Qualifications of a Detective
| Published date | 01 April 1934 |
| Author | James Healy |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3400700213 |
| Date | 01 April 1934 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Qualifications
of
aDetective
By
SERGEANT
JAMES HEALY
Liverpool City Police
CRIME is, as a general rule, the product of a clear intellect
and a non-developed will.
It
needs both a keen intellect
and an iron will to detect it. Crime here means a violation of
laws, which at times is difficult to assign to the culprit, hence
the necessity of a shrewd capable man in investigating the
evidence.
The
great
but
interesting difficulty in these cases
is that the detective has to start at the end of the trail and work
back to the unknown destination.
It has been truly said
'a
detective is born not made.'
Such a man must be endowed with natural gifts of observation,
powers of retention and concentration, and a good memory for
faces. He must further possess zeal and application, be quick
to think and act, ready to sacrifice his time and pleasure in
furthering his investigations. Again, he must be perfectly
honest, sober, straight and truthful, because otherwise he
cannot be relied upon. Further still, he must have a sound
knowledge of the criminal law and its background.
To
illustrate the last qualification, he may be called upon to deal
with a suspect, and discover that the statute creating the
offence does not give him power of arrest at the time.
In
investigating a crime he should start with an open
mind and listen to every one who can give him information.
He will naturally form a great number of impressions; the
important point is to know the exact moment when to form
a definite opinion.
If
he allows himself to be dominated with
one idea he will often find himself on a false scent.
There
is a golden rule to be remembered.
'Never
alter
ZI6
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