criminal investigation questions
“Locating Witnesses”
This lesson supplements the reading “Locating Witnesses” in Chapter 3, pages 61-64, in the textbook.
Locating, identifying, and questioning persons who have some knowledge of the crime and its circumstances are essential to any investigation. As we have discussed so far, these are critical steps at the crime scene. In the Preliminary Investigation, the first responding patrol officers must, at the very least, get the names and contact information for witnesses found at the scene and conduct initial questioning. Upon the arrival of the detectives to undertake the Follow-Up, these witnesses will be questioned further for their early accounts of the incident.
During the Continuing Investigation witnesses already identified will be formally questioned in depth in a structured interview at police headquarters. However, an important task remains to locate any additional people, not found at the crime scene, who may provide eyewitness Direct evidence or Circumstantial evidence.
Revisiting the Crime Scene
The general neighborhood where a crime has taken place, the area surrounding the crime scene, is the starting point to locate additional witnesses. Residents, visitors, shoppers and workers who may have been in the area at the time of the incident, especially those who are in the vicinity around the same time daily or weekly, are often sources of critical information. They may have seen, heard, or known something of interest, but left the scene prior to the arrival of the responding officers, sometimes not even knowing that the event they observed has become a police case. These are the people we need to locate.
Neighborhood Canvass
A canvass is an attempt to solicit and secure information from a group of people. Whether used to ask for votes, opinions or information regarding a crime, it involves seeking out participants, usually by visiting them at their place of residence, business or other activity. In a criminal investigation canvassing is a process to locate and identify witnesses who may have some pertinent observations or knowledge about the circumstances surrounding the crime.
One of the first tasks a lead detective should have on his lead sheet is the canvassing of the residents of the neighborhood of the crime. It is not unusual that a killer, rapist, arsonist, or robber will live in the immediate neighborhood where he/she committed the crime under investigation. Canvassing not only may identify suspects, it also uncovers witnesses who may have either witnessed the crime or suspicious persons or vehicles in the vicinity at the time of the crime. Residents may also have information about victims and possible suspects who live in the neighborhood. Canvassing is also an important tool in police-community relations, as it ensures residents that the police are being thorough in their investigations. There are a number of guidelines that are important in conducting effective canvasses. Officers selected for canvassing must be courteous and nonthreatening in their interactions with people, know the right questions to ask, how to listen to the answers, phrase followup questions, and be sensitive to nonverbal cues associated with deception and unwarranted stress. A good neighborhood canvass should be door-to-door. Names and birth dates should be obtained for everyone who lives in each home. If possible, all of the residents should be spoken to, even if that means coming back to the house later. The canvass should be started as soon as possible after the crime is known to the police. Other issues discussed are the scope of areas to be canvassed and questions that should be asked.
In the attempt to locate additional witnesses beyond those found directly at the crime scene, the canvass usually begins in the view area--- the immediate vicinity within view of the location of the incident where people may have been close enough to have seen or heard something of importance. The canvass will then branch out to the surrounding neighborhood to a boundary determined by the circumstances and location.
Canvass Procedures
The canvass often requires additional personnel beyond the detectives assigned to work on the case. Other members of the detective bureau are assigned as well as patrol officers from the local department, if needed (this is an excellent opportunity to involve those patrol officers who were the first responders and worked on the Preliminary Investigation). The following steps are taken to implement the canvass:
1. The canvass area is divided into sectors with officers assigned to each. A map (such as Figure 3-6 on page 63 in the textbook) may be prepared. A list of all addresses in each sector is distributed to the officers who will be working in it.
2. All participants must be briefed on the latest information regarding the case so that they can ask relevant questions and evaluate the answers they are given.
3. A range of times is determined to carry out the canvass. While some investigators favor daytime visits and others evenings, the best time to canvass is usually the time period in which the crime took place. This will offer the best chance to contact those people who were around and may have noticed something of importance.
4. Officers go to the assigned sector and begin knocking on doors or approaching people on the street. The canvassers identify themselves, state their purpose and ask the subject if they have any relevant information. If possible, all members of a household or business should be questioned. Although sometimes difficult, this includes children, who often see things without necessarily telling their parents. Also, older people who either live alone or with family, are especially important to speak to. They are often at home throughout the day and are curious to observe activities in the neighborhood. If no one is present at the time of the canvass, the location should be revisited at a later time until contact is made. Often several attempts are required.
5. If individuals are found who do have relevant information, the canvasser should get the contact information and initial account for further follow-up by the case detectives. Often, people who are located through this process are later brought in for a formal interview and become critical witnesses in the case.
The following types of subjects should be sought and contacts on a canvass:
· Neighbors residing on the street and immediate vicinity of the crime scene.
· Business owners and employees who were working at the time the crime occurred.
· Service firms who may have been working in the area: landscapers, contractors, utility workers (gas and electric, telephone, cable), etc.
· Delivery personnel working in the area: US Postal Service, UPS, FEDEX, Amazon, etc.
Following are photos of officers canvassing a neighborhood:
For a brief article about a canvass conducted in a homicide investigation in North Carolina, click on the following link:
https://myfox8.com/news/police-canvass-two-winston-salem-neighborhoods-for-leads-in-fatal-shootings/
For a sample neighborhood canvass questionnaire, click on the following link:
https://ncjtc-static.fvtc.edu/resources/RS00010474.pdf
The following is an example of a typical police department Standard Operating Procedure for conducting a canvass:
Canvass the Area
Principle: Locating and identifying witnesses helps in both developing and eliminating possible suspects. More homicides have been solved by canvassing and re-canvassing the area than by any other method.
Policy: The investigator in charge will arrange for the canvassing of the area, using all available resources. Canvassers must cover not only the area where the victim was discovered but also any other scenes that have been or may be established (such as where the victim and suspect first met, where the crime occurred, and the location of any vehicle involved).
Procedure: Have personnel go door-to-door in the area of the scene to locate and identify all witnesses. You may photograph bystanders in order to identify and interview them later. Instruct the canvassers to record the location of negative contacts to allow for follow-up at a later time. Require the canvassers to take statements from all persons contacted, clarify that complete and accurate statements are critical, and emphasize that canvassers should note whether any witnesses must remain anonymous. During late-night canvasses, only the significant witnesses and actual eyewitnesses should be interviewed in detail immediately. The others need only be identified for further interviews later. As the investigator, you must give the canvassers enough information that they can intelligently conduct interviews and ask pertinent follow-up questions. Stress that ALL statements must be accurately documented. Ensure that the canvassers properly identify all witnesses so they can be located and interviewed again Re-canvassing the area helps ensure that all persons with knowledge of the crime have been located, identified, and interviewed.
In addition to attempts to locate witnesses in the above ways, in certain critical cases, further efforts may be directed towards transient persons travelling through the neighborhood. Traffic stops and checkpoints may be initiated to try to find people who may have been passing the scene at the time of the crime. Often people take the same routes at the same time everyday for work, school, etc. Traffic can be halted at red lights, stop signs, or flagged down in travel. Motorists can be shown photographs and questioned. Similarly, busses can be detained at stops while officers board the bus, make an announcement to the passengers and walk up and down the aisles showing photographs. As pointed out in the textbook, all of the above efforts might seem hopeless and like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack, but many cases have been solved through information provided by witnesses who are located through canvassing.
Pleas for Public Cooperation
In serious cases, the police often put out calls for assistance from the community in locating witnesses and obtaining information about the crime. These may take the form of the distribution of leaflets or posters with photographs and pleas for help being hung on poles or in businesses in the area. Newspapers, community newsletters, radio announcements, or social media posts are other means of reaching the public. Accessing television publicity is often difficult except in the case of the most serious crimes, but local network stations and especially local access cable stations often publicize calls for cooperation. A special toll-free telephone number or tip line may be established. Rewards may be offered for individuals coming forward openly or silent witness programs enabling people to provide information anonymously, such as Crimestoppers, may be used as an incentive for cooperation.