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Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
1. Describe the stages and procedures of a criminal investigation.
2. Identify and explain the ethical considerations associated with criminal investigations.
3. Describe the roles, duties, and legal aspects related to investigators and crime scene management.
4. Describe the essential elements of a crime and apply them to aspects of the investigation including evidence collection, interviewing, and interrogation.
5. Identify, recognize, and describe how to determine evidentiary value and utility of an item or statement.
6. Explain and demonstrate methods of documentation in the investigative process.
7. Explain the legal aspects and constitutional safeguards applicable to searches, interrogations, interviews, and identifications.
8. Recognize and describe appropriate evidentiary chain of custody from collection to trial.
9. Identify and describe methods of evidence examination and the role of forensic examination.
10. Explain the legal aspects of surveillance techniques.
11. Identify key investigative resources.
12. Describe the stages of the court process pertaining to investigations and evidence.
13. Identify methods of preparation for trial and presentation of evidence at trial.
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1. Introduction to Preliminary Investigation
a. Investigative process
b. Initial response
c. Prioritizing actions and events
d. Protecting the crime scene
e. Locating and identifying witnesses
f. Documenting crime scene conditions and events
g. Roles and responsibilities of the investigative team
h. Ethical considerations and challenges
i. Determining the crime based on the essential elements of a crime: actus reus, mens rea, and attendant circumstances
2. Documentation
a. Note taking
b. Photography
c. Diagrams
d. Writing the report including all supplemental documentation
3. Investigative and Legal Aspects of Searches
a. Fourth Amendment procedures and safeguards
b. Exclusionary Rule and exceptions
c. Crime scene searches with and without a warrant
d. Crime scene search warrants
e. Administrative, probation, and parole searches
f. Search patterns
g. Follow-up during an investigation
4. Physical Evidence and Forensics
a. Determining evidentiary value and utility
b. Investigative equipment
c. Contamination issues and prevention
d. Chain of custody
e. Evidence examination including fingerprints, DNA, bodily fluids, hairs, fibers, tool marks, weapons, and digital evidence
f. Laboratories
5. Information and Intelligence
a. Surveillance types and devices
b. Legal aspects of surveillance
c. Electronic information sources and databases
d. Other agency resources including federal and state levels
6. Investigative and Legal Aspects of Interviews, Interrogations, and Identifications
a. Fifth Amendment procedures and safeguards
b. Sixth Amendment procedures and safeguards
c. Interviews including planning, rapport building, and documentation
d. Interrogations including planning, rapport building, and documentation
e. Constitutional rights including admonition, assertion, and waiver
f. Identifications including lineups and photographic
g. Determining the value and utility of witness and informant statements
7. Court Process and Presentation of Evidence
a. Pretrial and trial process
b. Role of the investigator
c. Preparing and presenting testimony
d. Preparing and presenting evidence
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1. Criminal Investigation (10th ed.). Hess-Orthman, C. and Hess, K., 2012.
2. Instructor prepared materials