Investigation Plan

The purpose of the investigation plan is to determine what the most appropriate line of enquiry would be for the particular crime; once again the investigation plan will differ depending upon what type of crime they are investigating and what information they already have. They key to a successful investigation  plan is ensuring that the law official who is conducting the investigation ensures they have everything under control, this meaning they have law officials organised, they have planned the next step of enquiry.

At this stage the detectives would identify the different lines of enquiries they have, this is to ensure that they collect as much material (such as witness statements, CCTV videos etc.) as possible which may initiate new lines of enquiry. Typically the investigative team will identify the most important line of inquiry, and prioritise them before they pursue them. Once the initial line of enquiry is generated the detective will need to verify the objective of pursuing that particular line of inquiry and whether or not the actions that have been put into place are required to attain the objectives. If they don’t believe the actions they have put into place will help achieve their objective, they will have to review what the previously stated and amend it until they believe that it is the most suitable action/s to take place.

This is a vital stage within the investigation process as if it is not conducted effectively then they potentially haven’t pursued any potential leads. As a result of not pursuing potential leads/particular lines of enquiry, it may bring their investigation to a halt as they have no new pieces of information to investigate. Typically this stage should be carried out once they have identified the severity of the crime, which they are able to do after the preliminary investigation, as they have gained basic information at the stage regarding what has happened.

Referring back to the Paul Morin case the police decided that the best action to take would be to gather a group of searchers (including a small group of townspeople) to search around the neighbourhood, specifically looking in ditches and near fields. They then thought it would be most appropriate to put out missing posters of the Christine, to try and receive any potential leads.

Once the body was found, they decided the best lines of enquiry is to further interview people local to the crime scene to see if they had witnessed anything unusual the day that Christine disappeared. From this they received information from the local neighbours, of “late-night calls for help” within the 24 hour period Christine went missing.  The Durham police thought that it was essential to pursue Paul Morin, as they had been given many remarks suggesting that he was acting even more abnormal once the body was found.