AC 1.1 Write-up
Police officers play a vital role in the beginning of an investigation, as they're the first on
the scene after a 999 call to the police. Police are important for safeguarding the public
and attending to anyone injured at the scene, and if possible, they should arrest the
suspect if they hadn't left already. Police have responsibilities to avoid contamination or
tampering of evidence by closing off the scene to the public and waiting for detectives or
further qualified investigators if necessary.
There are many advantages to the use of police officers within criminal investigations, an
example being that they are able to interview suspects that they have a belief of being the
offender, and this can bring the case closer to closure on who the criminal is. Statements
made by the suspects while they're in the police interview can be used as evidence in
court. Another strength of police officers is their availability, as they can be called upon
24/7 by 999, and are fairly quick responders. The average response time for a police officer
to get to the scene after a 999 call is around 15 minutes, but it can depend on the grade of
the emergency. This is because there is a good amount of officers on the force, in March
2019, Home Office Statistics reported there were 103,347 officers employed in front line
policing roles, and a police recruitment campaign set to recruit 20,000 more. Another
strength is their level of expertise, as some police officers work in specialised areas in
which they become experts in their field, such as drug squad, MIT, mounted, dog handlers
or underwater search.
However, there are some limitations to police officers, such as the influence of bias or
prejudice that may take on their judgements and mess up the investigation. A case of this
is the Stephen Lawrence case, where the Macpherson inquiry report in February of 1999,
said ‘professional incompetence, institutional racism, and a failure of leadership by senior
officers’ was shown in the police department after Stephen Lawrence was killed in a racist
attack by a group of white teens, and the inquiry took over 18 years. Another weakness is
that some officers may commit misconduct or an inappropriate use of power to attempt to
cover this up, which would decrease the trustworthiness and prestige of the whole force.
Another weakness is their expertise as it was very different between forces, which means
there was differences between how police work and it made it difficult for communicating
between the forces and this could cause miscommunication, only in recent years has it
become more consistent.
Police officers play a vital role in the beginning of an investigation, as they're the first on
the scene after a 999 call to the police. Police are important for safeguarding the public
and attending to anyone injured at the scene, and if possible, they should arrest the
suspect if they hadn't left already. Police have responsibilities to avoid contamination or
tampering of evidence by closing off the scene to the public and waiting for detectives or
further qualified investigators if necessary.
There are many advantages to the use of police officers within criminal investigations, an
example being that they are able to interview suspects that they have a belief of being the
offender, and this can bring the case closer to closure on who the criminal is. Statements
made by the suspects while they're in the police interview can be used as evidence in
court. Another strength of police officers is their availability, as they can be called upon
24/7 by 999, and are fairly quick responders. The average response time for a police officer
to get to the scene after a 999 call is around 15 minutes, but it can depend on the grade of
the emergency. This is because there is a good amount of officers on the force, in March
2019, Home Office Statistics reported there were 103,347 officers employed in front line
policing roles, and a police recruitment campaign set to recruit 20,000 more. Another
strength is their level of expertise, as some police officers work in specialised areas in
which they become experts in their field, such as drug squad, MIT, mounted, dog handlers
or underwater search.
However, there are some limitations to police officers, such as the influence of bias or
prejudice that may take on their judgements and mess up the investigation. A case of this
is the Stephen Lawrence case, where the Macpherson inquiry report in February of 1999,
said ‘professional incompetence, institutional racism, and a failure of leadership by senior
officers’ was shown in the police department after Stephen Lawrence was killed in a racist
attack by a group of white teens, and the inquiry took over 18 years. Another weakness is
that some officers may commit misconduct or an inappropriate use of power to attempt to
cover this up, which would decrease the trustworthiness and prestige of the whole force.
Another weakness is their expertise as it was very different between forces, which means
there was differences between how police work and it made it difficult for communicating
between the forces and this could cause miscommunication, only in recent years has it
become more consistent.
