The Most Glamorous Aspect of Police Work

The Most Glamorous Aspect of Police Work 

The basic responsibility o f the police is to fight crimc, maintain order, and provide miscellaneous services to the public. Patrol remains the basic manner in which police services arc delivered to the public. 

Criminal investigation is the most glamorous aspect o f policing. Most police officers regard detective work as “real” police work. Detective work has a specific mission: apprehending the offender. The quality of work can also be measured in terms o f the number o f arrests. This contrasts sharply with patrol duty, which largely involves peace-keeping. Good detectives are believed to be able to solve most crimes, so the citizen-victim becomes angry when the police fail to solve the crime he or she suffered from. 

The process of investigating a crimc involves several different steps performed by at least three different units within the police department: patrol officers, detectives, criminalistics technicians. The two major stages of the investigation process arc the preliminary investigation and the follow-up investigation. 

The preliminary investigation is normally the responsibility of the patrol officer who is the first to arrive at the scene of the crime. The five major responsibilities include: 

1) arresting any suspect or suspects, 
2) providing aid to any victims, 
3) securing the crimc scene to prevent loss of evidence, 
4) collecting all relevant physical evidence, and 
5) preparing a preliminary report. 

Once the responding officer has completed the preliminary investigation, the case is assigned to the detective bureau for the follow-up investigation. In all but the smallest departments, the detective unit is separate from the patrol unit. The smallest departments have no separate detective unit. Medium-sized departments have a separate detective unit but detectives handle all types o f crimc here. Larger departments specialize according to a type of crimc (e.g., crimes against person, crimes against property). 

Technical specialists in investigation are normally located in a separate administrative unit. They are available upon request to assist detectives in the followup investigation. Only the larger police departments arc able to maintain their own criminalistics specialists. 

The follow-up investigation includes the following steps: 

1) interrogation of suspect or suspects, if arrested at the scene of the crimc; 
2) interview of witnesses; 
3) search of the crime scene for physical evidence; 
4) modus operandi review to determine, if the crime is similar to others under investigation or resembles crimes committed by known suspects; 
5) development of additional information from informants, contacts, official records, etc.; 
6) preparation of reports. 

To obtain information about suspected criminal activity, the police make use of informants. Persons who are either criminals themselves or who associate with criminals arc extremely valuable sources of information. Police officers seek to develop a list of informants.

Ex. 1. 

Change the following sentences into Passive, use the same tense: Translate the sentences into Russian. фото слов на почту.

1. The lawyers do not separate the three phases of investigation in time. 
2. The witnesses have identified the criminal as the perpetrator of the criminal acts. 
3. Some circumstantial evidence and the eyewitness testimony discovered the identity of the criminal.
4. By the beginning of the trial the investigating officers have gathered sufficient evidence for court. 
5. The investigation obtained some additional evidence which helped locate and identify the perpetrator.
6. Police traced the fugitive who was hiding and apprehended him. 
7. The court established the fact of the existence of the crimc. 
8. The witnesses were competent. They presented sufficient physical evidence which showed the connection of the criminal with the offense.