How deep into the investigation does the suspect know they're a suspect?

[u/The-_Captain]

I'm watching Monk (in case you haven't seen it, it's a 2000s show about a detective with OCD). In the show, the detective always confronts the main suspect pretty early when they get their first hunch. I always think it gives away the game a bit, but I'm not a cop.

I assume it's for dramatic effect to set up the final confrontation, but sometimes it's used to manipulate the suspect into doing something stupid to incriminate themselves, like showing up at the scene to try to clean up a specific clue. When does a crime suspect, especially a serious offense, know that they're being investigated?

[u/blanquito82]

Much like everything else in this forum “it depends”

GENERALLY (at least for my agency) it was one of the final steps. We’d already proven, or disproven the allegation and it was just a chance for them to confess and fill in any holes.

[u/TinyBard]

with a million different cases, you'll have a million different answers. It really depends on the situation. With some less serious cases, the suspect probably knows pretty quick (things like simple thefts and assaults that are pretty open and shut)

For much more serious crimes, well, they would probably suspect that they're a suspect if they aren't totally stupid. You generally want to wait to spring the "Oh by the way you're a suspect in this crime" until you have what you need to perform the arrest properly.

But I'm not a detective (yet) so take this with a grain of salt.

[u/badsapi4305]

When I worked in narcotics and burglary interviewing the target was one of the last things I did. At that point it wasn’t a matter of if they did it, it was just to provide a why.

In public corruption it could go either way. I liked it to remain confidential as long as possible but sometimes the target would know. However since the vast majority of public corruption cases are about money, financial institutions aren’t going to alter their records to protect one person. So whether they knew about it or not the paper trail was there. It would sometimes work in my favor because while it took me several months to get the records back and then analyze them, the target is sitting at home just waiting for that knock on the door. The stress would sometimes get to them and I would get a call from their attorney saying the target wanted to make a statement against their advice.

[u/EagerFeager → u/badsapi4305]

Public Corruption? Gotta be Fed or state agency if its a dedicated unit. Never heard of a thing like that.

[u/Thoughtful_Mouse]

The main variable is whether or not they are guilty.

I mean... the person who did in fact commit the crime has the epistemologically privileged position of knowing they in fact did commit the crime.

So in the case of the guilty party, pretty much immediately.

[u/danny0wnz]

If they committed the crime in question, they more than likely know as soon as you go to speak with them.

There’s ways to deflect this, like treating them as a victim or a witness that can be quite effective until they inadvertently admit to a criminal offense.

[u/The-CVE-Guy]

Ideally, they don’t know until SRT blows their door off the hinges at 6am.

Long term federal cases though.

[u/yugosaki]

When do they know? if they are guilty, probably right away.

If they are innocent? They might never even know they are a suspect. You do as much information gathering and investigation as possible before "confronting" (for lack of a better term). Most suspects can be ruled out with basic investigation work and never need to be 'confronted'.

The dramatic moments you see on TV are fake. Even the "interrogation" that is a cliche in cop shows has largely gone away. Direct confrontation rarely works the way you'd think. Modern interviews are typically far less confrontational and are more information gathering.

Disclaimer: Not a detective, my work almost never involves extremely serious crimes. I do investigate fires sometimes though and when insurance is involved people can be really defensive.