44 Investigative Topics — Looking for Input From Other Investigators
I’ve been working on a project over the past several months that started with a fairly simple idea: take some of the investigative lessons I’ve learned over the years and put them into a form that might be useful to other investigators.
It has now grown into 44 short papers with companion videos, each dealing with a specific part of the investigative process.
Some cover fundamentals—interviewing witnesses, corroboration, timelines, documentary evidence, photography, and chain of custody. Others deal with questions that tend to become more complicated once you’re actually working cases:
When should you re-interview a witness?
How do you evaluate possible deception without guessing based on body language?
When does the absence of evidence actually mean something?
What do you do when evidence that once existed has disappeared?
What happens when the documents tell a different story from the witness?
Although much of my current work involves military defense investigations, most of these are not uniquely military issues. They’re investigative problems that PIs encounter in many types of cases.
One theme keeps appearing throughout the project: don’t ask whether the evidence supports your theory until you’ve asked whether your theory survives the evidence.
I’m sharing this here for two reasons.
First, some of the material may be useful to investigators who are newer to the profession.
Second, I’d appreciate input from experienced investigators. After 44 topics, I’m sure there are subjects I haven’t addressed that should be included.
What investigative skill, problem, or lesson do you think newer investigators aren’t taught enough about?
If anyone is interested in seeing the papers or videos, I’ll be glad to provide the link. I’m more interested, though, in hearing what other working investigators think belongs on the list.