Investigation Procedures And Questioning?
Ok, I am interested in law and investigations. I watch a lot of “First 48″, “Forensic Files” and “Cold Case Files” Anyway, I am wondering how important is the interrogation or questioning of potential suspects? During an investigation when evidence is found that points towards a particular person or persons. Probable cause is developed and a warrant or an arrest usually follows. If the evidence is limited and is not enough to prosecute, and the suspect chooses not to talk or even has a good alibi, what happens next? For instance, there is a burglary or robbery etc.. During the invesigation you find prints or some form of evidence that points at a person. The person had no permission to be there. So now you have PC. If the suspect comes in for questioning or is arrested and has an alibi or refuses to talk, or maybe has a legit reason behind the evidence. What do you do? More then likley the evidence would not be enough to go further, without crediting or discrediting his/her story, alibi, explanition. So would you be forced to let them go, or do you try your luck in court?
Depends (in my experience) on how strong the case is against a suspect as to whether I interview or interrogate.
I will often only speak to a suspect in an attempt to gather intel on their associates and other criminal activity, rather than the case in hand,
If I NEED a confession to make a case, I won’t have PC to arrest anyway.
Like I said, it really depends, sometimes a confession can tighten up a case (especially in major cases like those on the 1st 48 and Cold case files), but many cases are solid even without a confession.
As for “trying my luck in court”. Whenever I make a felony arrest, the following happens. A detective will review the case within the next 24 hours, cross the “t”s and dot the “I”s, take the case file to the Intake DA. They talk the case over and decide whether the DA’s office will file the charges. This is criminal procedure on felonies in Colorado.
We also have the option of “Release Pending Charges”, in which the above happens, but I just haven’t physically arrested the suspect. Typically if a suspect doesn’t speak with me, or feeds me a line of BS, I jail them. If their explanation is reasonable and I can check into it, then the situation changes.
In this situation, since his prints were found inside the car, he was questioned as the probable cause and the DA is now building a felony case on him. Just waiting for the Grand Jury to return a 3 count indictment to put him away for the next 12 or 13 years.
Best of luck and I hope this is useful to you
They become ” a person of interest” and they cut him loose but watch him if its in regard to a capital crime…….
Keep in mind that the television shows and movies are mostly set in New York and California, and even when they’re not, the writers think everything happens everywhere as it does in those states.
A great deal of suspect interviewing happens away from the office, on the street or at the suspect’s home. You don’t have to have arrested them. One advantage or talking to them before they are arrested is that they are not in custody and do not come under Miranda. Miranda is strictly for people in custody, arrested, meaning they can’t walk away. Of course, if they come in voluntarily to talk, they are also not in custody, so long as they were free to go any time they wished.
Sometimes, people refuse to talk when they’ve been arrested. Most often, they will talk with you. If they won’t talk, they won’t talk. You never count on a confession, and you never stop investigating, just because you got a confession. If someone gives you an alibi, you investigate that, if for not other reason than that it will likely be their defense. Of course, if you have their prints in a situation where they could only have been left by them while committing the crime, their alibi is a lie, but you still want to hear it.
It’s all just investigation, and you don’t leave anything out, including talking to suspects and actual crooks. You always want to know what they’re going to say. But keep in mind, too, that having just PC and a suspect who won’t talk under arrest is more something for the plot of a drama than reality. You’re a whole lot more likely to get a confession when you wait until you have a court case put together than if you arrest too soon. And the reality of most cases is that you have at least a basic court case that you could take to trial and don’t really go through a stage of having just probable cause. Having just probable cause is good TV, because the audience then knows or think they know who did it while the police struggle for proof. But it tends to all come together at once in most real cases.
And, in most places, since you can’t just pick someone up on suspicion, and you have to have a warrant, you don’t have those dramatic “charge me or release me” moments. If you just have PC and you arrest, they stay arrested until they get a bond set and post it. You try to avoid those situations, because if you have at least a minimum courtroom case, you can get them indicted promptly and avoid a habeas hearing there you have to expose your evidence.