Unit 3 Controlled Assessment | WJEC CRIMINOLOGY
1.1- Evaluate the effectiveness of the roles of personnel involved in criminal
investigations.
Police are usually the first personnel who are involved in criminal investigations, they arrive
at the front and collect evidence obtained at the crime scene immediately, to avoid
contamination of the evidence which is also referred to as ‘the golden hour’. The block of
sconces with tapes to protect the public and keeping them calm to avoid fear, as well as to
avoid any forms of contamination that can occur as everyone in and out of a crime scene
can leave a trace of evidence’. In terms of expertise, the police undergo manu specialist
training within their job role, which allows them to be trained at a level where all officers will
impose their duty efficiently, and ensure that they will always be ready for duty no matter the
circumstance. Their training allows them to ensure they are physically and mentally fit for
their job, ensuring they do not experience any forms of PTSD or mental health issues, as
this job role comes with many distraught and upsetting scenes officers we will attend.
However this shows how passionate the individual can be for their job, sacrificing their own
mental well being, in order to help the public, which shows that they do not work for the
money, but are actually very committed to their jobs, which ensures they fulfil their role
sufficiently too. Availability is one of the most key strengths within the police job, as they are
available 24/7 across the country, within one call from the public the police arrive within
minutes, which ensures that they are quick to arrive at the acne, allowing them to secure
evidence and blocking off scene as well as providing emotional help to the victims by
keeping them at a calm state. The police are also allowed to call other public services to
ensure safety of an individual, such as an ambulance or a firefighter. However because of
the 24/7 availability, this can cause officers to have irregular shifts, which can impact their
sleep routine as well as their minds. From switching between night shifts and day shifts their
body is not functioning in a set routine, which can cause police to be at a confused or ‘slow
state of mind’ due to switching between irregular shifts, then causing them to mishandled
evidence or fail to protect crime scenes efficiently. When talking about the police and costs,
police salaries start from £16,000 up to £42,000 with the years of experience they will gain.
The beginning salary is not the best considering that they do so much for their job, as well as
their 24/7 availability, but this than shows those who do jin the police force are passionate
about their work ethic, and don't do this job for the money but rather for their good will, the
low starting salary can either deter people from taking this position, or bring forward
individuals who are actually passionate about their job, keeping costs low for the officers
allows more officers to be available, due to budget cuts in many other personnels, the police
are quite effective with theirs, so overall, the low starting salary, allows more officers and
patrollers to be available for the public.
Pathologists are the next personnel we must consider when talking about criminal
investigations. Pathologists are forensic specialists who perform autopsies to establish the
causes of death upon the vicitm, this allows them to effectively understand how the person
died, and how long it took them to die, from a instant gunshot death, to a slow strangulation,
or suffocation death or even a house fire death the list can go on, allowing them to find out
the exact time it took for the criminal to do the death. In terms of their expertise pathgll9sist
are highly qualified medical doctors and can work between the crime scene and also lab
settings, they provide highly reliable evidence which can be taken into court which is crucial
for an effective investigation as they can reveal key evidence which can potentially reveal
innocence and guilt, as well as allowing the judge to decide an effective ‘eye for an eye’
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,Unit 3 Controlled Assessment | WJEC CRIMINOLOGY
sentence droning on the type of death cause, and how much suffering was given to the
victim before they had died. In terms of their availability, they are also available 24/7 and
work alongside the police too, however despite their availability being the best, there are
only a few pathologists within the UK, about 35 across England and wales. Considering the
police deal with over 1000s of cases per day, and only 35 pathologists in the UK, the
workload can be very intense, causing them to feel stressed, overwhelmed, and
underpressure from the public, and means that the police do not have instant access to a
pathologist when needed. This is because of the years of experience and training pathologist
need to undergo before they become qualified, such as years of education as well as
additional years of experience and training, the low numbers of pathologist available, also
reveal how beneficial that can be to an investigation as no one is trained in such a high and
advanced level as themselves hence why their starting salary is almost double of a police,
starting from £32,000 and ranges from unlimited depending on if they wish to work privately
or under the government, as well as working locum. They use any high tech, expensive
medical equipment and technologies, which prove the accuracy of their research when
needed, which is not available to any other experts, considering all these facts we must be
able to acknowledge that pathologists are one of the most best personnels to help with
investigations the limited numbers shows how much experience is needed before becoming
one, as well as their starting salary being one of the best, it shows how much demand theta
re in, and that the it is not easy to become a pathologist as a lot of specialist skill and
knowledge is required, which not everyone can get.
Scene of crime officers (SOCO’s) are also known as the ‘CSI’ crime scene investigators, in
terms of availability they are on call 24/7 alongside the police which ensures they reach
crime scene as soon as possible, and there are no delays to ensure menial contamination of
the scene, but they are not police officers they are either employed under the police or
private companies,in terms of expertise their role is to collect and process evidence at the
scene the same as police. But they differ as they collect and process evidence in a far more
advanced way, by taking photographs, recovering traces and ensuring the physical evidence
is packed and stored correctly for further analysis, SOCO’S evidence are highly valid and
favoured by the courts and used as evidence, as well as the SOCOS, being able to provide
testimonial statements in the courts of the findings they find at a crime acne, by using a wide
range of advanced equipment which helps them investigate into more depth of their
findings. Considering their salary, they earn up to £37,000 which is considered quite low, as
they do experience ,many emotional and dramatic scene , as well as risking their life when
entering crime scenes which topic chemical and gases which could have a impact of the
health , as well as their national health too, however it shows how passionate the individual
can be, and that those who do consider this profession do not do it for the money but for
goodwill. SOCO’s can also gain experience and then wish to pursue careers more further
on, such as moving on from the hands on and first hand witnesses of the crime scene ot a
more private job such as writing the reports of their findings in an office setting rather than
crime scene, then allowing them to gain experience from both immediate aftermath, add to a
less hectic environment such as reporting an witing statements and documents, showing
they do not alway have to be in a chaotic environment, but with experience gained, they can
the move to a calmer workplace after their experience to ensure they are still working and
adapting their skills that they gained from the physical crime scene too, creating a highly
reliable report, and can be interpreted by other personnels such as police and judges when
used as evidence.
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Forensic Psychologists are also effective in criminal investigations. The difference between
forensic psychology and a forensic in general is that they apply psychological concepts to
criminal investigations. In terms of expertise they create a brief profile on the criminal which
than is passed on to the police to give them a vague idea of the potential suspect they must
be weary of, this is very effective for the police as it saves the, alot of time and resources as
well as funding from both personnels, as it can be a heavy workload for police to do both. In
trs of their availability, they are not available 24/7 but are on call whenever the police need to
gather information of an individual, because it is not as much as a hectic job for them as they
are not first hand of the scene, but arrie when police need them too. Forensic psychologists
earn up to £50,000 this high salary can indicate that they are considered very effective for
investigations, and when they work towards this job, they can get in through a psychology
degree, as well as forensics and do additional training which is needed for the job role.
However psychology is criticised as a whole as their information is not statistical nor valid or
backed by scientific evidence, it is just their way of interpreting evidence that is given to
them, and cannot be considered as valid and factual in comparison to scientific evidence.
However many forensic psychologist are very good at their job, an have proved many
successes such as the John Duffy case, where forensic psychologist gather information of
his behavioural and leisure activities, which the raised awareness of the typeof criminal they
are trying to find, which was then later implied successfully and he matched the profile which
was advised by forensic psychologists. Therefore considering this information, psychology is
just interpreting the way a human will try to think a similar way as a criminal, which allows
them to effectively predict the criminals net movement considering forensic psychologists are
highly trained into and specialised in thinking in a similar way as criminals which other
personnels are not, showing the overall effectiveness, as well as shown in many successful
cases using forensic psychologists.
1.2- Assess the usefulness of investigative techniques in criminal investigations.
Forensic techniques use a range of scientific techniques and procedures to gather evidence
within a crime scene then further investigate on the evidence collected from the scene, they
gather evidence such as hires, fibres and fingerprints which could hugely influence the
process of investigation when collected and processed properly. Forensics are useful in
laboratory settings by examining evidence and analysing it under the microscopes to find out
who it belongs to which could further help us find the criminal in the investigation, forensics
are also useful in street crime and violent crime investigations as well as digital forensic
which include the tracking of IP address on a online database, which could also help convict
people for crimes committed online making it very useful in may situations. Forensics
accompany the police and discuss the usefulness of particular evidence found, which would
later be used in court. Forensics are experts who must wear protective clothing when
gathering information ensuring their hair, and shoes as well as hands are covered to avoid
cross contamination of evidence which could then make it useful in court, if being tampered
with, therefore they must ensure they wear the correct protective clothing to ensure the
evidence they collect is useful for court use, free from contamination during the collection
and analysis. A type of forensic evidence collected is DNA. DNA is extremely useful when
collected, as DNA is unique for each individual and belongs to one person which could help
the police prove cases by proving someone's innocence and guilt as seen in the case of
colette atram, when successfully used forensics to proved the ‘supposed offenders’
innocence, when a teenage boy colette- was found murdered in a park. The killer was not
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