Walk through the three-pronged approach a detective takes to create a narrative of a crime that took place. What skills would be an asset to performing this work and taking on these responsibilities?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The three-pronged approach typically taken by detectives to create a story about a crime starts with a specific focus. This involves interviewing witnesses, gathering evidence, recording events, and collecting facts at the immediate crime scene. Once this step is completed, detectives move on to general coverage. In this step of the process, they canvass the neighborhood and make observations, conduct interviews with friends, families, and associates, contact coworkers or employers for more information about victims and suspects, and construct timelines to outline the whereabouts of victims and suspects prior to the incident. In the last step, called the informative step, detectives use technology to collect records of cell phones and pagers, computer hard drives, diaries, notes, and documents. This information includes data that persons of interest in the investigation use that reveals clues about their lives, interactions with others, and geographic connections. Knowledge of human behavior is an important skill to have when conducting the investigative function in terms of composing a narrative about what could have happened, getting an idea of what people are telling you and whether they are telling the truth or not, and being able to analyze data to determine how a person acts and thinks. Other important skills would be the ability to analyze a wide range of information, the ability to research and collect information, a comfort in talking to others, knowledge of crime trends and criminal behavior, and patience.