The Tactics of Criminal Investigation
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4001300217 |
| Author | F. E. Louwage |
| Published date | 01 April 1940 |
| Date | 01 April 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Tactics of Criminal Investigation*
By
F.
E.
LOUWAGE
State
Detective
Department,
Brussels.
Permanent
Member
of the
International Commission on Criminal Procedure.
(Continued from
page
109)
TAlUNG POSSESSION OF ARTICLES
THE
question of what to take in the course of a search is
important from many points of view. To begin with, you
have to make up your mind what should be
taken-and
what
should not. Only those objects and documents should be
seized which tend to prove guilt, whether they were used in
the actual commission ofthe crime or resulted from it.
Don't
take anything which is not essential to your case, and certainly
nothing that does not corne in one or other of the above
categories. But
it
is better to err in taking too much than too
little.
The
suspect should be closely questioned about any
articles that may be taken, and particularly about their origin,
for this may help to extend suspicion in new and unsuspected
directions. But there are times when you should not press
the suspect too hard about an object or document that has
been taken, lest you should
put
him wise to the importance
of the article in the eyes of the Police.
The
answers to all
questions should be carefully written down at once.
An inventory, countersigned by the owner, should be made
of all objects taken away.
The
owner, or one of his people,
should always be present when articles are taken possession
of, in order to avoid argument and unpleasant incidents. A
suspect is quite capable of asserting in the witness-box
that
a
*Translated,
with
the
author's
permission, from his recent book, Cours de Police
Technique et de Tactique de Police Criminelle.
234
TACTICS
OF
CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATION
235
certain object was not found in a given place or even on his
premises at all. Or he will falsely accuse the Police of having
stolen jewels or other valuables.
The
officer in charge should
therefore take the utmost pains to make such accusations and
arguments,
if
not impossible, at least obviously untrue.
Articles taken possession of should be carefully stored so
as to avoid deterioration.
In
the case of documents, these should be numbered and
initialed (by the suspect as well as by the officer in charge),
and then
put
into classified bundles or files.
It
goes without saying that objects and documents taken
possession of should be removed when the officer in charge
leaves the premises. They should never be left behind for a
moment. But
it
sometimes happens that the key to a desk or
drawer or safe cannot be found for some time.
The
officer in
charge should then take such steps as he thinks best to safe-
guard his case.
If
he thinks he can safely leave the premises
for a time without opening the safe, etc., he should first seal
it with tape fixed by means of sealing-wax ; this sealing should
be done in such a manner and so carefully that the seals cannot
be broken without the fact being at once noticeable. Naturally,
when the officer in charge of the case returns to the premises in
question, he will immediately look over the seals to make quite
sure they have not been tampered with.
INTERROGATING WITNESSES
Every experienced police officer knows how easy it is to
pick holes in the statements of practically all witnesses. Does
that mean that witnesses lie? Sometimes, of course, witnesses
do lie ;
but
as a rule
it
is simply that they make mistakes, and
you are lucky indeed if they are at fault only on points of detail.
How many times have you yourself found an object in a certain
place, where you and no other
put
it, and have said to your-
self, " Well, I could have sworn it was somewhere else ! "
Take a group of any twenty intelligent people to an unfre-
quented cross-roads and there stage for their benefit an
imaginary traffic accident.
Then
make them describe, with
every possible detail,
just
what happened.
The
result will be
twenty extraordinarily different statements.
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