AC1.1 Evaluate the role of personnel in criminal investigations
POLICE OFFICERS have a duty to protect life and property, preserve order,
prevent commission of offences and bring offenders to justice. In a criminal
investigation, the police will gain useful evidence to help convict the
suspects/offenders.
As of September 2023, there were 147,098 police officers in the UK. The
police are available 24/7, 365 days a year to enable help to those who need
it to all day every day. This is good because it means that there are always
officers available to help those in need. This was evident in the case of Alice
Ruggles, where the police were able to work into the early hours of the
morning due to their availability. They also utilised the ‘golden hour’ and
were able to conclude the investigation within 3 days because of their
efficient timing. When the police got to the crime scene, they preserved all
evidence they found and worked with other personnel to analyse evidence at
the scene, on Harry and in his car; which was later used in court as evidence
against Harry. Following out the correct police procedures as soon as the
crime was reported allowed them to prioritise important evidence that they
obtained. With this, the police were able to quickly begin an investigation on
Harry Dillion, bringing him in for questioning immediately. Therefore, due to
good time usage and availability, the police were able to solve this case
quickly and bring justice almost immediately. Another strength of the police
are their many specialist departments, such as: firearms, intelligence, and
surveillance officers. Having different expertise officers strengthens
department effectiveness because the officers in each department will have
expert knowledge on their area due to their long-term experiences within
their role. The more they focus on their specific role, the more their specific
knowledge will improve.
On the other hand, the police have continuously been criticized for being
violent and are often accused of discrimination, this was evident with the
Stephen Lawrence hate crime murder. Here, the police at the crime scene
failed to help Stephen who was dying and did not perform first aid on him.
Also, after being pointed in the direction of the offenders, they failed to set
out an immediate investigation search and a house-to-house enquiry. This
shows inefficiency within the police as they failed to fulfil their duties which
meant that it took 19 years to bring justice. Furthermore, the police didn’t
want to accept this crime as ‘racially motivated’ which led to time waste on
top of unfulfilled duties. These omissions therefore result to police
inefficiency as there is no justification for this case to have taken as long as
, it did. Another weakness of the police is their funding; for example,
Gloucestershire police receive £74 million from the government and £66
million from local councils. Many police officers claim to be underpaid for the
work they are expected to carry out, due to this, people may leave their role
as a police officer due to the amount of effort they aren’t getting awarded
for. This will affect their availability because if more people leave because of
underpayment, then people will be less likely to join the police because of
this problem. Therefore, it could be argued that police are not cost effective
because in 2023, an offender was brought to justice in only 10% of reported
crimes.
Overall, as of recent years, due to improved expertise and enhanced
training, the police have been more efficient when solving crimes as they
have better experience and knowledge of how to effectively follow out an
investigation.
FORENSIC SCIENTISTS must use their scientific expert knowledge to review,
analyze and interpret any evidence found and collected from a crime scene.
After concluding evidence, they will make a report of their interpretations of
the evidence to be used in court.
In 2023, it was recorded that there were only around 3400 forensic scientists
in the UK, from this, the police employ 900 of them to work with them on
crime scenes. The typical working hours for a forensic scientist is 9 am – 5
pm however they may have to work shifts, such as being on call. This is good
because it means that they are prepared to be potentially called in to aid an
investigation quickly. This was seen in the case of Alice Ruggles where
forensics were called to the scene at night to collect physical evidence.
Furthermore, the forensic team were able to locate a spec of Alice's blood on
Dhillon's bracelet, resulting in a successful conviction. The evidence found
was a crucial aspect of convicting Harry Dillion as it was used to disprove his
original story and placed him at the scene of the crime. Every piece of
evidence was sufficiently collected and analysed properly which led to a high
reliability. Therefore, due to careful analysis from the forensics team, they
managed to discover small pieces of evidence which provided reliance in
court to prove Harry’s guilt.
On the other hand, it can also be argued that forensic scientists are
inefficient. In the case of Damilola Taylor, the forensic science team showed
inefficiency due to how they missed important evidence when they first
POLICE OFFICERS have a duty to protect life and property, preserve order,
prevent commission of offences and bring offenders to justice. In a criminal
investigation, the police will gain useful evidence to help convict the
suspects/offenders.
As of September 2023, there were 147,098 police officers in the UK. The
police are available 24/7, 365 days a year to enable help to those who need
it to all day every day. This is good because it means that there are always
officers available to help those in need. This was evident in the case of Alice
Ruggles, where the police were able to work into the early hours of the
morning due to their availability. They also utilised the ‘golden hour’ and
were able to conclude the investigation within 3 days because of their
efficient timing. When the police got to the crime scene, they preserved all
evidence they found and worked with other personnel to analyse evidence at
the scene, on Harry and in his car; which was later used in court as evidence
against Harry. Following out the correct police procedures as soon as the
crime was reported allowed them to prioritise important evidence that they
obtained. With this, the police were able to quickly begin an investigation on
Harry Dillion, bringing him in for questioning immediately. Therefore, due to
good time usage and availability, the police were able to solve this case
quickly and bring justice almost immediately. Another strength of the police
are their many specialist departments, such as: firearms, intelligence, and
surveillance officers. Having different expertise officers strengthens
department effectiveness because the officers in each department will have
expert knowledge on their area due to their long-term experiences within
their role. The more they focus on their specific role, the more their specific
knowledge will improve.
On the other hand, the police have continuously been criticized for being
violent and are often accused of discrimination, this was evident with the
Stephen Lawrence hate crime murder. Here, the police at the crime scene
failed to help Stephen who was dying and did not perform first aid on him.
Also, after being pointed in the direction of the offenders, they failed to set
out an immediate investigation search and a house-to-house enquiry. This
shows inefficiency within the police as they failed to fulfil their duties which
meant that it took 19 years to bring justice. Furthermore, the police didn’t
want to accept this crime as ‘racially motivated’ which led to time waste on
top of unfulfilled duties. These omissions therefore result to police
inefficiency as there is no justification for this case to have taken as long as
, it did. Another weakness of the police is their funding; for example,
Gloucestershire police receive £74 million from the government and £66
million from local councils. Many police officers claim to be underpaid for the
work they are expected to carry out, due to this, people may leave their role
as a police officer due to the amount of effort they aren’t getting awarded
for. This will affect their availability because if more people leave because of
underpayment, then people will be less likely to join the police because of
this problem. Therefore, it could be argued that police are not cost effective
because in 2023, an offender was brought to justice in only 10% of reported
crimes.
Overall, as of recent years, due to improved expertise and enhanced
training, the police have been more efficient when solving crimes as they
have better experience and knowledge of how to effectively follow out an
investigation.
FORENSIC SCIENTISTS must use their scientific expert knowledge to review,
analyze and interpret any evidence found and collected from a crime scene.
After concluding evidence, they will make a report of their interpretations of
the evidence to be used in court.
In 2023, it was recorded that there were only around 3400 forensic scientists
in the UK, from this, the police employ 900 of them to work with them on
crime scenes. The typical working hours for a forensic scientist is 9 am – 5
pm however they may have to work shifts, such as being on call. This is good
because it means that they are prepared to be potentially called in to aid an
investigation quickly. This was seen in the case of Alice Ruggles where
forensics were called to the scene at night to collect physical evidence.
Furthermore, the forensic team were able to locate a spec of Alice's blood on
Dhillon's bracelet, resulting in a successful conviction. The evidence found
was a crucial aspect of convicting Harry Dillion as it was used to disprove his
original story and placed him at the scene of the crime. Every piece of
evidence was sufficiently collected and analysed properly which led to a high
reliability. Therefore, due to careful analysis from the forensics team, they
managed to discover small pieces of evidence which provided reliance in
court to prove Harry’s guilt.
On the other hand, it can also be argued that forensic scientists are
inefficient. In the case of Damilola Taylor, the forensic science team showed
inefficiency due to how they missed important evidence when they first
