Deck 10: Investigations

Question 1

Detectives in a centralized squad are considered ____________________.

A) specialists
B) generalists
C) in field training
D) felony-only detectives

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The idea that detective work is glamorous, exciting, and dangerous, as it is depicted in the movies and on television, is called the:

A) detective mystique
B) detective role
C) detective model
D) detective initiative

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In a case enhancement program, detectives:

A) debrief suspects to obtain further information
B) assist arresting officers in preparing a case for court
C) engage in liaison with the district attorney
D) all of these choices

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Prior to the Rand study, it was common for police departments to have policies and procedures in place that emphasized:

A) proactive investigations of future crime by detectives
B) follow-up investigations of past crimes by patrol officers
C) retroactive investigations of past crimes by detectives
D) cold-case investigations

Question 5

When Mark Willman and John Snortum duplicated the Rand and PERF findings in a study of detective work in 1984, they found that in cases reported to a suburban police department, most cases that were solved were solved when:

A) the victim identified the perpetrator in a photo line-up
B) the perpetrator was identified as a "person of interest"
C) the perpetrator confessed
D) the perpetrator was identified at the scene of the crime

Question 6

The Rand study was called ____________________

A) The Criminal Investigation Process
B) Today's Criminal Investigators
C) Patrolling the Streets
D) Crime in America

Question 7

The Managing Criminal Investigations (MCI) program is designed to put most of an investigator's time and effort into:

A) all misdemeanors that have a chance to be solved
B) only very important cases and cases that actually can be solved
C) only cases in which the complainant agrees to cooperate
D) none of these choices

Question 8

The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals recommended that detectives should only be assigned to preliminary investigations of:

A) misdemeanors
B) crimes of violence
C) very serious or complex preliminary investigations
D) all of these choices

Question 9

Detectives in a decentralized squad are considered ____________________.

A) specialists
B) generalists
C) in field training
D) felony-only detectives

Question 10

Nationally, police are only able to clear ____________________ percent of all property crimes reported to them.

A) 18.3
B) 46.3
C) 65.8
D) 87.1

Question 11

The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals recommended that ____________________ should be directed to conduct thorough preliminary investigations.

A) detectives
B) supervisors
C) nonsworn personnel
D) patrol officers

Question 12

The single most important determinant of whether or not a case will be solved is the information the victim supplies to the ____________________.

A) detective
B) immediately responding patrol officer
C) dispatcher
D) supervisor

Question 13

During the 1990s, the crime rates across the country:

A) went up in aggregate
B) went down at an unprecedented rate
C) remained constant
D) went up for some crimes and down for others

Question 14

Which of the following is a solvability factor in the Managing Criminal Investigations (MCI) program?

A) Is there a witness?
B) Is a suspect named or known?
C) Will the complainant cooperate?
D) all of these choices

Question 15

One of the primary purposes of police patrol is to prevent crime by creating a sense of:

A) security
B) omniscience
C) omnipresence
D) community awareness

Question 16

Nationally, police are able to clear only____________________ percent of all violent crimes reported to them.

A) 16.5
B) 47.2
C) 65.8
D) 87.1

Question 17

The investigative process begins with:

A) a call to 911
B) assignment by the sergeant
C) a citizen complaint
D) the patrol officer

Question 18

The Managing Criminal Investigations (MCI) program involves all of the following except:

A) case screening
B) solvability factors
C) case enhancement
D) alternative patrol techniques

Question 19

The vast majority of all arrests are made:

A) at the scene of the crime
B) within 48 hours
C) within 2 weeks
D) within 1 month

Question 20

Programs concentrating investigative resources on career criminals are called:

A) targeting programs
B) proactive programs
C) repeat offender programs
D) anti-career criminal programs

Question 21

Many cities have turned to civil liability (or code) enforcement teams to attempt to deal with ____________________ that have a negative effect on the quality of life in their communities.

A) local problems
B) local ordinances
C) homelessness
D) state laws

Question 22

An investigative unit that reexamines old cases that have remained unsolved is called a:

A) special acquired-technique squad (SATS)
B) hot-case squad
C) cold-case squad
D) geriatric unit

Question 23

Decoy operations are most effective in detecting and arresting all of the following except:

A) robbers
B) purse snatchers
C) persons committing larcenies from autos
D) murderers

Question 24

The use of analytical methods to obtain pertinent information on crime patterns and trends that can then be disseminated to officers on the street is called ____________________.

A) criminal profiling
B) CompStat
C) crime mapping
D) crime analysis

Question 25

What system has greatly improved the surveillance of offenders?

A) Johansen system
B) adult monitoring system (AMS)
C) probation positioning enhancement system (PPES)
D) global positioning system (GPS)

Question 26

__________ are responsible for the vast majority of all arrests.

Question 27

Entrapment is a(n) ____________________ defense.

A) perfect
B) good faith
C) equitable
D) affirmative

Question 28

Marvin Wolfgang discovered that most predatory street crime in the United States is committed by:

A) only a few criminals
B) convicted felons
C) sex offenders
D) individuals under the influence of drugs

Question 29

The Rand report said that half of all detectives could be replaced without negatively influencing:

A) recidivism reduction
B) crime clearance rates
C) offender rehabilitation
D) undercover programs

Question 30

The Rand study of the investigative process resulted in a proposal regarding a more effective way to investigate past crimes. The program outlined in this proposal is called __________

Question 31

The case of Carlie Brucia was solved in part due to:

A) testimonial evidence of her sister
B) the use of surveillance cameras
C) the use of DNA analysis
D) the implementation of a GPS tracking system

Question 32

Plainclothes officers' efforts to blend into an area and attempt to catch a criminal are called:

A) coercing
B) blending
C) shadowing
D) marking

Question 33

The two basic types of decoy operations are __________ and __________

Question 34

ROPs concentrate on __________

Question 35

____________________ are effective in cases in which the police receive a tip that a crime is going to occur in a commercial establishment or in which the police discover or come upon a pattern.

A) Stings
B) Stakeouts
C) Decoys
D) Inventories

Question 36

In __________ operations, officers dressed in civilian clothes try to intermingle into an area and patrol it on foot or in unmarked police cars in an attempt to catch a criminal in the act of committing a crime.

Question 37

A legal defense that holds that police originated the criminal idea or initiated the criminal action is called:

A) civil code
B) entrapment
C) police solicitation
D) entanglement

Question 38

In __________ operations, officers dress as, and play the role of, potential victims-drunks, nurses, business people, tourists, prostitutes, blind people, isolated subway riders, and the like.

Question 39

Dressing as and playing the role of a potential crime victim is known as:

A) a decoy operation
B) an envoy operation
C) a convoy operation
D) targeting

Question 40

A study by Florida State University released in 2006 found that offenders tracked by GPS were ____________________ percent less likely to abscond or reoffend than those not monitored.

A) 26
B) 49
C) 70
D) 90

Question 41

The advances of __________technology have led to the increase in the use of cold-case squads to solve crimes.

Question 42

Repeat offender programs (ROPs) are based on the fact that only a few criminals are responsible for most of the predatory street crime in the United States.

Question 43

Inducing an individual to commit a crime he or she did not contemplate for the sole purpose of instituting an arrest and criminal prosecution against the offender is called __________

Question 44

Crime analysis goes hand-in-hand with community-oriented policing and problem-oriented policing.

Question 45

A(n) __________ is the hidden surveillance of a location or person; for example, a group of heavily armed officers might hide in an area of a store or building to wait for an impending holdup.

Question 46

__________ operations are undercover police operations in which police officers pose as criminals in order to arrest law violators; for example, they might be used to apprehend thieves and recover stolen property.

Question 47

Decoy operations are most effective in combating the crimes of robbery, purse snatching, and other larcenies from the person; burglaries; and thefts of and from automobiles.

Question 48

In an MCI program, patrol officers play very limited roles in the investigation of past crimes.

Question 49

Police and business owners are now posting videos on the __________ website in order to allow the public to see suspected criminals.

Question 50

Jacobson v. United States is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case related to entrapment.

Question 51

Describe the Managing Criminal Investigations (MCI) program. How does it differ from traditional detective operations?

Question 52

In recent years, there has been a decrease in the use of multiagency investigative task forces.

Question 53

The __________is an operation in which an undercover police officer purchases drugs from a subject, and then leaves the scene and contacts the backup team, which responds and arrests the seller.

Question 54

Sting operations targeting lewd behavior have often been used around the country, particularly in parks and areas frequented by children.

Question 55

In smaller departments, detectives tend to be generalists.

Question 56

Describe a case enhancement program. How does this improve the investigative process?

Question 57

Undercover investigations are rarely used by federal law enforcement agencies.

Question 58

The single most important determinant of whether or not a crime is solved is the quality of work performed by the detectives.

Question 59

A covert investigation involving plainclothes officers is called a(n) __________ investigation.

Question 60

Discuss some of the strengths and weaknesses involved in the use of multiagency task forces.

Question 61

Detail the pros and cons of police Internet registries.

Question 62

Explain the detective mystique and how it has developed.

Question 63

Detail the 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case of Jacobson v. United States, including discussion of the subject matter of the case and the Court's ruling.

Question 64

What innovations to police detective operations were made as a result of the Rand and PERF studies?

Question 65

Explain the process of mentoring a new detective.

Question 66

What are decoy operations? Provide some examples.

Question 67

Define "solvability factor," and list some examples.