Pol Midterm

Front 1

Criminal Investigation Definition

Back 1

The process of discovering, collecting, preparing, identifying, and presenting evidence to determine what happened and who is responsible.

Front 2

Goals of investigation

Back 2

Determine of a crime has been committed

Legally obtain information and evidence to identify the perpetrator.

Arrest the suspect

Recover Stolen Property

Present the best possible case to the prosecutor.

Front 3

Basic Functions

Back 3

Provide Emergency assistance

Secure crime scene

Photograph, sketch, videotape

Take notes, write reports

Search for, obtain, process physical evid.

Obtain information from persons.

Front 4

Important to get the scene quickly but safely?

Back 4

Becuase the case might get cold.

Front 5

Police Report

Back 5

A police report is a permanent written record of facts surrounding a case.

These reports provide key pieces of factual evidence in court.

Front 6

Which of the following is the correctchronological order of response priorities at a crime scene?

Back 6

handle emergencies > secure scene > investigate

Front 7

Cause of Death

Back 7

Natural, accidental, or Intentional

Expressly defines what led to death> deprivation of oxygen due to punctured lung or asphyxia, or blood loss. etc

Front 8

Nature of Death

Back 8

The means used to inflict the cause, ie., blunt force trauma with an object measuring two inches in diameter, or a small caliber gunshot wound to the left temple.

Front 9

4th Amendment

Back 9

The right of the people to be secure in their person, homes, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Front 10

4th Amendment Cont

Back 10

No warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.

Front 11

Exclusionary Rule ( Weeks v U.S)

Back 11

Evidence obtained by federal law enforcement officers as the result of an illegal search would not be admissible in court.

Front 12

exceptions to the exclusionary rule.

Back 12

Inevitable Discovery Doctrine.

If evidence would have ultimatley been discovered anyway, its still admissinble.

Good faith Doctrine( U.S. v leon )

If police truly did not know that they were violating the 4th amendment, then it's admissible.

Front 13

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree Doctrine

Back 13

Evidence obtained through illegal search, but also to any additional evidence that the illegal search may have led officers to, even if the second search was conducted illegal it will still be excluded in court and will ruin the whole case.

Front 14

Searching Patterns

Back 14

Lane search (Up and Down)

Circle search ( Spiral)

Zone or Sector search (Outline zone is string)

Front 15

Vehicle Searches

Back 15

- On the ground and underdeath

-Exteroir

Front 16

Cross Contamination

Back 16

When two objects come together then there is a transfer of information between them.

This creates a principle called the Lo-card exchange.

Front 17

Fingerprints Visible

Back 17

Visible- readily identifiable as fingerprint with an unassisted eye because finger has come into contact with a substance like ink, blood, paint, or dust(chalk)

Front 18

Plastic Fingerprint

Back 18

Finger comes into contact with a soft substance, like putty, wet cement, plaster, even dust.

Front 19

Latent Fingerprint

Back 19

Not readily visible to naked eye... deposit of Blank which can be made visible through development.

Front 20

Lifting FingerPrints

Back 20

Always fuming first as this process occasionally fails and can destroy the print.

Prepare lifter

Use background that contrast with poweder

press down and make sure its air tight

2nd or 3rd lift is always best.

Front 21

Whichsketching method would be most appropriate for a crime scene that included abody on the floor of an interior room and blood spatter stains on the walls?

Back 21

Cross projection

Front 22

Exceptions to searches and 4th amendment

Back 22

1

Front 23

Searching People Physically

Back 23

- ask for consent

- Handcuffs(First)

- Wear gloves

- ask, do you have anything?

- position

- patterns

Can use backhand or palm to search

Most possessions can be found in private areas.

Front 24

Dog sniffing

Back 24

The sniff is not a search but the dog can detect things a human cannot smell. They can support the probably cause.

Front 25

United States v Race

Back 25

Indication of a drug after a sniff by a drug dog is efficient to establish probable cause.

Front 26

United States V Place

Back 26

If a drug dog finds contraband in public then it was not a search under the 4th amendment.

Front 27

Exceptions to a Warrant Requirement

Back 27

You do not need a warrant if permission is given.

Front 28

Terry V Ohio aka "Terry Stops"

Back 28

This established officers right to stop and frisk a person they think may be armed and dangerous based on reasonable suspicion not probable cause. This is for officer safety.

Front 29

Mincey V Arizona

Back 29

This case held that police don't have to delay a search by getting a warrant if doing so would endanger lives.

But once the danger of emergency situation is controlled, a warrant is needed to continue the search.

Front 30

Open Fields Doctrine (Oliver v United States)

Back 30

Police don't need a warrant to search open fields.

- Also property outside of the curtilage of a residence.

- You have full privacy rights in your own home but not outside in public.

Front 31

Plain View Doctrine

Back 31

If your feel are legally there, and you can see it clearly with your own eyes that its evidence of a crime. Then you can size it.

Front 32

Mapp v Ohio

Back 32

Applied Weeks decisions to all court proceedings and law enforcement officers.

Front 33

Chain of Custody

Back 33

A written chain-of-custody for every piece of evidence that is collected.

This list every person who possessed the evidence including dates, location, signature, and purpose of transfer.

Front 34

Direct Evidence

Back 34

Establishes proof of a fact without any other evidence.

Ex: Video, eyewitness, confession etc

Front 35

Indirect Evidence (Circumstantial)

Back 35

All evidence other than eyewitness or confession.

- Tends to incriminate, makes it more likely.

- Can convict on circumstantial, if it's beyond a reasonable doubt.

Front 36

Class

Back 36

Features that place an object of evidence into a specific category

Front 37

Individual

Back 37

Evidence has characteristics that distinguish it from other items in the class.

Front 38

DNA(Deoxyribonucleic Acid)

Back 38

Genetic Fingerprint in chromosomes of cells.

( Identical twins have the same.)

You can tell Blank and hair color from a DNA sample (unlike blood or a fingerprint)

Front 39

DNA 2

Back 39

Package it in plastic and it will allow the microbe to grow.

Front 40

DNA Database

Back 40

CODIS, (Combined DNA index system) links all these states databases together.

Front 41

Gunshot residue

Back 41

Burnt powder cloud follows bullet out of the barrel, blows back through action or cylinder on to shooter and my reach victim.

- Can test suspects hands using a field wipe kit.

- Also provides an estimate of range between shooter and victim ( at close ranges it will still be burning.)

Front 42

Hair Evidence

Back 42

Class characteristics

You could base blood type, race and sex, last haircut.

Front 43

Civil Liability

42 USC Section Civil Right Act

Back 43

If you are a legal authority and violate someone constitutional rights, you can be sued.

Front 44

Media

Back 44

Find a balance between the people right to know and the necessity for confidentiality to solve crimes.

Do not realse any infromation until the situitaion and investigation is under control.

Front 45

Dispatchers

Back 45

Obtain Information given by complainant and relays to responding officers.

Front 46

Prosecutors office (D.A)

Back 46

They specialized investigations ( white collar crime, drugs etc) and assist other agencies who may lack the funing to maintain an investigative branch.

They also decide if evidence provides sufficeinent proof to proceed to court.

Front 47

Personal

Back 47

Do not speak to defense counsel directly, only through the prosecutor's office.

Doctors are often the complainant. (finds evidence)

Coroner provides time, cause and nature of death and secures and stores evidence.

Crime lab examine and identify the evidence.

Front 48

Photographs

Back 48

Too much detail can be distracting. This tends to distort distances and creates fishbowl effect.

Use lighting to best represent the scene. Shoot at 45 degree angle.

Front 49

Command Centers

Back 49

Set up when multiple agencies are involved or if the investigation is of a large scale with many personal involved.

Front 50

Rough Sketches

Back 50

Done in pencil.

Overall outline of scene and object.

Not used for scaling but for places, objects in appropriate location and measurements.

Front 51

Finished Sketches

Back 51

Done with stencil, straigt edges and protractors.

lettering and numbers are typed.

Might be done on a computer.

This is used to scale.

Front 52

Curtilage

Back 52

an area of land attached to a house and forming one enclosure with it:

Front 53

Firing pins and Extractor marks

Back 53

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