Criminal Investigation
INVESTIGATION, CRIMINAL. Criminal investigation is that branch of criminal jurisprudence which applies the prin ciples and practices of philosophical analyses, science, art and technical skill in judicial proceedings, subject to legal rules and forms in which there must be elucidation of questions relating to crime. This covers the questions : who the victim was ; the exact place at which the offence occurred ; how the crime was committed, with what weapon it was committed, or what were the means employed in its commission ; what was the time of at tack, what was the motive or object of attack, and the identity of the offender or offenders. Criminal investigation is employed also in the search for and interrogation of material witnesses who are able and willing to give competent and relevant testimony against the suspect or offender, and in the reconstruction of all facts connected with the crime in order that, at the trial of a defendant, a true picture of what occurred may be presented in such manner as to leave no doubt in the minds of the jurors or judge regarding the guilt or innocence of the accused.
History.—Although the beginning of criminal investigation is unknown there is reason to believe that in a very rudimentary form it came into existence with the origin of legal trials. It is clearly laid down in the Code of Hammurabi (c. 225o B.c.) that suspicion does not give ground for condemnation; receiving of testimony, and even elaborate examination of sites or circum stances by the court itself, were established rules of procedure. In Athens, by about 500 B.C., the examination of facts had be come meticulous ; a defendant, having lost his case, might bring suit against a witness for bearing false testimony and, if suc cessful in his neve suit, would go free of his earlier condemnation. In the Fuotinian legislation (6th century A.D.) evidence was so construed as to imply the co-operation of experts in certain cases. In the middle ages, whether in civil or in ecclesiastical courts, and generally in the commercial and customary tribunals, the weigh ing of evidence was as careful as it has ever been. The intro duction, in that period, of courts of inquest whose object was avowedly to procure condemnations, such as those of heretics, and the survival of certain ancient uses of the ordeal have ob scured the prevalence of careful taking of evidence in the middle ages.
In 1507 a penal code containing exact instructions as to evi dence was issued by a bishop of Bamberg, and in 1532, the Caro line code of the German States contained provisions for the ex amination of criminals. In 1575, a French physician described the form in which judicial reports should be made in medico legal cases, and at the close of the 16th century, outlines of the method of testifying in such cases were numerous, especially in Italy. Toward the end of the i8th century, legal medicine was recognized as a science. Orfila, who occupied the chair of chem istry and medical jurisprudence in the University of Paris, was employed as an expert in judicial proceedings; in 1814 he pub lished a Traite des Poisons. In 1689 Johannes Bohn, of Leipzig, published a work on the examination of wounds, the distinction between ante-mortem and post-mortem wounds, the different ef fects of death by injury, strangulation and drowning. In an other of his works, published in 1704, he gives rules for the con duct of physicians during court testimony. During the latter part of the i8th century German scientists published numerous books on the subject. Lectures in medical jurisprudence were given at the University of Edinburgh in 1792, and in 18o6 the uni versity gave the title of "Professor of Medical Jurisprudence" to A. Duncan, Jr. Percival, with his Medical Ethics (1803), made himself one of the first noteworthy English contributors to medical jurisprudence, and was followed by John Gordon Smith. In 1823, Paris and Fonblanque published the first English work which associated the medical and legal professions. In 1836, Dr. Alfred Swaine Taylor published his Elements of Medical Juris prudence, an authoritative work. The first Spanish treatise on legal medicine (1796-97) was written by Juan Fernandez de Valles. In 1844, Prof. Pedro Mata of Madrid published the first edition of a work on legal medicine and toxicology, which, in the development of its subsequent editions, has become the most im portant Spanish treatise on the subject. The fathers of the modern school of scientific investigation are Dr. Hans Gross, formerly a professor of criminology; Dr. R. A. Reiss, of the University of Lausanne, and Dr. Alfred Niceforo. Most procedure now follows their principles.
The old trial-and-error method in criminal investigation is being rapidly displaced by scientific methods, including the use of very highly specialized instruments. Philip Valois initiated the modern police system of criminal investigation. In Paris, in 1327, he appointed commissaires, or royal officers, who were not part of the judicial system and who conducted preliminary examina tions in the enforcement of police regulations. The Marechaussee, a military police, was organized in 1356, becoming the Gen darmerie in 1720. The first modern police organization, however, was founded in London in 1829. Twenty-five years later the Paris civil police were reorganized on the London model. In 183o all ungarrisoned Prussian cities were authorized to establish a police force.
Police investigators of crime were originally spies. In England they entered the service to obtain rewards offered for the capture of criminals and in France for political prestige and pecuniary rewards. Later, members of the uniformed force were detailed to plain clothes police duty. These officials cultivated the ac quaintance of criminals and of persons able to supply infor mation for the apprehension and prosecution of offenders. The results justified the experiment and the plain-clothes man of yes terday is the police detective or criminal investigator of to-day, whose chief stock in trade is common sense, with coolness, cour age, patience, perseverance, an analytical mind and a large ac quaintanceship with criminals.
Since the majority of crimes reported to police departments are offences where property is obtained by theft, fraud or vio lence, police departments, drawing from their large experience in such investigation, have developed fairly effective technique; criminal investigation methods successful in one community have been adopted by others until there is now a certain uniformity in procedure. Existing differences in technique are of minor im portance and are traceable either to local conditions or to the emphasis placed by police executives on one or another phase of general procedure.
Large police departments divide the detective force into small groups, members of each group devoting their attention to a par ticular type of crime or criminal. Investigators detailed for duty with the pickpocket squad have little interest in, or knowl edge of, the practices of burglars. Men employed in combating
the activities of hold-up men frequently know little or nothing of the passer of worthless checks, but seek to acquaint themselves with the name and address, associates, habits and haunts of every bandit at large in their community. A member of the burglary squad may know who is implicated in a complaint made to the police department as soon as he reads the details of the crime.
Classification of Criminals by their methods of operation is now a permanent and invaluable feature. Some departments use the Atcherley modus operandi system for this purpose. Major General L. W. Atcherley, originator of this system of classifying criminals according to their modus operandi, utilizes the following classes :— (I) Classword—Kind of property attacked, whether dwelling house, lodging house, hotel, etc.
(2) Entry—The actual point of entry, front window, back window, etc.
(3) Means—Whether implements or tools used, such as a ladder, jimmy, etc.
(4) Objec.
Kind of property taken.
(5) Time—Not only time of day or night, but whether church time, market day, during meal hours, etc.
(6) Style—Whether criminal describes himself as mechanic, can vasser, agent, etc., to obtain entrance.
(7) Tale—Any disclosure as to his alleged business or errand which the criminal may make.
(8) Pal.
Whether crime was committed with confederates, etc.
(9) Transport—Whether bicycle or other vehicle was used in con nection with crime.
(io) Trademark—Whether criminal committed any unusual act in connection with crime, such as poisoning a dog, changing his clothes, leaving a note for the owner, etc.
Many departments use their own system for keeping
a record of the criminal's specialty. Race, age, sex, colour, class and occupation of the victim are noted. Whether the attack occurred in a dwelling place, office, public or semi-public building, store, shop, vehicle, vessel, public place or on a thoroughfare, is an im portant item in classifying the criminal. How a burglar entered an enclosure, particularly the actual point of entry, as for ex ample, first floor, kitchen door or second storey, rear window, or how the bandit attacked his victim, whether by beating, drug ging, or otherwise, are additional means of connecting the criminal with the crime. Tools, instruments, devices, or weapons used, or means employed in committing the offence, the actual time of day, as well as the particular day, the kind of article stolen and all individual characteristics associated with the offence are factors which assist in narrowing the scope of investigation.
The object clue is always important. Second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers are required to furnish a description of all articles sold or pledged. Although the laws regulating pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers vary somewhat, in the main they require that every person who carries on the business of pawnbroker or who purchases gold bars, gold quartz or gold bullion, or mineral con taining gold, shall, at the time of the transaction, enter in a register kept by him for that purpose, the date, duration, amount and rate of interest of every loan made by him; an accurate descrip tion of the property pledged; the estimated value of the property purchased ; the name, residence and description of the pledgor or seller. A written copy of such entry shall be delivered to the pledgor or seller and a written account shall be kept of all sales made by the pawnbroker or seller. Police investigators assigned to pawnshops visit these and second-hand stores regularly to in spect the records and view all articles sold or pledged.
Record-keeping.--In
the written report which the criminal investigator makes of stolen property, he separates the identifi able from the non-identifiable .articles. His report eventually reaches a police clerk who writes a description of each identifiable article on a 5 X 3 in. card. These cards are then filed in cabinet drawers behind appropriate guides. Unnumbered articles are filed according to an elaborate decimal system, or behind alphabetically arranged guides containing the names of the articles. Numbered articles such as watches, cameras, automobiles, etc., are filed behind numerical guides. The last two or three figures in the number are arbitrarily used as primary guide divisions. Cards are arranged in strictly numerical order within these divisions. Thus, in a two-number system, a card containing a description of a watch numbered 'Jo° would be filed behind the guide oo and would follow the card in this division numbered i,000. A record of all articles pledged or sold is also filed in these cabinets. Pledged or sold articles are distinguished from stolen property by different coloured cards. Hence, when two cards containing the same description or numbers, but on different coloured cards, are brought together in the files, it means that property which has been stolen and reported to the police department has been located in a second-hand store or pawnshop. As previously stated, the pawnshop or second-hand store record contains a description and signature of the pledgor or vendor and this information fre quently helps the police investigators in their search for the criminal.
Police investigators still believe in "fighting fire with fire" and retain a remnant of the old spy system. Criminals, prostitutes, gamblers and other underworld characters are employed as under cover agents and report regularly to one or more contact officials, whom the chief of the criminal investigation division designates. A safe-breaker lavishly spending money ; a bandit or burglar suf fering from gunshot wounds; an automobile thief possessing nu merous licence plates; a pawnbroker or second-hand dealer buying "hot stuff" (stolen articles) and neglecting to enter the sale as required by law; robbery, burglary or theft being planned; criminals proposing to move from one community to another ;— all these are types of instances reported to the contact official or officials by undercover agents. These may have important bear ing upon a crime that has already been committed or may be committed in the future. Apart from the regularly employed undercover agents, individual investigators obtain information from criminals and other persons that they have befriended and thus clear up a baffling mystery that would otherwise be unsolved.
An old, successful investigator once said, "I spend most of my time cultivating the friendship of people who can help me to clear up crimes that are assigned to me for investigation ; they often pay enormous dividends on a very small investment."