Search | Police Magazine

244 Results

Type: Article

Section: Investigations

Searching Third-Party Residences

Most officers are aware of the general rule on entering a suspect's home to arrest him or to search for evidence. These actions must be supported by either valid consent or a recognized exigency.

July 31, 2005

Resumption of Questioning

Once a custodial suspect has been given Miranda warnings, there are three basic options he can choose to exercise: (1) waive his rights and agree to talk, (2) invoke his right to remain silent, or (3) invoke his right to counsel. The suspect’s response determines whether, and under what circumstances, he can later be re-approached by law enforcement officers to obtain an admissible statement.

June 30, 2005

Short Bursts

To be honest, I've never liked writing a hodge-podge of an editorial note. It's kind of a cheat. But I have a lot of things to talk about this month and, since this is my only platform to do it, I'm going to machine-gun some stuff at you.

June 30, 2005

Holding Back Home Occupants

When you go into a suspect’s home to execute a search warrant, it’s not uncommon to find several people present, whether suspects, family members, or others. Sometimes, occupants may outnumber officers on the scene. This can create problems of safety and control, making it more difficult to carry out the search. Realizing this, the Supreme Court has provided guidelines on the ability of officers to detain, handcuff, and question occupants while a search takes place.

April 30, 2005

Scene Management

By remembering and practicing a few little techniques, we can keep crime scenes as clean as a rookie’s uniform.

February 28, 2005

The Eliminator: DNA Tech For Detectives

Every investigation is a process of elimination. When a crime has been committed it is an investigator’s job to narrow the field of possible suspects until he or she can build a case against an individual or a group of individuals.

February 28, 2005

Learn to Read Product DNA

Every crime scene, like every picture, tells a story. There are times when an obvious piece of evidence, complete with its own documented history, stares us right in the face, and we pass it by.

February 28, 2005

Po0305 Dna Bottle 1

Fatal Errors: Surviving Domestic Violence Calls

Veteran cops have always known that responding to a domestic altercation or assault is a high-risk assignment. The reasons for the danger are plentiful.

December 31, 2004

Po0105mistakes Domestic 1

The Next Dimension

Since the earliest days of trial by jury, detectives have been searching for new ways to help jurors visualize crime scenes. Using new computer and photographic technologies, investigators can create diagrams with complex 3-D surfaces and immersive 360-degree images.

October 31, 2004

More and more agencies are employing surveying equipment such as total stations to record data for 3D crime scene imagery.

Old Cops Know "Stuff"

The big secret is to listen to these veteran cops, believe most of it, and put it into action in your own life. What I learned from older cops saved my life on several occasions.

September 30, 2004

Justice Served Cold

The tenacity and determination of the homicide investigators paid off, and the killers of Stacey Weinstein were identified and arrested. It was a major coup for Miami-Dade Homicide, and it was also the beginning of Miami-Dade Homicide’s “Pending Case” unit. Later the unit was nicknamed the “Cold Case Squad” by a Miami Herald reporter.

September 30, 2004

Undercover Interrogation

The admissibility rule of Miranda v. Arizona generally dictates that you give the standard warning and get a voluntary waiver before interrogating a suspect in custody. But not always.

July 31, 2004

August 2004 Pg 78 Undercover Interrogations 1

Bang for the Buck: How to Make Ballistic Gelatin

Research shows that properly calibrated ordnance gelatin is a highly reliable tissue simulant. The ordnance gelatin used by the FBI is mixed in 20-pound blocks using the following recipe.

May 31, 2004

InfinaDyne CD/DVD Inspector 2.1

Nowadays it's easier to commit a crime with a computer than with a gun.

March 31, 2004

Getting Justice for Lisa

When violent crimes are committed in Boulder, they often involve UC students. One such crime was the brutal abduction and gang rape of a young woman that we'll call "Lisa."

November 30, 2003

How To Investigate Cybercrime

Today and every day, thousands of people worldwide are being victimized by computer crime. That’s why just about every major municipal or county law enforcement agency in the United States now has a new breed of detective: the computer crime or “cybercrime” investigator.

October 31, 2003

Corruption: Cracking Down on Bad Cops

Not all police misconduct is plastered across national newspapers, but it all has the same results. It erodes the public’s trust in law enforcement and it damages good cops, sometimes destroying their careers.

September 30, 2003

Avoiding De Facto Arrests

If police take someone from one location and transport him or her involuntarily to a police facility for investigation, this will be considered a de facto arrest. Without probable cause, that arrest will be unlawful, with predictable consequences for both evidence suppression and civil liability.

July 31, 2003

Page 12 of 14