Mendez Case Update

I am still waiting for some important results to come back from the lab. I will be posting the autopsy report and various analysis from Mendez' cell phone, print identification, etc. So please be patient. I should have all the results in by Monday night..

GUEST SPEAKER JANUARY 29th

We are fortunate enough to have a Homicide Investigator come and speak to our class this coming Thursday 1/29th. Please come to class on time as I will be introducing him at the beginning of the class. Next Tuesday 2/3 we will finish up the Search & Seizure lecture and also will be receiving preliminary results on the Mendez Case.

STEPS OF THE INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS
1 - Determine if a crime has been committed
2 - Verify jurisdiction
3 - Discover all facts and collect physical evidence
4 - Recover stolen property
5- Identify the perpetrator or perpetrators
6 - Locate and apprehend perpetrators
7 - Aid the prosecution by providing evidence of guilt admissible in court
8 - Testify effectively as a witness in court

DUTIES OF PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION
P roceed to scene promptly and safely R ender assistance to injured
E ffect arrest of the criminal
L ocate and identify witnesses
I nterview complainant and witnesses
M aintain integrity of crime scene and protect evidence
I nterrogate suspects as necessary
N ote conditions, events, and remarks
A rrange for evidence collection or collect it yourself
R eport the entire incident fully and accurately
Y ield responsibility to follow-up investigator or superior officer

Follow-up investigations
1 -reading over all the original reports and paperwork, and looking for leads.
2- the evidence is gone over and subjected to every kind of analysis necessary.
3- victims, witnesses, and suspects are contacted to see if their story changes.
4-a stakeout or surveillance technique may be used on a suspect.
5-a meeting is scheduled with the prosecuting attorney to make sure everybody's on the same page with this case.

There are at least six major pieces of police paperwork involved in a follow-up investigation:

POLICE PAPERWORK IN A FOLLOW-UP INVESTIGATION

1. incident reports (also called complaint or field reports) that are made available to citizens in copy form for insurance purposes
2. warrants (for search and arrest) which contain the probable cause information
3. follow-up reports (like the example above) which recreate the history of the investigation
4. property reports (cross linked to incident and follow-up reported) which describe where and how found
5. lab reports (requests for & results of) for anything analyzed by a criminalist or forensic expert 6. review reports (or supervisory review reports) signed by other department personnel

The Police Narrative

N WHEN? when did the incident occur - when did the police arrive - when did all the players (emt - detectives - supervisors - medical examiner - crime scene unit , etc, arrive at the scene and when did each critical piece of the investigation occur (ie body removed to morgue, prints taken, evidence vouchered, witnesses intervied)

E WHERE? where did this take place (exact locations)

O WHO? who is involved (victims, suspects, perpetrators, police, emt, detectives, witnesses)

T WHAT? what exactly happened? This is the place in the narrative for ALL the particulars/details/facts as you know them

W HOW? how do you think this all went down? how did it occur?Y Why? why do you think this happened? Motives? Circumstances surrounding the incident as you know them based on the facts that you know.

CRIME SCENE NEXT STEPS

Lieutenants will be sure to have all members of their squads meet on Tuesday January 20th to put together the following:

1- Individual narratives answering WHEN - WHERE - WHO -WHAT- HOW-WHY of the crime scene
2- Individual crime scene sketches (reconstructing to the best of ability and memory)
3- Collectively as a squad come up with an EVIDENCE INVENTORY (a list of ALL evidence at the scene) - again to the best of your ability and recollection - perhaps based on what you remember, or what you photographed. This list INCLUDES that evidence which was vouchered by your squad.
4- Collectivley as a squad (with the assistance of your crime scene photographer) come up with a list of photos from the scene.

Lieutenant must electronically notify me of their roll call and individual contributions to the process. On Thursday January 22nd we will pool our information and each squad will report their findings to the other squads. On 1/22 I expect to have preliminary results from the lab and medical examiner as to prints found at the scene, cell phone record information, narcotics analysis, autopsy report and identification of victim.

January 20th SQUAD ASSIGNMENT

Individuals prepare narratives. SQUADS PUT TOGETHER EVIDENCE IN CLASS ALONG WITH EVIDENCE INVENTORY - SKETCHES & photosLIEUTENANTS REPORT ELECTRONICALLY REGARDING SQUAD ASSIGNMENT STATUS AND ROLL CALL