Blog #18: 2 Hour Meeting Answer #3

1.  What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?2.  Obey chain of command and understand how to process each piece of evidence. 
3.  
a) Evidence is useless if it is not admissible in court.
b) Each type of evidence needs to be handled differently from fingerprints to testimony.
c) Evidence requires signatures from everyone it comes in contact with to avoid being labeled as contaminated. 4.  Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward. Washington, D.C.: National Academies, 2009. Print.
5.  I plan to study the whole process of taking a piece of evidence from the crime scene to the courthouse to fully understand how meticulous the chain of command is. 

Blog #17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. What is most important to securing a conviction in a criminal investigation?

2. What methods of interrogation do you use?

3. How is questioning witnesses different from questioning suspects?

4. What do you recommend if a suspect is being difficult with questions?

5. What is your worst case scenario in an interrogation?

6. What is the chain of command for evidence?

7. What are some examples of evidence contamination? 

8. What has been your experience with evidence contamination?

9. What type of evidence do you believe is easiest to contaminate?

10. What type of evidence do you believe is most difficult to contaminate?

11. How do you best tell when a subject is lying?

12. Discuss the various types of evidence and how it is collected 

13. Discuss how the evidence will be examined 

14. Discuss the types of information the evidence can provide

15. What is the mindset of the investigator?

16. Discuss the innovative applications used in criminal investigations.

17. What happens if evidence is lost due an investigator's error?

18. What kind of training does one have to go through?

19. What are some of the challenges when dealing with informants? 

20. How would you determine if a specific informant is the right fit for the investigation? 

Blog #16: 2-Hour Meeting Answer #2

1. What is the most essential factor in solving a criminal investigation?
2. Properly collecting and preserving evidence.
3. During a criminal investigation, so much information can be gathered from processing the evidence at the crime scene. DNA analysis can be taken from tissue samples, fingerprints can be lifted off of surfaces, and fibers can be compared. The physical evidence will also never lie where a suspects testimony might. 
4. (Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward. Washington, D.C.: National Academies, 2009. Print.) A book that goes over the importance of forensic sciences in the United States.
5. I plan to continue my study of answer 2 by finding some form of online course that teaches the basics of forensic investigation.

Blog #15: Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

1) I plan on completing my 30 hours on the Behavioral Science Statistics course of ALEKs.
2) I will record how long I spend on the course and, hopefully, have the final certification to show at the end.
3) The course that I hope to take will improve my knowledge of criminal investigation as a whole and will show that I have put extensive time into training myself for understanding the statistics of behavior.

Blog #14: Independent Component #1

Literal:

1. I, Gawen Grunloh, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30.5 hours of work.
2. An article I found called “What is the best pistol for police officers?” on a site called spartan cops helped me complete this component because it gave a criteria for what criminal investigators would value most in a sidearm so I knew what to consider.
3. Work Log
4. I analyzed which sidearm would be the most reliable and most efficient protection for an investigator to take in the field to maintain safety.

Interpretive:

1. My charts and graphs of the data I found that shows my analysis of the various firearms. My analysis states that the Glock 22 model of sidearm is the ideal weapon for criminal investigators. I also spent time at a shooting range to get an idea of what each of the categories I researched actually meant and found that they made quite a difference. 

Pictured is a .38 I had a chance to take a picture of at the shooting range. I didn't analyze this sidearm because it isn't often used by investigators.

Applied:

1. From this component, I understand that a lot of thought has to go into the tools that a criminal investigator must consider to get the job done. Here alone, I had to consider 7 different aspects of each gun before coming to a reasonable conclusion. When in the field, investigators can't afford to not make an educated decision in which tools they take with them to maintain safety. I now understand how much investigators have to consider in choosing their tools on the job.