NCJ Number
72578
Date Published
1979
Length
78 pages
Annotation
In 1976, LEAA awarded grants to five police departments to try out processes for managing criminal investigations (MCI). This summary report describes the MCI program and its effects and includes a summary of each police department's MCI program and a general assessment of MCI.
Abstract
Generally, the MCI concept involves augmentation of patrol role, reassignment/decentralization of detectives, case screening, police/prosecutor relations, and monitoring investigations. The five sites chosen for this test were Birmingham, Ala.; Montgomery County, Md.; Rochester, N.Y.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Santa Monica, Calif. During 1977 and 1978, Urban Institute staff visited the sites and evaluated their MCI programs. Through interviews and a review of site proposals and planning documents, the staff developed MCI chronologies and models of program activities. These were verified at each site, and the models were the basis for each evaluation design. The staff also undertook a detailed analysis of the MCI literature forwarded to the sites. Findings of this evaluation indicate that patrol responsibility in investigations increased at all five sites; arrests did not increase appreciably at any of the sites, although clearances did increase in Santa Monica. Case feedback processes were implemented at three sites, with positive results. Investigative monitoring systems proved difficult to make operational. Also, no positive correlation could be established between the way detective functions were organized and arrest/clearance rates. Overall, MCI was a popular program at each of the demonstration sites, although the results of the program could not be determined because of the variation among sites as to what was implemented, in what manner, and with what confounding uncontrolled factors. Tabular data and the MCI models are included.