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A level Criminology notes (Unit 3 AC 1.1)
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detailed notes that helped me get high marks 8/10 on the level criminology course unit 3 ac 1.1.
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AC 1.1: Evaluate the effectiveness of the rolesof personnel involved in criminal investigations.
Police
Police officers are first to the crime scene and their first role is to preserve life. This can
involve looking after victims; for example, if they were injured the police would tend to them.
They also have the role of safeguarding the crime scene e.g. keeping people back and/or
barrier it off from the public which protects the golden hour and keeps evidence undisturbed
and uncontaminated. It is also essential for them to collect witness or victim statements
swiftly as the crime was recent and easiest to recollect from memory.in addition to this, they
may also be required to pursue suspects and arrest them as part of their roles.
They are effective in their role firstly because they are skilled trained professionals that have
a broad knowledge and skills like first aid procedures, safeguarding and people skills in
addition to some who are specialist in a field e.g. traffic police, support which gives them the
knowledge and expertise to carry out their roles effectively in a criminal investigation.
Additionally, their expertise is very accessible as there are many police officers in England
and Wales as of 2021 (127,784), providing 24hr availability for their roles in a criminal
investigation not to mention that they are cost-effective and come at a very reasonable cost
of £28,407/annum, a relatively low salary. However, it does come with a very large expense
of £300 million/10,000 officers for funding that covers their resources and training and is
provided by the government. This is a factor that makes them ineffective in a way as if and
or when there are funding cuts due to economic downturns it will hinder the police’s ability to
build their expert knowledge effectively e.g. there may be no premeditated crime scenes to
practice the correct protocol.
Given the aforementioned factors that make them effective, there are a number of factors
that prove them ineffective one being their failure to follow protocols and training when
carrying out their roles properly. The Macpherson report from 1999 was one that showed
that metropolitan police in London were guilty of institutionalised racism due to their failure to
carry out their roles of life preservation and safeguarding effectively and displaying blatant
incompetence while handling the case of Steven Lawrence.
There has also been some criticism of the police not carrying out investigations fairly as
seen in the case above and also with that of Colin Stagg who was subjected to an illegal
covert solicitation procedure called a honey trap by the police investigating him as a suspect.
This also highlighted a lack of expertise in the polices’ ability to properly carry out protocols
during criminal investigations making them ineffective.
In addition to this police sometimes make mistakes that cost lives as seen in the case of the
Hillsborough disaster where there was a lack of expertise when handling the situation
resulting in 97 deaths and 766 injuries.
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, Scene of Crime Officers (SOCOs)
Their role is to collect and process physical evidence from a wide range of crime scenes,
post mortems, and accidents. in addition to this, they must keep the evidence
uncontaminated or it will inadmissible in court: this means that they have to follow collecting,
documentation and storage procedures very carefully and effectively when collecting
forensic evidence at a crimes scene a failure of which could result in a blunder similar to that
of the Amanda Knox investigation; whereby the SOCO did not do a thorough collection of
evidence one of which was a bra clasp that was found two weeks after the initial
investigation making it low-value evidence currency due to its heightened potential of being
contaminated by its environment after the golden hour had passed., they may be required to
attend court hearings and post mortem exams in cases of suspicious deaths.
They are effective in their role firstly because they are trained and knowledgeable on their
expertise as they have to complete a degree in forensic science as well as have training in
evidence collection protocols which are used to link crime scenes to victims/suspects by
using specialised equipment e.g., casts for footprint collection.
Additionally, their expertise is readily accessible as SOCO’s are available 24/7 a factor that
makes them very effective however it is limited by their low numbers with only around 1500
in the UK which means that they have to prioritise between crime scenes which makes them
ineffective in their ability to carry out their role on a larger scale which may also affect their
ability to carry out their roles effectively due to the pressure they may be under. Cost wise
they are very effective as they earn a relatively low salary of between £16,000-35,000.
Given the aforementioned factors that make them effective, there are a number that makes
them ineffective one being that their role requires specialist skills and vigorous attention to
detail in which a lack of results in risking contaminating evidence or the crime science.
There are also other factors that make them ineffective some of them being, they may be
coming into direct contact with dangerous substances that are detrimental to their health,
disturbing crime scenes may hinder their ability to pay thorough attention to detail while
collecting evidence and lastly they may not be readily available in areas of high crime.
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