LESSON 2

Tools, Phases and Principles in Investigation

TOPICS
1. Criminal Investigation and Its Phases
2. Role and Qualities of an Investigator
3. Approaches and Tools in Criminal Investigation
4. Cardinal Points and Methods of Identification
5. Technical and Legal Aspect of Witness

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
a. explain the criminal investigation and stages of investigation;
b. identify the qualities of investigation and investigative quality of
investigator;
c. discuss the relevance of approaches and tools in investigation; and
d. enumerate the different types, technical and classification of witness.

TOPIC 1: CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION AND ITS PHASES

Criminal investigation is defined as art and science oriented

toward identifying perpetrator/s, launching operations to locate his/their
whereabouts and gathering of evidence to prove their guilt during
criminal proceeding. Criminal investigation is deemed considered as an
art since it involves the personal qualities of the investigator as to how
he will utilize different techniques and devise his own investigative skills
in order to apprehend the perpetrator. Science in a sense that criminal
investigation follows a logical procedure, methods or process
in order to arrive at a certain conclusion as to how the crime
was committed as well as to how he will provide evidence to
prove the guilt of the perpetrator during criminal proceeding.
The term perpetrator refers to the person suspected to
have committed an act which is defined by law as crime and
whose identity was unknown to the police.
In the course of investigating crime, criminal investigation
takes the following stages to ensure the success of the case
being handled namely:
1. Identify perpetrator/s - it is important in the first part of
investigation to recognize as to who is the perpetrator of the crime. It is mainly established
as this will guide investigators as to who committed the crime.
2. Locate his/their whereabouts - after identifying perpetrator, the next step is to trace his
whereabouts, which includes but is not limited to his place of residence, workplace, and
hangout.

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 3. Provide evidence needed for his conviction - to successfully produce a conviction,
investigators must remember the rules in handling evidence so as to maintain its integrity
starting from the crime scene up until during court presentation.

TOPIC 2: ROLE AND QUALITIES OF AN INVESTIGATOR

The initiation of the investigative process primarily relies with the question “Is the act performed
constitutes a crime as defined by law” or “Is the law being violated? If the answer is yes, then
investigators must exhaust all means to uncover the facts surrounding the commission of the crime.
If investigators find that a crime was not committed or the act performed is not tantamount to a
crime, then obviously they should not interfere with
the matter.
Meanwhile, investigators play an important role
in the success of criminal investigation. As they are
the primary individual who gathers and collects
relevant information concerning the crime and later
on give testimonial evidence in court. As such, they
should possess the following qualities to become an
effective investigator.
a. Good Communication- this refers to the
capability of the investigator to interact both
in written and oral. This means that they can do effective interview either to the witness or
suspect as well as be able to write a written report when required to do so. Effective
interview means a fruitful interaction between the investigator and the people as he
gathers information without language problem.
b. Active listener -this refers to the ability of the investigator to attentively hear the testimony
given by a witness and be able to identify hearsay statements or false statements.
Hearsay are those statements made by the person who does not witness the actual
commission of the crime while false statements are those statements which are purely
fictitious and are invented only by the witness.
c. Critical thinking - this refers to the analytical skills of the investigator while he formulates
Judgment based on the testimonies given by witnesses and evidences gathered in the
course of investigation.
d. Work under pressure- this refers to the capacity of the investigator to go through the
investigation process despite of obstacles and hindrances that he may encounter such as
but not limited to lack of resources, inadequate investigative leads and clues and others.
Investigative leads refer to the information gathered from people specially those who are
within the immediate area where the crime took place while clues refer to the pieces of
signs and traces which helps in identifying perpetrators.
e. Innovativeness-this refers to the flexibility and resourcefulness of the investigator in trying
to uncover the identity and location of the perpetrator. This includes finding all possible
ideas that he may take in the course of investigation.
f. Integrity -this refers to the honor and honesty or the investigator in solving the case and
avoid unethical issues that will discredit his image.
g. Knowledge about rules on evidence- this refers to the knowledge of the investigator
about evidence handling which includes but not limited to preservation, marking, tagging,
packaging, and the requirements as to how such evidence will be admitted in court during
presentation.

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 Moreover, these qualities should not be possessed only by an investigator but rather should be
enhanced in response to the changing society. This could be possible through different seminars
and training in line with an effective investigation.
Seminars are more in line with discussions or meetings while trainings are more inclined with
actual or practical exercises and demonstrations.

TOPIC 3: APPROACHES AND TOOLS IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

The manner how investigator starts learning

facts about the crime is significant in leading him as
to the motive of the perpetrator base on the
arrangement of physical evidence in the crime at the
time they were seen for collection. Motive is the
moving power and cause that induces an individual
to perform an act which is defined as a crime. This
manner how investigator starts learning facts about
the crime is referred as the approach in investigation.
Criminal investigation can be based on the
following approaches considering the type of crime
and the manner how it was collected such that:
1. Inductive approach - this approach in
investigation follows a sequence from
specific to general such that investigators will look first at the pieces of evidence before
concluding as to what crime is committed.
2. Deductive approach - this approach in the investigation is contrary to the former as this
starts from general to specific such that investigators will first start looking at the body of
the crime (corpus delicti) before proceeding with the individual evidence as to how the
crime was committed.
For better understanding, corpus delicti refers to the body of the crime or the fact that the
crime was committed. The following example illustrates the corpus delicti of the crime:
1. Dead body in case of murder or homicide case;
2. The stolen property in theft or robbery case; or
3. The deprivation of liberty of any person in case of kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
To aid those approaches, investigators must remember the tools in criminal investigation
which includes the following:
1. Information - refers to the data needed in the course of investigation. This will allow
investigators to gather facts needed to solve the case as this is considered as the lifeblood
and essence of investigation.
2. Interview and interrogation - both are similar in terms of their purpose—to acquire
information. However, they differ in the manner as to how they gather and collect
information such that interview is done in a simple manner of questioning and mostly done
among complainant, victims, or witness. Interrogation on the other hand is intrusive or
antagonistic in its approach as it questions commonly suspects, accused or hostile witness.
3. Instrumentation - refers to the process of employing scientific instruments in crime
detection suph as but not limited to bullet comparison microscope, fingerprint comparator,
polygraph machine and the like.
In addition, tools in investigation refer to the data or methodology used or employed from the
beginning up to the ending phase of the investigative processes.

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 TOPIC 4: CARDINAL POINTS AND METHODS OF IDENTIFICATION

A series of questions and procedures should be set in order to produce a fruitful result. In the
conduct of investigation, the investigator must note the cardinal points in criminal investigation that
address the following questions:
a. What act was performed in which the law defines
it as crime?
b. Who committed the act in which the law defines it
as crime?
c. Where did this act, as defined by law as a crime,
happen?
d. When did this act, as defined by law as a crime,
happen?
e. Why was this act, as defined by law as a crime,
performed?
f. How did this act, as defined by law as a crime,
happened?

Moreover, investigative process is defined as the procedure taken by the investigator which
commence from the time the crime was reported up until it was brought before the court for the trial
of person accused to have violated the law and for proper sanction and disposition of the case.
Along with the investigative process, the investigator must establish that a crime has been
committed and the person suspected should be held for trial. In the process of establishing that a
crime was deemed committed, the following should be noted such that:
a. Investigator must prove that the accused is guilty;
b. Investigator must ensure that the accused was identified by competent witness;
c. Investigator must confirm that whatever evidence found in the crime scene pinpoints to the
same accused or group of accused people;
d. Investigator must note that evidences recovered in the crime scene are the same
evidences that will be presented in court; and
e. Investigator must remember that conviction will depend as to how he will establish the
elements of the crime alleged.

However, what happens if investigator fails to accomplish all those enumerated?

There is now a greater tendency that the case will be dismissed. In the eyes of the law, the
case is deemed dismiss if there are some technical errors committed which includes but not
limited to tampered evidence, break in the chain of custody, or the prosecution had not established
the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt and other.
Tampered evidence refers to those evidence which by its nature is false, altered or
otherwise questionable in its existence or production. Chain of custody on the other hand refers to
the transfer of evidence from one person who holds supervision or care of such evidence to
another from the time it was gathered at the crime scene up to the time it will be presented in court.
Methods of Identification
Successful criminal investigation is impossible without first establishing the identity of the
perpetrator. Hence, all efforts are futile if perpetrator cannot be brought for prosecution and the
feeling of injustice on the part of the victim is inevitable.

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 Method of identification refers to the ways and means employed to uncover the
personality of the person who may have committed an act in which under the existing law is
regarded as a crime.
Moreover, the identity of the person suspected to have committed a crime can be established
mainly through the following:
Identification by witness - the identity of the perpetrator is established through an eye -
witness or person who have seen the perpetrator in the actual commission of the crime or his
presence was seen in the crime scene or immediate area/s where the crime took place.
Identification through Physical Evidence - the identity of the perpetrator is established
through collection of physical evidence that has a logical connection to the case which could either
be associative or tracing evidence. This two differ such that:
Associative evidence - these are those material/s owned and can be linked to the
perpetrator which by some instance was left at the crime scene.
Tracing evidence - these are those material/s taken by the perpetrator at the crime scene
and most commonly found in theft or robbery cases.
Identification through Forensic Science - this method is done through the aid of the
expertise of different forensic services such as DNA, fingerprint, Odontology and the like.

TOPIC 5: TECHNICAL AND LEGAL ASPECT OF WITNESS

The term "witness” is used both in

technical and legal perspective technically,
witness a defined as any person who have
seen or knowledge regarding the
commission of the crime. This could be
further classified as:
1. Prosecution witness - refers to
any person brought before trial to
offer testimony in favor for the
prosecution and is used to add
incriminatory evidence to the
accused.
2. Defense witness - refers to any
person who is brought before trial to strengthen the alibi of the defense and to disprove the
charge of the prosecution.
3. Character witness - refers to any person who offers a testimony in line with the character
reputation of some other person which will then serve at some point as to whether or not
the testimony of that person will be given credit or not.
4. Eyewitness - refers to any person who has seen the actual commission of the crime either
whole or only part of its commission.
5. Child witness - refers to young individual who offers a testimony concerning a crime.
6. Dumb witness - these are those witnesses who by reason of some mental faculty are
unable to provide an accurate detail regarding the crime which is typically common among
uneducated individual.
7. Honest witness - these are those witnesses who cooperate and avoid exaggeration or
falsehood in providing testimonies concerning the crime.

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 8. Fearful witness - these are those persons who are afraid of being involved in the
prosecution of the accused or simply shy to face the open court.
9. Egocentric witness - refers to a witness who is prone to exaggeration of the things he
had observed and may attempt to add facts which are not part of the real scenario.
10. Hostile witness - these are those witnesses who are uncooperative and do not wish to
provide information necessary for the prosecution of the case.
11. Suspicious witness-are individual witnesses who are doubtful about the true intention of
the investigators or the police as a whole.

In legal perspective, the law and the Revised Rules of Court define and qualify a witness as
'any person who can perceive, capable of perceiving, and can make known his perception to
others' can be a witness.
Under the Revised Rules of Court the law further classify witness as either:
1. Ordinary witness - these are those witness who may be allowed to testify regarding the
following:
 About the identity of the person whom he had knowledge;
 Handwriting of the person of which he had familiarity; and
 Mental sanity of the person whom he had acquainted.
2. Expert witness - are those witness who by reason of their knowledge, skills, training or
experience may be allowed by the court to give their opinion.

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