NCJ Number
91560
Date Published
1979
Length
76 pages
Annotation
A program to improve the management of criminal investigations in Santa Monica, Calif., improved the productivity of the police department's investigations bureau and produced overall improvements in the bureau's operations.
Abstract
The program also resulted in a higher rate of acceptances of cases by the prosecutor's office, although it did not improve arrest rates and may not have improved clearance rates. The investigators and administrators were generally satisified with the program. Funded by LEAA in 1976, the program focused on the areas of the investigative process in which a strong degree of control could be exercised in order to remove the investigation of crimes away from an assembly line process. The department changed the incident report so that the patrol officer's initial investigation would determine if a subsequent investigation would take place and if a case had a reasonable expectation for solution. The department used a process of case screening to filter out the cases with little chance of being solved. Investigators all received standardized training. The department also completed a standardized checklist before allowing a case to be submitted to the prosecutor's office. The checklist was a set of evidentiary requirements which made for a sound prosecution. Central to the system was a monitoring system which traced the flow of each case through its final disposition. Other departments could use this approach if they establish it as a total package and not on a piecemeal basis. Data tables, figures, and appendixes presenting forms and a citizen survey questionnaire are provided.