Roles and Responsibilities

Roles and responsibilities 

All crimes committed after being alerted to the scene of the said crime, requires a strong task force to cohesively form a well structured and thorough investigation. An investigation which has been detailed and left no stone unturned helps the case immensely when taken to trial for the defense or prosecution. Depending of the severity of the crime and what rank it is involved with, be that with special investigations such as Military, Naval or Royal Air Force, depends on how the investigation will be carried out.

Within a murder case for example, with the case or Hanratty, the police were alerted to the crime and an FAO (First attending officer) was sent to gain primary knowledge of what's happened. Here, an assessment of the scene is made this information, relevant information made to pass over to the CID once arrived, witness statements are taken from bystanders which are all documented for later use in court of the preliminary findings from the first officer to inspect the scene. The FAO calls for back up and again depending on the scene, specific people of the investigation team would come also. The police arrive and determines the next port of call to keep the momentum of the investigation going. If the police thought that there was more to investigate then the CID would take over the case to allow the police to resume their duty.

With the CID taking over the case, they can then specify what and they want on the scene. In cases where a murder had occurred then a coroner would be called out. Paramedics if the victim is still alive or injured. Forensics such as photographers, evidence collectors, transporters in the chain of custody,  Forensics would be called out such as the SOCO's, who create statements of the scene, pack preserve and evidence for the analysts to follow up on, photography to document the scene.
On this step also, if the crime is external the environmental heath organisation might be involved if there was a biohazardous occurrence and wildlife was to be exposed to it. If there was a string of letters or parcels arriving which are dangerous to us then they would trace back to the post office and to the origin country, eg. case of Ricin within the White house after the 9/11 terror attack on the twin towers, the amount of Ricin would have wiped out the entire of Washington state, which would (if in UK) include the aid of HM Customs and Revenue, in the USA, the Inland revenue and security. If there was a fire, then fire engines with firefighters are to put out fire and experts are to determine the origin of the fire if it was accidental or purposeful.

Once evidence has been collected, passed along the chain of custody and has been signed and accounted for, then they're sent to the laboratory and specific laboratories depending on the evidence collected and the limitations of the primary laboratory. The evidence has been analysed and expert witness accounts made and repackaged for trial. The evidence is then given to the CID to then be tried and tested against by the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), a trial is only willing to stand if there is strong enough evidence to progress onwards. Here, a solicitor is present to stand as the prosecution or defense counsel, then it is taken to court armed with the culprits alibis, plea, and their account of the crime. Within the courts, there is the Solicitors, Barristers, a Jury (12+) and the Judge.

A Solicitor's job role provides to their clientele professional legal support and advice. They take directions from clients and advise them on their legal actions and next steps through trials. They deal with personal issues such as buying and selling residential properties, landlord and tenancy agreements, wills  and probations, divorce and family matters also personal injury claims. Commercial work such as business related disputations, corporate transactions and establishing new enterprises. Also, protection of rights of individuals, which includes the receiving of compensation if treated unfairly by the public or private bodies.

A Barrister's job role within the UK specialise in advocacy and represent individuals or organisations within court proceedings. They represent independent sources of legal information and advice clients of their cases. They are usually hired by solicitos to represent a case within court and become involved once the advocacy before a court is required. They plead the case of the behalf of the clientele and the client's solicitor. Also, members of the public can directly go to a barrister to ask for advice and representation within court. The Barrister usually specialises in areas of the law such as criminal law, chancery (trusts and estate), commercial, entertainment, sports and common (family, housing and personal injury).

The Jury within a criminal litigation trials, are imposed with the responsibility of deciding whether, on the facts of the case. A person is guilty or not guilty of the offence the said culprit was charged with. The Jury must reach its verdict by considering the evidence shown in court and by the directions given by the judge.

The Judge with court, their role is to interpret the law, assess the evidence which has been exhibited and to control the courtroom processions and how the hearing and trial unfolds. They are the 'ultimate decision makers' and ae impartial in the pursuit of justice.

 Whilst taken to trial, the evidence is then shown as exhibits to the jury and the evidence witness statements are dissected by the prosecution and defence to prove or disprove the evidence and findings for who they're representing depending on their plea. After all has been shown and told, the Jury is asked to give a unanimous decision as to whether the culprit is guilty or not, and once a verdict is finalised by the jury the sentence is made by the Judge. Appeals and paroles are made after their sentence or years down the line into their sentence due to severity.

As spoken about before each type of crime requires the right investigative team to hold the investigation. The DTSD manages the military crimes such as murders, fraudulent cases, identity theft. The Social services are involved in cases such as domestic violence against themselves or parents, protection issues, to safeguard vulnerable children. In cases of terror attacks, then specialised bomb disposal experts would be called, or SWAT teams depending on the level of theat. As said before, any unmarked or unexpected parcels, export or importing of goods are tracked back to the HM customs and revenue.

In regards to the Hanratty case, the FAO was the first on the scene had received documentation, which was never to be found again, whilst in the FAO's custody. The superintendent, Morgan was at the crime overseeing the investigations progress and gives a statement to the police from the scene itself. As in respect to forensics, modern day forensics requires the correct protocol when collecting, preserving and protecting the evidence, yourself and the scenes integrity. Correct PPE (Personal protective equipment must be used or else the case would be forensically dismissed due to the protocols not being adhered to and would cause cross contamination. As opposed to the 1960's where investigators didn't uphold this.

Resubmission 

All these roles within an investigatory workforce needs to coherently work together to gather all the information needed to continue with the arrest and close the case or dismiss and let the suspect free. If one team member were to not complete their task efficiently it would/could lead the suspect into a sentence when they're innocent, and vice verse they could let a guilty person free, this could be due to evidence not being collected in court and being dismissed due to being inadmissible in a court of law. Either way innocence could be made guilty and the guilty free to walk, ethically this is wrong, and is why the task force is employed the way it is, because team work and all these individuals play their own role in the investigation, they have their own input into the case, all contribute to the case with the information gained. Depending on the case, depends on the amount of team and task force needed to deal with the incident, for a terrorist threat or attack a larger and more reinforcements would be needed as opposed to a youth being arrested or possession of cannabis. The higher the severity of the crime, the more people and reinforcements are needed to deal and handle the situation.

In cases of GBH murder (Grievous bodily harm) the FAO (First attending officer) would conceal the scene with tents and with tape to corner off the scene from any media or individuals to walk in on the scene and they call upon the SOCO's (Scenes of crime officers) to call the whole forensics team, the photographers, coroner if needs be, officers to stand guard of the scene, evidence collectors which is the majority of individuals who would be on the scene at this point, sometimes firearms specialists at this point if it was a case which involved guns or a shooting. From this point the FAO speaks and hands over the investigation due to its nature to the CID (Criminal investigation department) who will introduce the crime investigators, the police, preliminary findings will be made due to facts already known such as a sketch of the scene detailing how the room was and where items and evidence was found, suspects are drawn if they are still around the scene, witnesses give statements at this point also. As the case builds in intensity then the CPS (Crown prosecution service) will gather all the information given from the investigation team, forensic expert statements, forensic photographs taken from the scene are admitted for the hearing  if relevant, and if required the autopsy images are admitted if there were any self defensive wounds. The jury and judge will be given and displayed all the evidence to come to a unanimous decision depending on if they are proven guilty or innocent. 

In the case of Hanratty the FAO responded to the scene, would have cordoned off the scene, maintain the safety of the scene (in case of bomb threat or gunmen), to protect any evidence from the elements such as snow, rain, or heat due to evaporation, and to also keep trespassers from entering the scene. The FAO in the case of Hanratty had collected documentation evidence with Storie's testimony which had later been lost by the FAO and had her taken again at a later stage but the preliminary was lost and never recovered. An ambulance was called to the scene to escort Valerie to the hospital for immediate surgery and a coroner was called for Michael due to 3 gunshot wounds. After being taken from the crime scene by the coroner Gregston was taken to the local mortuary to determine cause of death, the time that the individual had died and any evidence found on the body was to be taken also, on the 23rd August 1961 in 1:30AM Gregson was declared dead.

 However due to this being a high profile and severe crime the CID (Criminal Investigation Detective) takes over to gather the intelligence and information they need to acquire for a preliminary investigation containing witness statements, sketch of the scene, location of body and evidence. The CID determines if forensics are needed and in the case of Hanratty they were called, to find the firearm and casings used they had called in DSU (Dog support unit) and forensic photographers were needed alongside forensic evidence collectors and SOCO's (Scenes of crime officers). 

However in Hanratty's case, the SOCO's weren't present and evidence such as Storie's semen stained underwear and bullets were recovered at a later date. The photographs taken which looked at images and evidence found were taken to scale using a forensic ruler scale to gain the exact size of the evidence. They also give perspective of the surrounding areas for reconstruction of the crime. The evidence is then taken down the chain of custody tot he designated people and to be analysed and to be as evidence to support the defense or prosecution council. Down that chain of custody the evidence was given to the appropriate analyst's such as the blood type found was type of O which was the most common secretory. The rifling and casings found in the Maida Vale hotel the Vienna. The murder weapon was found in the back of the 43 bus alongside casings and bullets found by the public. 

After the analysis's have made their expert witness statements and submitted for hearing the evidence it is sent to the barristers, solicitors, defendants and prosecutors, the jury and the judge to come to a unanimous decision. Hanratty due to the evidence, testimony, identikit images, images came to the decision for the death penalty for Hanratty.