A detective is an officer of the police that performs criminal or administrative investigations, or a private person licensed to investigate information not readily available in public records (also called private eye). It can be also used for any unlicensed person who solve crime, including historical crimes (as in fiction for example) or looks into records.
Table of contents |
2 Organization of detectives 3 Techniques of detectives 4 Famous detectives |
In most American police departments, a candidate for detective must have served as a uniformed officer for a period of one to five years before becoming qualified for the position.
Detectives obtain their position by competitive examination, covering such subjects as:
The detective bureau in most police departments is organized into several squads, each of which specializes in a type of investigation such as:
Detectives have a wide variety of techniques available in conducting investigations. However, the majority of cases are solved by interrogation of suspects and witnesses, which takes time. In a policeman?s career as a uniformed officer and as a detective, a detective develops an intuitive sense of the plausibility of suspect and witness accounts. This intuition may fail at times, but usually is reliable.
Besides interrogations, detectives may rely on a network of informants he or she has cultivated over the years. Informants often have connections with persons a detective would not be able to approach formally.
In criminal investigations, once a detective has a suspect or suspects in mind, the next step is to produce evidence that will stand up in a court of law. The best way is to obtain a confession from the suspect, usually in exchange for a plea bargain for a lesser sentence. A detective may lie or otherwise mislead and may psychologically pressure a suspect into confessing, though in the United States a suspect may invoke his or her Miranda rights.
Physical forensic evidence in an investigation may provide leads to closing a case.
Examples of physical evidence can be, but are not limited to:
Detectives may use public and private records to provide background information on a subject. These include:
Unless a plea bargain forestalls the need for a trial, a detective must testify in court about his investigation. He or she must seem reliable and credible to a jury, and must not give the impression of personal vindictiveness or cruelty. A detective's background often comes into question in courtroom testimony. A famous example came in the murder trial of O. J. Simpson, when Detective Mark Fuhrman of the Los Angeles Police Department testified for the prosecution. Attorney F. Lee Bailey first asked Furhman if he had ever used the "n-word" (see Nigger). Furhman denied this. In court, Bailey produced taped interviews with Furhman using this offensive word.
The detective story has been a popular genre in books, radio, television, and movies since the early 19th century.
Famous fictional detectives include:
See Detective fiction and Crime fiction for more details.
See also:
Detectives and their work
Becoming a detective
Private detectives are licensed by the state in which they live after passing a competitive examination and a criminal background check. Some states, such as Maryland, require a period of classroom training as well. Organization of detectives
Techniques of detectives
Street work
Forensic evidence
Many major police departments in a city, county, or state, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, maintain their own forensic laboratories.Records investigation
Court testimony
Famous detectives
Fictional detectives
Unlicensed detectives include: Hercules Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, both created by Agatha Christie.