Ask a detective/undercover cop

[ajong14]

Hello, I'm working on a creative story for class and I've been reading through the Q&A's here. Very awesome and impressive! I hope Detective Ace_of_something could answer these situations.

1) A college student is trying to solve the murder mystery of her roommate. If she obtained semen samples from a suspect and sends it to a detective she was consoled/interviewed by, would it be plausible that the detective send the samples to forensics? Would she be breaking laws in the process?

2) Say a crime occurs in LA, which turns out to be part of an investigation (say, gang-related) in another county. Would the captured suspects and witnesses be transferred to the other county / police department? Would the interviewing process take place at the LA police department or the other county office or the witnesses' convenience?

3) Would it be possible for the suspect, say a friend of a witness, request that witnesses be part of the interviewing panel? Basically, I want the suspect to tell the truth in front of the roommate.

 

[Akalistos]

Who's a better detective, you or Veronica Mars [http://stopbragging.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/01-kristen-bell-veronica-mars-veronica-mars.jpg]?

Never heard of her. Hmm tough call. I'm gonna go with me. As I have a much better goatee which is critical to being a good detective.

I... question... answer... need... jugs..

Sorry, had to click on that link. Here my question first, if you want to know why i asked, just read the second paragraph. What the craziest crime (or case) you got to work on?

I worked at a gas station a few month ago when a guy about 50 years old jump on the counter and pull a knife. I was so in shock at the crazy leap he done that it took about a minute to see the knife. I do what i was supposed to do, call the cop, ect. When the cop came,i describe everything (it wasn't my first rodeo) and tell them that he jump On the counter. The cops looked a each other. "He jump.... on the counter, right?" "Yes, officers." "And he was how old you said?" "Around fifty, and he had gray hair sir." The manager came, he showed them the tape and fair enough he jump a 3 and a half foot counter on the spot! The cop and i call him Spider-Grampa now.

 

[fanklok]

I had basically a paralysis caused by lupus building up weirdness in my system.
Yes, I'm like the anti-house of detectiving. I'm actually polite, professional, and try to be friendly.

Not to mention it actually was lupus, I just had to point that out and now I feel obligated to ask a real question that will probably already have been asked in the 3.5 pages since the quote.

Back in the day before your detectivery when you where a normal cop in uniform how often would you get called out to investigate gun fire only to find it was some kids playing with fire crackers/dry ice bombs?

 

[ace_of_something]

Hello, I'm working on a creative story for class and I've been reading through the Q&A's here. Very awesome and impressive! I hope Detective Ace_of_something could answer these situations.

1) A college student is trying to solve the murder mystery of her roommate. If she obtained semen samples from a suspect and sends it to a detective she was consoled/interviewed by, would it be plausible that the detective send the samples to forensics? Would she be breaking laws in the process?

2) Say a crime occurs in LA, which turns out to be part of an investigation (say, gang-related) in another county. Would the captured suspects and witnesses be transferred to the other county / police department? Would the interviewing process take place at the LA police department or the other county office or the witnesses' convenience?

3) Would it be possible for the suspect, say a friend of a witness, request that witnesses be part of the interviewing panel? Basically, I want the suspect to tell the truth in front of the roommate.

Welcome to the Escapist!

1) The detective could send it to be checked by a forensics lab yes. Realistically it takes about a month (sometimes two) to get DNA results and often times they are inconclusive. The other thing TV shows seem to lack is that you can't just look up DNA and figure out who it is. It has to be matched with something else. So you have to already have a chief suspect lined up with lots of other evidence before you can compare his DNA to a sample. Part of this is because DNA testing costs hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars.
However, in most fiction works, even those by former detectives, it's okay to make a DNA sample be read in hours or a few days for the sake of pacing the story
A sample obtained by anyone other than a detective would be highly suspect and might get thrown out in court for not being properly recorded in the chain of evidence.

2) If the crime was committed in LA the suspects, after being arrested would be incarcerated in Other county. The detectives would likely drive to the Other county to interview the suspect (and get some sweet overtime pay). If charges were filed the suspect would than be transferred to LA's city (or county, I'm not sure what LA's situation is there) jail. Though if they already had very strong evidence and already charged the offenders with the crime they would be transferred by deputies from the Other county (where they were arrested) to LA county as soon as feasible (where they were charged) to await trial. In all honesty it could either way who would be moved where to do what. It's kind of a case by case thing.


3) It is against many many rules and regulations to have anyone other than the primary, secondary, or consultant detective (or the detective's supervisor) interview a witness or interrogate a suspect. Any other parties present would likely get the interview thrown out. However, all interview/interrogations are recorded on a closed circut.They do this for many obvious reasons. Also so that supervisors can watch interviews from their computer.
In a some situations it might be feasible for a supervisor to allow someone to watch the interview on the computer with them. Though I'm sure they'd need a good reason.

 

[ace_of_something]

I had basically a paralysis caused by lupus building up weirdness in my system.
Yes, I'm like the anti-house of detectiving. I'm actually polite, professional, and try to be friendly.

Not to mention it actually was lupus, I just had to point that out and now I feel obligated to ask a real question that will probably already have been asked in the 3.5 pages since the quote.

Back in the day before your detectivery when you where a normal cop in uniform how often would you get called out to investigate gun fire only to find it was some kids playing with fire crackers/dry ice bombs?

Someone had to say it.
Well, fireworks were illegal in the city limits and are only sold from june 4th to july 4th around here so not very often.
Though often times you'd get called to see what's going on at a loud party open the door and there's like 2 or 3 people watching a movie without a stereo system in a very clean room.

We had one older woman who would call the police like every other day for two weeks before we told her to stop it. The young lady who lived above her was kind of heavyset and the old woman bitched that she could hear her 'doing jumping jacks'. It turns out she was just kind of heavy and just had loud footsteps. The 2nd to last time we showed up the young woman was asleep (red eyes, in pajamas, and messed up hair) and claimed she had been for a while. So we told the old lady to knock it off before we charge her with harassment.
The final time I made them both meet in the hall and discuss their problems face to face and work it out before I left. (which they had NEVER done) never got a call after that.

 

[ajong14]

Hello, I'm working on a creative story for class and I've been reading through the Q&A's here. Very awesome and impressive! I hope Detective Ace_of_something could answer these situations.

1) A college student is trying to solve the murder mystery of her roommate. If she obtained semen samples from a suspect and sends it to a detective she was consoled/interviewed by, would it be plausible that the detective send the samples to forensics? Would she be breaking laws in the process?

2) Say a crime occurs in LA, which turns out to be part of an investigation (say, gang-related) in another county. Would the captured suspects and witnesses be transferred to the other county / police department? Would the interviewing process take place at the LA police department or the other county office or the witnesses' convenience?

3) Would it be possible for the suspect, say a friend of a witness, request that witnesses be part of the interviewing panel? Basically, I want the suspect to tell the truth in front of the roommate.

Welcome to the Escapist!

1) The detective could send it to be checked by a forensics lab yes. Realistically it takes about a month (sometimes two) to get DNA results and often times they are inconclusive. The other thing TV shows seem to lack is that you can't just look up DNA and figure out who it is. It has to be matched with something else. So you have to already have a chief suspect lined up with lots of other evidence before you can compare his DNA to a sample. Part of this is because DNA testing costs hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars.
However, in most fiction works, even those by former detectives, it's okay to make a DNA sample be read in hours or a few days for the sake of pacing the story
A sample obtained by anyone other than a detective would be highly suspect and might get thrown out in court for not being properly recorded in the chain of evidence.

2) If the crime was committed in LA the suspects, after being arrested would be incarcerated in Other county. The detectives would likely drive to the Other county to interview the suspect (and get some sweet overtime pay). If charges were filed the suspect would than be transferred to LA's city (or county, I'm not sure what LA's situation is there) jail. Though if they already had very strong evidence and already charged the offenders with the crime they would be transferred by deputies from the Other county (where they were arrested) to LA county as soon as feasible (where they were charged) to await trial. In all honesty it could either way who would be moved where to do what. It's kind of a case by case thing.


3) It is against many many rules and regulations to have anyone other than the primary, secondary, or consultant detective (or the detective's supervisor) interview a witness or interrogate a suspect. Any other parties present would likely get the interview thrown out. However, all interview/interrogations are recorded on a closed circut.They do this for many obvious reasons. Also so that supervisors can watch interviews from their computer.
In a some situations it might be feasible for a supervisor to allow someone to watch the interview on the computer with them. Though I'm sure they'd need a good reason.

Thanks so much!

For #3, if the arrested/interviewed suspect cannot reveal the truth to the hero (the victim's roommate who isn't a detective), what are good plausible ways to have them talk?

I'm thinking of a visitation, and I'm curious about the process. After the arrest, how long would it take before the hero could visit/talk to the suspect?

Does he have to be tried first or can a simple "chat" be done before the trial?

 

[ace_of_something]

What the craziest crime (or case) you got to work on?

I worked at a gas station a few month ago when a guy about 50 years old jump on the counter and pull a knife. I was so in shock at the crazy leap he done that it took about a minute to see the knife. I do what i was supposed to do, call the cop, ect. When the cop came,i describe everything (it wasn't my first rodeo) and tell them that he jump On the counter. The cops looked a each other. "He jump.... on the counter, right?" "Yes, officers." "And he was how old you said?" "Around fifty, and he had gray hair sir." The manager came, he showed them the tape and fair enough he jump a 3 and a half foot counter on the spot! The cop and i call him Spider-Grampa now.

Hrm as a detective... Well I've been shocked to find out how many times someone will be mowing their yard or working in thier garden and someone else will just walk right into their house grab a few choice items and exit. Brass Balls.
The weirdest one I can think of is when a guy with Dwarfism robbed a bar. He was pretty easy to catch because there just aren't that many african-american dwarves with gold teeth around with a previous robbery record. He also drove a conversion van with a space-scape painted on the side. Again, not many of those.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

After the sexy success of my [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.78482-ask-a-cop-jailer] Ask a Cop/Jailer[/a] Thread which refused to die over the course of a year.
I've decided to educate you escapists on detective-ing.
I come from a big group of gumshoes.
My uncle (whom I am named after) was one of the first local departments to do the whole 'pretending to be a 14 year old girl on the internet' schtick. He began doing this in about 1995. He now is retired but travels around the country as a consultant helping departments set up pedophile sting operations.
Another uncle who is one year from retiring in the(Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.) He has 19 years in this department under his belt and 9 years in on Cook County Sheriff's before that (that would be Chicago)
My older brother has been a homicide detective in TX. He has been assigned this duty for about three years. He has been a cop for a total of 17 years.
My twin brother is on the city police in the area we live in and has been a SCU (Sexual Based Crimes Unit) for about two years. He has about 8 years experience all together. Before that he worked in the gang unit.
I myself worked as a vice officer on the city police for 3 years. (this ended about 5 years ago) I had a brief run as a corrections officer before switching over to the county sheriff (about 1/2 the size of the city police) on the sheriff's department I have been in 'Crimes Against Property' division for about 7 or 8 months now. I aspire one day to hit the big show. That would be Homicide or the ATF.
This is all not counting my other brother who is a cop but not a detective and one who works as an investigator for Union Pacific Railroad.

I have an MS in Sociology/Criminology. I am constantly reading new techniques and memoirs of detectives.

Most of my knowledge is strictly in the American procedure but I've been trying to learn more about the UK.

As with the ask a cop. Keep it civil and you will get as straight an answer as I can offer. Try to keep your questions in the realm of detectivery and under cover coppery.

edit: I just remembered I have a 2nd Cousin that works as some sort of Detective in Troms County Norway. I almost never talk to the guy though.
And another 2nd cousin who works as some sort of Cop in Bergen.

Is a knife considered a concealed weapon in Florida? Do I need a license to carry my 8.5in combat knife?

 

[ace_of_something]

Is a knife considered a concealed weapon in Florida? Do I need a license to carry my 8.5in combat knife?

Concealed Weapon Laws for both firearms and edged weapons are usually determined by the city or county that you reside in. I really wouldn't know for Florida.
Though outside of the most rural of counties I can't imagine many places that would allow you to carry around a knife with a blade that size without some sort of registration or container. No, not a sheath more like a box or something.

 

[DonPauliani]

Do criminals walk free as often as television portrays? Or do the good guys not lose that often? And why does American hold 25% of the world's population of prisoners?

 

[DethVanXan]

Would it be alright if I called on you for research? I've been looking around for something that could help me in my research into detective work but haven't had much luck, so having someone like you would help be immensly.

 

[ace_of_something]

Thanks so much!

For #3, if the arrested/interviewed suspect cannot reveal the truth to the hero (the victim's roommate who isn't a detective), what are good plausible ways to have them talk?

I'm thinking of a visitation, and I'm curious about the process. After the arrest, how long would it take before the hero could visit/talk to the suspect?

Does he have to be tried first or can a simple "chat" be done before the trial?

Trials, particularly murder trials at their quickest can be 2-3 months away from the day the suspect is charged. More commonly it's nearly a year before the trial. Most of the time unless the suspect is very rich he will not be able to afford the bond to get out of jail while he awaits trial.

As far as how visits work. There are as many different policies on how visits work in a jail as their are jails in the united states. Everyone does it differently. Few allow vistors who don't show identification. Nearly all require you to submit to some kind of (usually minor) background check and the same amount of security you'd see at an airport. Often times visits can only be conducted in the day time (say 9am-5pm) and have a time limit.

 

[Julianking93]

Another question, I'm not sure if you've been asked before but....

Is it all worth it?

At the end of the day do you feel good about what you do or any sense that you've bettered the world in some way, or do you just feel it's another day at the job?

Also, is it anything like on Law and Order? (Or SVU considering I watch that one frequently)

 

[DarkDain]

How do you feel about all the videos and stories surfacing about cops attacking people for apparently no reason at all, and how much people start to hate cops because of this ? I live in oregon where they're has been much violence towards cops this year, but stories of cops being unfair to people are more popular, but then youtube has tons of videos depicting cops mauling people who have probably already passed out.

 

[Will the Great]

I've got a question, more relating to PIs but I'm hoping you can answer anyway.

There's doctor-patient privilage, and lawyer-client privilage. Is there a similar thing that prevents a PI from being called to testify against a client? If so, how far does it extend?

 

[superbatranger]

I think this has been one of the better and most eye-opening threads I've seen. I don't have any questions because I feel everyone has asked them. All I will say is thank you for the hard work you do every day. Now, I don't live where you live, but I'm sure the people in your community appreciate what you do.

 

[Flauros]

Do you think its videogames that cause violence, or yknow, drug dealers and money? Sorry if that was a leading question.

 

[ace_of_something]

I've got a question, more relating to PIs but I'm hoping you can answer anyway.

There's doctor-patient privilage, and lawyer-client privilage. Is there a similar thing that prevents a PI from being called to testify against a client? If so, how far does it extend?

Nope, there isn't. There's only 4 ways to get out of testifying if supenoaed You've mentioned two of them, the other is being married to the defendant. The last is being comatose or dead.

 

[Big Max]

How do your experiences from work effect the type of video games you play?

I can see from before that you were rather against the idea of shooting someone, does this stay the same for video games?

 

[Dr Ampersand]

What's the law on vigilantes where you live? What's your opinion of them, have you ever seen one or had to deal with one? Were they dressed like a superhero?