Investigation and Arrest

1. Investigation and Arrest Chapter 8

2. In this chapter we will look at…. • The Police • The Investigation • The Evidence • The Arrest and Detention

3. The Police • Canada’s Federal police force is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP.

4. The RCMP was formed in 1873 as the North-West Mounted Police. They provide….. • Investigative and protective services for the federal government. • Provincial police, and municipal in some cases, for all provinces and territories except Quebec and Ontario.

5. The RCMP’s Work Focuses On…. • Customs and Excise – cases of international smuggling, taxes and tariffs. • Drug Enforcement – Controlled Drugs and Substance Act; smuggling. • Economic Crime – fraud, organized crime • Federal Policing – public safety and consumer protection • Immigration – illegal aliens • Proceeds of Crime – confiscation of money or property derived from crime • Criminal Intelligence – gathering intelligence, organized crime, terrorist groups. • International Liaison and Protective Services – security for federal officials and visiting heads of state.

7. Provincial Police • Jurisdiction in rural areas and unincorporated areas around cities. • The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Surete du Quebec and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary are the three largest.

9. Municipal Police • Police towns and cities. • Funded by the municipality. • Duties include any or all of the following: preserving the peace preventing crime assisting victims of crime apprehending criminals Laying charges and participating in prosecutions executing warrants enforcing municipal bylaws

11. Other Facts • Canada has about 62,500 police men and women. • Cost to the taxpayer, $6.5 billion. • 192 officers per 100,000 people (USA,262) • Lowest is NL and PEI • 11,200 are female (18%) • 1,667 police members in Nova Scotia

12. The Investigation • The crime scene, the site where the offence took place, is key to the investigation. • Police must get emergency crews on the scene, eliminate any hazards and search the scene for the perpetrators. • The success of any prosecution rests on the physical evidence taken from the scene, so officers establish two boundaries; the center and the perimeter. • The center is the area in which the offence was actually committed; the perimeter is the area surrounding the center, where the offender may have been present or may have left some evidence.

13. Crime scenes are preserved for three reasons….. • To allow for a thorough search of the scene • To seize and collect physical evidence • Ensure the evidence seized is admissible in court Contaminated evidence may be inadmissible or lead police to the wrong conclusions.

14. Four Officers at the Scene • Patrol officers are usually first at the scene, they make arrests if necessary or secure the scene, usually using yellow police tape. • The scenes of crime officer is trained in evidence collection and preservation. • A criminal identification officer is responsible for searching the crime scene, gathering evidence and sending it to the lab. • A criminal investigations officer, a plainclothes detective, supervises the investigation.

15. Physical Evidence • Includes any object, impression or body element that can be used to prove or disprove facts relating to an offence. • Usually carries more weight than witness testimony. • Forensic science refers to the use of biochemical and other scientific techniques to analyze evidence in a criminal investigation. Scientists examine and analyze the physical evidence found at a crime scene.

16. Forensic scientists……… • Give expert evidence at trials • Perform autopsies • Analyze firearms and bullets • Have some expertise such as analyzing paint to tell what model car is involved. • Entomologists are insect specialists who can determine the time of death by examining life stages of insects. • Some are experts at examining tool marks (hammers, crowbars, screwdrivers), as they are the most frequently used tools in crime.

17. Some examine impressions, patterns or marks found on surfaces and caused by various objects. They photograph, scan or take a mould of the impression, then try to match with an object. • Impressions can have class characteristics, the general attributes of an object, or individual characteristics, the specific and unique features of an object.

18. Fingerprints • A fingerprint is a patterned mark left on a surface by a fingertip. • Prints can also come from hands, feet and toes. • A print is unique to each individual and useful in identifying offenders and unfortunately, in some cases, victims. • There are two types of prints ……..

19. A visible fingerprint means the print formed when a fingertip coated in blood, grease or some other substance touched a surface and left a print visible to the naked eye. • A latent fingerprint is formed by natural oils and perspiration on the fingertip. It is invisible to the naked eye. To “see” this print three methods are used. • Dusted using a graphite powder. The print is lifted from the surface using tape and then photographed. • Iodine fuming, which involves exposing areas of cloth or paper with iodine fumes which attached to the print and make it visible. • A laser is used to illuminate the print. Sweat compounds on the surface absorb the laser and turn yellow so they can be photographed.

23. DNA Evidence • Blood, semen, hair, mucus and skin are often left at a crime scene. Any of these can be used to test for DNA and then match the results to a particular suspect. • Blood is the most common body substance found. • DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is found in every cell of the human body and is unique to every individual with the exception of identical twins. • DNA testing can therefore link or exclude anyone from a crime.

30. Hair and clothing fibers can also be used to connect a suspect to a crime scene. • Once the physical evidence has been collected it must be carefully labeled and stored. • A chain of custody is established, a witnessed written record of all the people who had control over the evidence. It must show….. • Who had contact with the evidence • The date and time the evidence was handled • The circumstances under which the evidence was handled • What changes if any were made

31. Arrest and Detention • Procedures dealing with arrested suspects are outlined in the Criminal code and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If the proper procedures are not followed it may lead to charges being dropped because of inadmissible evidence. • A detained or arrested person has the right to remain silent, know the reason for their arrest and the right to a lawyer. • Once an arrested person has been informed of their rights, anything they say or put in writing can be used against them.

32. Police use a four stage approach in the interrogation of suspects: • Ask the suspect to describe the entire incident. • Describe the period just before the incident. • Describe the details of the actual offence. • Describe what happened during the period after the incident. The primary goal is to arrive at the TRUTH!

33. An Arrest involves legally depriving someone of liberty by seizing or touching the person to indicate that he or she is in custody. • In order for the arrest to be lawful the arresting officer must follow these steps: • Identify him or herself as a police officer • Advise the accused that he or she is under arrest • Inform the accused promptly of the charge and show the arrest warrant if one has been obtained. • Touch the accused to indicate that he or she is in custody. Once the accused is in custody the police must inform the person of their right to counsel.

34. Another option is detention. This is legally depriving a person of liberty by seizing or touching the person to indicate that he or she is in custody. It is mainly done to get the person to answer a few questions or determine if the person is a suspect in a crime. If you refuse to accompany the police you may be placed under arrest. • Police must have reasonable grounds to arrest someone. This is information that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the suspect had committed a criminal offence.

35. The police have three methods of apprehending an offender……. • Appearance notice – a legal document usually issued for less serious offences, compelling a person to appear in court. (summary convictions, less serious indictable) If the accused fails to appear in court on the specific date and time, a bench warrant may be issued. This is an arrest warrant issued directly by a judge when an accused person fails to appear in court.

36. 2. Arrest with a warrant– If police believe that a suspect will appear in court voluntarily, a summons can be issued. This is a legal document issued for an indictable offence, ordering an accused person to appear in court. • Otherwise, police will obtain an arrest warrant. An information, a statement given under oath telling the court the details of an offence, is given by police before a judge. Once the police “lay an information” the judge will decide if it is in the public interest to issue an arrest warrant. • An arrest warrantis a written court orderdirecting the police to arrest a suspect. It contains the name of the accused, the charge and the reason for the warrant.

37. 3. Arrest without a warrant – There are three circumstances under which the police can arrest a person without a warrant. • They have reasonable grounds to believe that a person has committed an indictable offence or is about to commit one. • They find a person in the act of committing a criminal offence. • They find a person who they believed is named on an arrest warrant. All peace officers, including mayors, prison guards, customs officials, aircraft pilots and fisheries officers, can arrest under these circumstances.

38. A Citizens Arrest • This is an arrest without a warrant by any person other than a peace officer. • Immediately following such an arrest the suspect must be turned over to a peace officer. • A citizen’s arrest can be made under these circumstances……. • A person whom he finds committing an indictable offence. • A person who on reasonable grounds he believes has committed a criminal offence or is escaping from and freshly pursued by persons who have lawful authority to arrest that person. • An owner of property or a person authorized by the owner, can arrest a person whom he finds committing a criminal offence on or in relation to that property.

39. Searches • The charter protects people from illegal search and seizure. Here are some of the rules regarding searches. • Searching a person – The police do not have to obtain a warrant to search anyone they have arrested, as long as three conditions are met…. • The arrest is lawful • The search must be connected to the lawful arrest • The manner in which the search is carried out is reasonable.

40. An impaired driver must submit a breath or blood sample but otherwise you can only be compelled to give such a sample with a warrant. • Searching a place – usually must have a search warrant, a court document that gives the police the right to search a specific location. • In order to get a warrant the police must deliver a sworn information to a judge, which specifies the crime, the items police are looking for and the reasonable grounds they have for believing the items will be found at the location.

41. The warrant will list all of these details as well as the date and time the police are allowed to conduct their search. • Unless specified, the search must take place within daylight hours, usually 6 am to 9pm. • The police must identify themselves and show the warrant before conducting the search. Other items not listed in the warrant can be confiscated if they are related to the crime and in plain view. • Objects obtained are kept in police custody until the trial. • Sometimes a telewarrant, a search warrant obtained by phone or fax, can be used if the police need to act quickly. • To search a private home a warrant is almost always required. Two exceptions are imminent injury or death to any person or the destruction of evidence related to an indictable offence.

43. Procedures After Arrest • After being arrested for an indictable offence, a person may expect to be fingerprinted, photographed and sometimes, participate in a line up. • If the person is not charged or is acquitted in court, the arrest record is kept for 10 years before being destroyed. • A line up, a grouping of people shown to a victim or witness for the purpose of identifying the perpetrator, can not be forced upon an arrested person.

44. After the arrest procedures a person is often released until the trial. • Police may ask you to sign a promise to appear, a signed agreement that an accused person will appear in court at the time of trial. If the person doesn’t show, a warrant for arrest is issued. • Some may sign a recognizance, a guarantee that the accused will appear in court when required, under penalty of a fine of up to $500. • Police may also request a surety, a person who agrees to make a payment if the accused does not appear at trial.

45. Bail • Bail is the temporary release of an accused who posts money or some other security. Application is made before a judge. • If the crown does not want an accused person released before trial, a show-cause hearing is held, a judicial hearing in which the Crown or the accused has to convince the judge either to detain or release the accused before trial. • Cause can be that the accused may flee or that they may be a threat to society. • In some cases there is a reverse onus, where the accused has to show why bail should be granted.

46. Reverse onus may apply when: • The accused is charged with committing an indictable offence while already out on bail. • The offence is indictable and the defendant is not a Canadian citizen. • The charge involves failure to appear or breach of a bail condition. • The accused is charged with importing, trafficking or possession for the purpose of trafficking, narcotics. Of course, there is always the writ of Habeas Corpus.