"What Makes an Effective Criminal Investigator?" 

Fundamental positive characteristics of a criminal investigator include effective communication skills and technical skills and knowledge.  Investigators must be strong communicators and have the necessary skills in asking questions and recognizing discrepancies in order to clarify the information (Hess, Orthmann & Cho 2016).  In communication, investigators must be open-minded in order to avoid prejudice and get into better judgment. In addition, they should have technical skills which will help them in doing investigations. They should be knowledgeable in using technology or equipment such as surveillance equipment which will help in analyzing evidence.  Example of real life stories which show the positive characteristics are stories from popular crime television. Character such as Richard Castle from Castle is knowledgeable and has unique set of skills in investigation. In the episode, Castle is consulted to do investigation of the murder. Castle is unsatisfied with the case resolutions and decides to go into deeper layers and do further investigation. Finally he notes the killer was the social worker’s brother (Hess, Orthmann & Cho 2016).

 

Negative characteristics of a criminal investigator include heuristic and cognitive biases.  Investigators use shortcut in dealing with a particular case. In many cases, heuristic do not arrive to correct assessment and as a result they leads to cognitive bias (Rossmo, 2008). Investors arrive into incorrect conclusion due to cognitive factors.  Cognitive bias produced by heuristics causes constraints in the reasoning system due to the interpretation of ambiguous evidence.  For example in the movie ‘Devil’s Knot’ West Memphi Three were charged and convicted for murder. However, there was a cognitive bias through psychological research (Rossmo, 2008).  The convictions were wrong as investigators failed to find credible testimony.

 

  There will be advantages in training two general detectives for homicide investigation. First, the general detectives have critical thinking skills and so they have the ability to analyze the aspects of certain cases effectively (Hess, Orthmann & Cho 2016). With high level of skills, they will think critically and make wise decisions in solving the matter.  Other point is that since they have job experience, they will be able to manage the crime scenes, perform investigation, prevent disturbances and enforce laws (Hess, Orthmann & Cho 2016). However, there will be   disadvantages in that since there is rash homicides in the community and only two detectives are being trained, there will be work overload and detectives will be unable to solve all problems (Rossmo, 2008).  In addition, work overload will cause work exhaustion which will lead to unfair judgment, innocent jail and murder.  Much time will be need in handling all cases and this indicates that some cases will go unsolved and suspects will not be detained (Rossmo, 2008).

 

Reference

Hess M. Karen, Orthmann H. Christine & Cho L. Henry (2016). Criminal Investigation. Cengage Learning

Rossmo D. Kim (2008). Criminal Investigative Failures. CRC Press