policy and the number of personnel, the patrol officer may conduct the entire investigation, assist the investigator, or be assisted by the investigator.

Upon being notified of a crime in progress, the patrol officer goes directly to the crime scene and takes care of any emergency situations, including injuries. If the suspect is still at the crime scene, the patrol officer should make an arrest. The longer the police take to arrive, the greater the possibility that evidence will be destroyed or contaminated. Delay may also mean witnesses will leave the scene or discuss the incident with each other, distorting their accounts of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• The Author
• 1 Historical Review of Criminal Investigation
• 2 Current Investigative Practices
• 3 Legal Issues
• 4 Sources of Information
• 5 Interviewing and Interrogation
• 6 Informants
• 7 Writing Reports and Field Notes
• 8 Surveillance and Undercover Operations
• 9 Crime Scene Investigation
• 10 The Crime Laboratory
• 11 Sex Offenses
• 12 Death through Violence
• 13 Assault and Robbery
• 14 Property Crimes
• 15 Cybercrime
• 16 Narcotics and Other Drugs
• 17 The Police/Prosecutor Relationship
• 18 Investigative Trends
• Index