Coplogue

Introduction

According to Sir Robert Peel, “The police are the public and the public are the police.”¹ This principle emphasizes the importance for the police and public to maintain community welfare by working collaboratively. The majority of the public do support the police in their efforts to uphold public safety. At times, police officers may lose sight of the positive public sentiment toward law enforcement due to the relative silence of the overwhelming number of supporters. Whether you resent the existence of police or not, society needs everyone to think like an investigator and be the collective eyes and ears of the community. Who knows, your assistance may prevent you or your loved ones from becoming a future victim. Also, the police can increase the solvability rate of crimes with the public’s proactive contributions. This article will outline different ways that the general public can assist the police in solving more crimes, while increasing the conviction rate.

One of the responsibilities of law enforcement officials is to investigate incidents by collecting and analyzing a vast array of evidence in an effort to charge those accused of having committed crimes. Due to limited public safety resources, police agencies are inevitably forced to prioritize their response to occurrences that have the largest impact on public safety. Many citizens question the dedication of policing resources to what they perceive to be menial tasks, such as traffic enforcement. There is a general lack of public knowledge surrounding the allocation of policing resources to respond to specific types of occurrences. All investigations conducted by police officers assist in painting the bigger picture and contribute to uncovering the “missing pieces to the puzzle.” In my opinion, no investigation is a waste of time as long as they are conducted within the legal framework of the applicable legislation(s) and constitution. Although the collection of evidence in one instance may not further that specific investigation, it could contribute to the resolution of another occurrence.

The public can assist law enforcement officials by remaining alert and acting on their instincts of suspicious activity in the community. A person’s actions can be classified as suspicious if there is any deviation from normal behavior or sequence of events, within the context of the situation. Note: It is NOT advisable to confront individuals displaying irregular or erratic behavior because your personal safety could be jeopardized.

Suspicious activity may include, amongst other things, the following:

• Individuals trespassing on private property;
• Individuals overdressed for the weather conditions (e.g. wearing disguises in the summer);
• Individuals who act unusually, engage in a strange sequence of events, and/or speak illogically – These actions may indicate that the individual is attempting to personify normal behaviour, but they are distracted by malicious intent (e.g. an individual who is disguised as a door-to-door salesperson, but won’t move on from a residence with no response and/or peers into the residence through its windows); or
• Unknown vehicles loitering or circling in an area with no apparent reason.

Detecting Suspicious Activity

One way for community members to prevent, and assist in solving, crimes is to proactively detect suspicious occurrences by using their eyes, ears and nose. We all know how normal behaviour, under the circumstances, should present itself. If you observe, hear, or smell anything out of the ordinary, it would be wise to follow your instincts and take action in the form of gathering information and disseminating it to the appropriate authorities. This will require a shift in mindset to one that can recognize situations involving the collection of evidence and trusting your instincts to act. Remember, you can always purge irrelevant evidence or information after the fact, but you can’t go back in time to capture it!

Documenting/Recording your Observations of Suspicious Activity

One approach to gathering the most amount of genuine information in a situation is to be the proverbial “fly on the wall.” The goal should be to gather information about the incident without anyone detecting your presence or intention. If people know you are present, they are more likely to modify their behaviour and/or challenge your intentions. You shouldn’t only be concerned with remaining undetected by the involved parties, but also their associates and other members of the public; your actions could be construed as suspicious to outliers if they observe you recording other people’s actions.

In a non-emergency situation, document what you witnessed with as many details as possible, record and maintain/gather evidence, and report it to the police. If you need to record your observations while the incident is still active, consider taking photos and videos and/or dictating your observations on an audio recorder. You must be cognizant that as a witness to an incident, you may be required to attend all relevant future court proceedings.

Include the following details when recording your observations (5 W’s and How):

• Who? – Name(s,) physical and clothing descriptions, and/or contact information, of suspect(s,) victim(s,) and witness(es.); and vehicle identifiers (e.g. licence plate, make and model, unique features, etc.).
• What? – Details of the incident, including, but not limited to, weather and road conditions, and lighting.
• Where? – Location of the incident.
• When? – Date and time of the incident, ensuring the accuracy of both.
• Why? – If known, the motive for the incident (i.e. the reason for the involved parties actions.)
• How? – How the incident transpired, etc.

Note: Be as descriptive as possible and don’t omit any details that appear to be irrelevant; leave your opinions out of your documentation, except if explicitly stated; AND do not put yourself in harm’s way while witnessing an incident.

If there is physical evidence to support your observations or the events, document its current state and location by taking a photo or video in relation to its surroundings (preferably with a ruler next to the object to measure its size,) and maintain continuity.

Maintaining Continuity of Evidence

From a legal standpoint, the accused’s defence could argue that the evidence presented in court is not associated with them if there has been a gap in continuity. For example, if the accused dropped a weapon while fleeing the crime scene, it is essential to prove that the weapon was discarded by the accused and not by a different individual.

Note: Do NOT seize evidence at a confirmed or suspected crime scene. Call the police and do your best to guard the scene, without putting your safety in jeopardy.

Advise police investigators of the circumstances surrounding the incident and the evidence located. If the police are unable to provide direction, the evidence is in a public place, it is safe to do so, and there is risk that the integrity of the object is likely to be degraded or its continuity is jeopardized, collect it using sterile gloves, place it in a sealed and clean container or bag, and turn it over to your local police agency.

As a general rule, continuity of evidence should be maintained until a police officer can attend to collect it. However, if no one can remain with the evidence or there is a risk that the evidence will be disturbed or removed prior to police arrival, its collection by an untrained civilian can be justified. For example, inclement or changing weather conditions may affect the integrity of the evidence. In this case, you should take a photo of it and attempt to shelter the evidence in place prior to making the decision to seize it. Another example is if the evidence is at risk of being removed from the scene by an individual, including the accused, or an animal. Lastly, it is not advisable to remove a piece of evidence that may cause harm to its handler, such as a loaded firearm or drug paraphernalia.

Types of Evidence

Evidence can reveal, amongst other things, the identity of involved parties, the motive for the crime, and the timeline of events. Here are the types of evidence that are most relevant in our context:

• Demonstrative evidence: While making notes of your observations, we encourage the use of charts, diagrams and illustrations. After all, the age-old adage is “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
• Real/Documentary evidence: This type of evidence refers to the physical object, which is considered to be the best evidence in court because it is tangible and not merely a visual representation. Abandoned physical evidence that could have, or has, been used in the commission of an offence, should be preserved without disturbing its location or integrity. Maintaining the location of evidence can contribute to its spatial context in relation to the possible crime scene. The physical condition of the evidence, such as an object and footprints/tire tracks, in comparison to its surroundings can convey approximately how long it has been at that location. Similarly, refrain from touching the evidence as it will preserve its integrity for the possible collection of forensic evidence, such as fingerprints and DNA. Also, with the advancement of technology, abandoned electronic devices (e.g. cellular telephones) can potentially be analyzed to determine its location history and messaging/call log, in addition to other pieces of critical information.
• Recorded (media) evidence: The collection of video surveillance must be premeditated to a certain degree as the retention of such media is often a short timeframe. Oftentimes, there is a delay between the actual incident and the time that law enforcement officials request the evidence from the media’s owner. This could be as a result of delays in reporting incidents, media owners being unavailable, and/or insufficient resources to canvas for such evidence. Thus, it would be beneficial if the public could store this form of evidence prior to it being lost, and share the media with law enforcement. Similar to how experienced officers are able to detect suspicious incidents and pursue the collection of evidence, the public needs to develop a similar mindset and act accordingly. As a caveat, digital evidence cannot be solely relied upon as the video/image quality is often limited.

Resources

1. Wikipedia – Peelian Principles ↩︎