Guidelines For The Preliminary Investigation Of A Criminal Case

A guideline is a set of general rules, or principles that one must follow. A preliminary investigation is done to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to form a theory that a crime was committed. The guidelines for the preliminary investigation of a criminal case are as follows: Officers authorized to conduct preliminary investigations are city prosecutors, judges of the municipal trial courts and municipal circuit trial courts, national and regional state prosecutors, and other officers as authorized by the law.

The preliminary investigation begins when a call to responders is received. At this time, the officer should become mentally prepared prior to arriving on the scene. Once the officer has arrived at the scene, his task is …show more content…
For the purpose of explaining this, the crimes of rape and homicide will be used. When a victim reports a rape, most police departments send officers to the scene to make a report, obtain evidence and assist the victim. In many departments, officers are trained to deal with sexual assault victims. Police officers usually recommend victims to receive immediate medical care, and are willing to drive you to the nearest facility. Visiting a clinic as early as possible is the best way to collect evidence, and to prevent any health issues. Clothing worn at the time of the assault may also be used as evidence. After the victim is well, and out of the hospital, the police officer will conduct the first interview. This is the time when police officers ask questions about the assault, specific questions may be asked and are normally used for documental purposes. After this, the police officer should write a report and the victim is dismissed. For homicide, the procedure is completely different. Once a call reporting a homicide comes in dispatchers are to do their job immediately and dispatch at least two officers along with paramedics to the scene. These are usually the first to arrive to the scene, and usually destroy a lot of potential evidence by doing so much as walking inside the place of the homicide. To prevent further destruction to possible …show more content…
Follow-up investigation is the government officials’ effort to gather information and evidence after the initiation of the original report and until the case is ready to go to court. The follow-up investigation is usually the ‘make it or break it’ element in court, and is ironically the one where most mistakes are made. That being said, one strategy that officers should consider in order to make fewer mistakes and conduct an efficient follow up investigation is to pay more attention to witnesses. Investigators should make interviews with witnesses extensive, asking open-ended questions, leaving more space for thorough responses. The more details witnesses supply officers with, the easier it makes it to catch the perpetrator. There are three types of witnesses, eyewitness, expert witness, and character witness. Eyewitnesses are people who personally saw an incident occur. Expert witnesses are people who are called to the case for knowledge, which is outside the area of expertise of the officers, such as a doctor. And finally, character witnesses are people who are called to the case to give a statement about the good character of the accused. Investigators should more closely examine all these types of