NCJ Number
78516
Date Published
1978
Length
211 pages
Annotation
The objectives of this study were to develop expository data and statistics on the state-of-the-art of criminalistics in the State of Texas and to determine the levels of education and training of criminal investigators in that State.
Abstract
The study involved library research, a questionnaire sent to each State crime laboratory in the United States and to each major laboratory in Texas, and a questionnaire sent to chiefs of police in every municipality of 10,000 and to every Texas sheriff. Personal interviews were conducted with some laboratory directors and police investigators. It was found that narcotics, alcohol intoxication analysis, and latent print examinations were the highest categories of crime laboratory caseloads in the State laboratories as well as in the Texas facilities. Texas laboratory staffs range from 56 employees in Dallas to 3 in Fort Worth. There is a medical doctor on the staff at Dallas; three laboratories employ holders of Master's degrees. No sheriff's department respondent acknowledged college credit in criminal investigation. Of the 60 responding police departments, only 24 reported college credit in criminal investigative work. Investigative training within their own departments was indicated by 45 respondents. Only 27 of all police or sheriff's department respondents reported any crime scene training within the last year. Of the reported 1,402 cases investigated by 35 officers, 28 percent were referred to a crime laboratory. The respondents indicated that they could not have solved 9.5 percent of their cases last year without laboratory aid. A bibliography of 39 references is given. Appendixes contain study documentation. (Author abstract modified)