CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION – is an art which deals with the identity and location of

the offender and provides evidence of guilt through criminal proceedings.

INVESTIGATION DEFINED: The collection of facts to accomplish a three-fold aim:

to identify the guilty party;

to locate the guilty party; and

to provide evidence of his guilt.

PRIMARY JOB OF AN INVESTIGATOR

The primary job of the investigator is to discover whether or not an offense

has been committed under the law, after determining what specific offense has
been committed, he must discover how it was committed, by whom, where it was
committed, when and why it was committed (Cardinal points of Investigation 5W’s
and 1H).

SIX CARDINAL POINTS OF INVESTIGATION

WHATspecific offense has been committed?

Nature of crime

WHERE crime was committed?

Place or location

WHEN it was committed? Time and date

WHOM it was committed? Persons/s involved

WHY it was committed? Reason or motive of Committing the

crime

HOW it was committed? Manner, method or modus operandi

QUALITIES OF A GOOD INVESTIGATOR

Perseverance
Intelligence
 Honest
Understanding of the people and environment
Keen power of observation

TRAINING

Training, as one of the foundations of investigation, is concededly a vital

ingredient in the creation of a total investigator. Experience alone does not make
one good investigator. Many who had been hostage to this notion often ended in
jeopardy, the ideal conjugal partnership is training and experience. The fusion of
the best training and vast experience is a formidable force that can threat even the
most sophisticated technology and syndicated crimes. The necessity of training
as a purveyor of change builds the investigator’s confidence. It widens his vision
for professional growth and strengthens his will to survive and prevail over crises.

The National Forensic Science Training Institute (NFSTI) under the Philippine
Public Safety College is the institution that trains uniformed personnel of the
Philippine National Police to become a certified investigator.

THREE TOOLS OF INVESTIGATION

INFORMATION

It is the knowledge/data which an investigator acquired from other persons

and records.

Classes of Information

Regular Sources – records, files from government and non-government agencies,

news items.

Cultivated Sources – information gathered upon initiative of the investigator from

informants, vendors, taxicab driver, GRO, and others.

Grapevine Sources – these are information coming from the underworld characters
such as prisoners and ex-convicts.
INTERVIEW AND INTERROGATION

INTERVIEW – Is a conversation with a purpose, motivated by a desire to obtain

certain information from the person being interviewed as to what was done, seen,
felt, heard, tasted, smell or known.

This is the questioning of a person believed to possess knowledge that is in official

interest to the investigator.

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

Nobody has to talk to law enforcers. No law compels a person to talk to the police

if he does not want to. Therefore, people will have to be persuaded, always within

legal and ethical limits, to talk to law enforcers. This makes interviewing an art.

I.R.O.N.I.C. FORMAT

The interview of a witness can be described by its acronym ‘IRONIC’ which stands
for Identity, Rapport, Opening Statement, Narration, Inquiry, and conclusion.

Identity – prior to the commencement of an interview, the investigator should

identify himself to the subject by name, rank and agency. Except when there is no
need to know the officer’s identity.

Rapport – it is good to get the positive feeling of the subject towards the
investigators, such friendly atmosphere is a vital for both the subject and the
investigator t have a better interaction.

Opening Statement – the investigator must have to indicate why the subject is
being contracted.

Narration – the witness should be allowed to tell all he knows with little
interruptions from the investigator.

Inquiry – after all information have been given by the subject, that is the time for
the investigator to as question to clarify him about the case under investigation.
Conclusions – after the interview, it is but proper to close the interview with
outmost courtesy and thanking the subject for his cooperation.

RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN QUESTIONING

One question at a time

Avoiding implied answer

Simplicity of the questions

Saving faces

Avoid close ended questions (yes or no)

INTERROGATION –is a questioning of a person suspected of having committed

an offense or a person who is reluctant to make full disclosure of information in
his possession which is pertinent to the investigation.

What are the purposes of Interrogation?

To obtain confession to the crime

To induce the suspect to make admission

To learn the facts of the crime

To learn the identity of the accomplice

To develop information which will lead to the recovery of the fruits of the crime

To discover the details of other crimes participated by the suspect

INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES

Emotional Appeal

Place the subject in the proper frame of mind. The investigator should provide
emotional stimuli that will prompt the subject to unburden himself by confiding.
Analyze the subject’s personality and decide what motivation would prompt him to
tell the truth, and then provide those motives through appropriate emotional
appeals.
Sympathetic appeal

The suspect may feel the need for sympathy or friendship when he is apparently in
trouble. Gestures of friendship may win his cooperation.

Kindness

The simplest technique is to assume that the suspect will confess if he is treated
in a kind and friendly manner.

Extenuation

The investigator indicates he does not consider his subject’s indiscretion a grave
offense.

Shifting the blame

The interrogator makes clear his belief that the subject is obviously not the sort of
person who usually gets mixed up in a crime like this. The interrogator could tell
from the start that he was not dealing with a fellow who is a criminal by nature and
choice.

Mutt and Jeff

Two (2) Agents are employed.

- Mutt, the relentless investigator, who is not going to waste any time because he
knows that the subject is guilty.

- Jeff, on the other hand, is obviously a kind-hearted man.

Bluff on a Split Pair

- This is applicable when there is more than one suspect. The suspects are
separated and one is informed that other has talked.

Pretense of Physical Evidence

- The investigator may pretend that certain physical evidence has found by
laboratory experts against him.

Jolting
 May be applied to calm and nervous subjects by constantly observing the
suspects, the investigator chooses a propitious moment to shout a pertinent
question and appear as though he is beside himself with rage. The subject may be
unnerved to the extent of confessing.

CUSTODIAL INTERROGATION/INVESTIGATION – is the questioning of a law

enforcement officer on a person under custody and otherwise deprived of his
freedom or liberty. This is the stage in investigation where there is strict
observance of the Miranda Doctrine.

MIRANDA DOCTRINE – this case which entitled Miranda vs. Arizona, is a US

Supreme Court Jurisprudence which laid down the constitutional rights of the
accused during custodial investigation. It was incorporated in our 1973
Constitution and later in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines.

INSTRUMENTATION

It is the application of instruments and methods of physical science to the

detection of crimes. In cases where there are no significant physical evidence to
be found, then the use of instrumentation is relatively unimportant.

PHASES/STAGES OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Identification of criminals
Tracing and locating the criminal
Gathering of evidence to prove the guilt of the criminal

IDENTIFICATION OF CRIMINALS

METHODS OF IDENTIFYING CRIMINALS

By confession or admission of the criminal himself

Identification by accounts or testimonies of eyewitnesses

Identification by circumstantial evidence

Identification by associative evidence

Identification by the Method of Operation (Modus Operandi)

CONFESSION– is the direct acknowledgement of guilt arising from the commission

of a crime.

Types of Confession
Extra-Judicial Confession – those made by the suspect during custodial
investigation.
Judicial Confession– those made by the accused in open court. The plea of
guilt may be during arraignment or in any stage of the proceedings where
the accused changes his plea of not guilty to guilty.
ADMISSION– is a self-incriminatory statement by the subject falling short of an acknowledgement of guilt. It is an
acknowledgement of a fact or circumstances from which guilt maybe inferred. It implicates but does not incriminate.
It is also an acknowledgement that a fact, action or circumstances are true which strongly infer or directly admit guilt
but lacks the detail of the elements of the crime.