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GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: This questionnaire asks for information regarding the day-to-day criminal investigative process of law enforcement agencies. Responses should be recorded on the questionnaire by filling in the circle or writing in the appropriate response. |
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For purposes of the following questions investigators are defined as sworn or non-sworn officers who: - Generally wear civilian clothes - Perform primarily investigative duties - Have specially designated titles such as "detective," "investigator," "agent," etc. - May be managers or supervisors who primarily supervise either investigators or investigative matters
This definition does not include: Sworn and non-sworn officers having investigative support duties, such as crime scene or laboratory technicians, legal staff, crime analysis, and intelligence or information specialists. |
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Which of the following best describes your law enforcement agency? (Mark only one) |
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How many sworn officers does your agency employ? |
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Are investigators (as defined above) employed at your agency? |
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| How many investigators (sworn and non-sworn) does your agency employ? (This answer is to include investigators in areas such as: internal affairs, homicide, vice, narcotics, etc.) | | |
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| How many investigators are non-sworn? | | | | How many investigators are part-time? | | |
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What kind of cases do investigators generally investigate?
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What reasons/rationale does your agency have for the organization of its investigators?
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Does your agency place investigators into separate organized units? |
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If your agency places investigators into separate organized units please fill out the appropriate response below. Answer Yes or No and input the number of investigators for each category if applicable. (NOTE: Please DO NOT INCLUDE INVESTIGATIVE SUPPORT UNITS such as those involved in evidence collection, analysis, etc.)
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| 0 to 3 years of experience | | | | 4 to 6 years of experience | | | | 7 to 10 years of experience | | | | 11 or more years of experience | | |
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Are "cold case files" (old unsolved crimes) investigated by your agency? |
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On what basis are the investigators assigned to these cases? |
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What types of cases are usually assigned to cold case investigators? |
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At your agency, how often do investigators report to and/or coordinate with supervisors on routine investigations? (Mark only the most common answer). |
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Which of the following response(s) best describes what investigators do in your agency when investigating serious crimes (choose one for each item listed below).
a. Tasks
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b. Work with uniformed officers
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A number of criteria and processes that are listed below can be used to select investigators. For each one, please indicate whether or not it is used in your agency.
a. Criteria:
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Has your agency hired people (laterally) from other agencies as investigators within the past five years? |
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When selected to be an investigator, is the individual automatically entitled to any of the following?
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In your agency how many ranks are there for investigators? |
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Are newly selected investigators required to be placed on a probationary period? |
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Are newly appointed investigators required to complete additional training before being assigned to their own cases? |
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What type of training do new investigators receive?
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Excluding new investigators, are investigators in your agency required to undergo any refresher or advanced classroom investigations training? |
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Concerning investigators who attend investigative training instruction, which of the items listed below are authorized by your agency?
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With regard to the training of investigators, to which degree has each of the factors listed below been a problem?
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Within your agency are there any policies that limit how long officers are allowed to serve in investigative positions? |
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Why do people most commonly leave investigative positions in your agency?
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Please indicate for each item listed below whether or not the criteria and process is used to select supervisory investigators in your agency (persons who supervise investigators on a daily basis). |
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How is a case assigned to an investigator once the decision is made to investigate the incident?
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The decision to assign cases to investigators is most commonly made by which of the following?
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Are activity logs (written breakdown of activities and/or amount of time spent on cases) routinely required of investigators in your agency to account for how their time is spent? |
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Different methods are used to evaluate investigators and investigation units. For each item below, please indicate whether or not it is used in your agency.
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SECTION II: UNIFORMED OFFICERS |
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From the list below, which investigative functions do uniformed officers perform in your agency?
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Has your agency attempted to enhance the criminal investigation role of uniformed officers within the past five years? |
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Is classroom instruction on investigations required for uniformed officers after they have completed the basic academy training? |
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What types of investigations training are provided?
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Is any refresher or advanced investigation training required of uniformed officers in your agency? |
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SECTION III: INVESTIGATIVE MANAGEMENT |
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Have any investigators or uniformed officers in your agency been assigned to any investigations task forces? |
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What type of agencies, if any, were involved in the task force(s)?
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Are there any anti-terrorism unit/team/task forces at your agency? |
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If YES, were they established prior to September 11, 2001? |
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What types of investigation task forces (single and/or multi-agency) was your agency involved in?
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Are civilians (non-sworn) assigned to investigative support tasks at your agency (e.g., evidence collection, crime analysis intelligence, polygraph, etc.)? |
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Within the past five years, has your agency introduced any of the following investigative changes?
Projects:
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Factors that can impact the investigative function are listed below. For each factor, please indicate the degree to which it is a problem in your agency.
a. Uniformed Officer-related Factors
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A number of different goals that may be associated with the criminal investigation function are listed below. For each goal, indicate how important your agency considers it to be with regard to criminal investigations.
Crime-related Goals
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Does your agency (when assigning cases for investigation) use case solvability factors to determine whether cases will be assigned?
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What types of crimes are they used for? |
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Are there any innovative investigative programs or policies in your agency that are showing enough success or promise that other agencies would be interested in them? |
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In regards to the investigation function during the next one to three years, does your agency have any plans for major changes? |
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Please indicate below how investigators most commonly prepare their reports?
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At your agency how are investigation reports filed?
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At your agency how are investigation reports monitored?
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For your agency how is the progress of investigations monitored? For each item below, indicate if it is not monitored, or whether it is tracked manually or by computer.
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Although it is not required in every jurisdiction, is the recording of police-witness and/or victim interviewing legally required in your jurisdiction? |
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Although it is not required in every jurisdiction, is the recording of police-suspect interrogations legally required in your jurisdiction?
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Although it may not be legally required, do your investigators routinely record by audio or audio/visual means interrogation of suspects? |
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Please indicate to what extent are victims notified of investigations by your agency.
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Please indicate the extent to which each of the items listed below have posed legal problems during the conduct of investigations in your agency during the past 5 years.
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In order to improve investigative effectiveness what is the extent of your agency's need for additional funding in the areas listed below?
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In order to share information regarding investigative activities, does your agency meet regularly with other criminal justice agencies ? |
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SECTION IV: INVESTIGATIVE EFFECTIVENESS |
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When judging an individual investigator's performance at your agency what level of importance do clearance rates have? |
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When judging the overall performance of investigative units at your agency, what level of importance do clearance rates have? |
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Has your agency experienced an increase or decline in the clearance of serious crimes in the past ten years? |
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For each of the items below please indicate the degree to which you believe that doing these for investigators in your agency would help to improve clearance rates.
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Does your agency's prosecutor have its own investigative staff? |
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Indicate the extent to which your local prosecutor’s office would usually be consulted about an investigation prior to an arrest, other than for the purpose of obtaining a warrant. Please respond to each crime type listed below.
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Indicate the extent to which your local prosecutor’s office would assist in an investigation after an arrest, other than for the purpose of obtaining a warrant.
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Is there a regular and continuing organizational relationship between your agency and your prosecutor’s office aside from what is required for warrants and arrests? |
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Indicate the degree to which each of the following factors have been a problem in your agency’s relationship with your prosecutor’s office.
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SECTION V: INVESTIGATIVE SUPPORT |
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Are there any evidence technicians employed by your agency (persons specifically designated to collect and/or process evidence at crime scenes)? |
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Indicate the number of evidence technicians authorized for full-time, part-time, or as an additional duty?
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Is specialized experience or training required for people who are designated as evidence technicians in your agency? |
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In your agency, how would the investigative staff describe their access to routine crime laboratory services? Mark only one. |
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How would investigators at your agency describe the average turn-around time for analysis other than for drug/alcohol cases when they make use of routine crime laboratory services? Mark only one. |
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Does your agency have unsolved cases that are currently "backlogged" due to the fact there is no DNA analysis readily available? |
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If YES, why is DNA analysis not readily available?
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Who provides the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) service, when your agency uses it?
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At your agency are the types of records listed below available to investigators in manual or computer form? Mark all that apply.
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Please indicate below the files that are maintained by your agency to support investigations. Mark all that apply.
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Mark all of the following to which uniformed officers and/or investigators have daily access to.
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Does your agency plan to upgrade or enhance any of the following within the next year?
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At your agency, is investigative work in general misrepresented in the popular media (CSI, television, movies, etc.)? |
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IF YES, to what degree do you think investigations work is misrepresented in the following areas?
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To what extent, within the past five years, has research in the areas identified below directly influenced your agency policy and/or practice regarding the criminal investigation process?
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What priority would you give to each of the following areas if additional research on the criminal investigative process were to be undertaken?
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