The Most Glamorous Aspect of Police Work

The basic responsibility of the police is to fight crime, maintain order, and provide miscellaneous services to the public. Patrol remains the basic manner in which police services are delivered to the public.

Criminal investigation is the most glamorous aspect of policing. Most police officers regard detective work as “real” police work. Detective work has a specific mission: apprehending the offender. The quality of work can also be measured in terms or the number of arrests. This contrasts sharply with patrol duty, which largely involves peacekeeping. Good detectives are believed to be able to solve most crimes, so the citizen-victim becomes angry when the police fail to solve the crime he or she suffered from.

The process of investigating a crime involves several different steps performed by at least three different units within the police department: patrol officers, detectives, and criminalistics technicians. The two major stages of the investigation process are the preliminary investigation and the follow-up investigation. The preliminary investigation is normally the responsibility of the patrol officer who is the first to arrive at the scene of the crime. The 5 major responsibilities include:

1) arresting any suspect or suspects,

2) providing aid to any victims,

3) securing the crime scene to prevent loss of evidence,

4) collecting all relevant physical evidence, and preparing a preliminary report.

Once the responding officer has completed the preliminary investigation, the case is assigned to the detective bureau for the follow-up investigation.

The follow-up investigation includes the following steps:

1. interrogation of suspect or suspects, if arrested at the scene of the crime;

2. interview of witnesses;

3. search of the crime scene for physical evidence;

4. modus operandi review to determine if the crime is similar to others under investigation or resembles crimes committed by known suspects;

5. development of additional information from informants, contacts, official records;

6. preparation of reports.

To obtain information about suspected criminal activity, the police make use of informants. Persons who are either criminals themselves or who associate with criminals are extremely valuable sources of information. Police officers seek to develop a list of informants.

Translate the marked paragraphs of the text into Russian.

Переведите отмеченные абзацы письменно.

Put all types of questions to the next sentences.

Поставьте все типы вопросов к следующим предложениям. Обозначьте тип вопроса.

1. Most police officers regard detective work as “real” police work.

2. The two major stages of the investigation process are the preliminary investigation and the follow-up investigation.

Divide the text into logical parts. Give a name to each part.

Разделите текст на смысловые части и озаглавьте каждую.

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