Advice for new detectives?

[RJflyer]

It turns out I'll be moving into my dept's CID in the near future. All of my LE experience to date has been limited to patrol. I'm excited to make the switch, but curious if any experienced investigators here have advice on ways to prepare. I'm obviously expecting to lean heavily on the senior detectives at our dept, as well as our own formal training processes. But I'm curious if are there any books, training materials, courses, etc. that you found helpful when making the switch. I've been reading up lately to try and improve in the areas of interview techniques, writing search/arrest warrants, and death investigations. Any tips (in-thread or PM) would be appreciated!

[BehindBlueI's]

Every interview school you can go to. It doesn't matter if you can use just 10% of it, being a good interviewer is a huge advantage. Understand people, both good guys and bad guys, will now interact with you differently than they did when you were in uniform. Often to your benefit. Hollywood has done detectives a favor in that regard. Learning an interview style that suits your personality and the dominant personality types among your suspects is gold.

If you're not good at social media, get good. This was my big failing. I was sub-par and I had to lean heavily on a specialty unit for things I should have been able to do myself.

Remember that you're not a beat cop any longer. Your new goal should be to think like a prosecutor. You want to learn what your prosecutors will file on and what they won't, what they want to see in a PC, anticipate their questions ahead of time, etc. If you get a good reputation with whoever screens your cases it's going to make your life a lot easier AND they'll give you the benefit of the doubt when you want a warrant, have PC, but don't have enough for conviction yet.

If you can go to LSAT, I think it's a fantastic course. My department didn't even take written statements until I went and had good results. A few more people went after that and have also been big fans of it. http://www.patc.com/weeklyarticles/lsat.shtml

[RJflyer]

Every interview school you can go to. It doesn't matter if you can use just 10% of it, being a good interviewer is a huge advantage. Understand people, both good guys and bad guys, will now interact with you differently than they did when you were in uniform. Often to your benefit. Hollywood has done detectives a favor in that regard. Learning an interview style that suits your personality and the dominant personality types among your suspects is gold.

If you're not good at social media, get good. This was my big failing. I was sub-par and I had to lean heavily on a specialty unit for things I should have been able to do myself.

Remember that you're not a beat cop any longer. Your new goal should be to think like a prosecutor. You want to learn what your prosecutors will file on and what they won't, what they want to see in a PC, anticipate their questions ahead of time, etc. If you get a good reputation with whoever screens your cases it's going to make your life a lot easier AND they'll give you the benefit of the doubt when you want a warrant, have PC, but don't have enough for conviction yet.

If you can go to LSAT, I think it's a fantastic course. My department didn't even take written statements until I went and had good results. A few more people went after that and have also been big fans of it. http://www.patc.com/weeklyarticles/lsat.shtml

All extremely helpful points, thank you!

[PD Sgt.]

Everything BBI said, as well as a few additional tips.

Go at your own pace. Just like when you were new on Patrol, you needed to slow things down as much as you could to make sure you did not make unnecessary errors. You are learning a whole new job here, you will not be as efficient at first as more experienced detectives. Slow down, make sure you are getting it right.

If you are not issued a recorder, get one. Use it for all interviews, witness and suspect alike. It may turn out witnesses are later suspects, or they go backwards on you. It is harder for them to do so (particularly in court) if you have a recording. Get a device that allows you to record your phone calls. You would be surprised what people will say from the relative safety of a telephone.

You are in the information gathering business. Get as much out of people you talk to as possible, particularly when it comes to names, addresses, and associations. Document all of it. Hand out your card to everyone you talk to, you would be surprised sometimes who will call you back.

You only get one crack at your scene. Hold it as long as you need to to get all the information it holds.

Don’t forget where you came from. A lot of Patrol have a “lazy detective” stigma they attach when they don’t agree with why their righteous collar is getting streeted for the night. Take the time to explain to them the why. Many times they just aren’t looking at the long term progress of a case. If they know the whys, and if you treat them as equals, they will be more likely to help you down the road.

There are many more, but these are a few of the big ones when I bring on new detectives.

[willie]

I knew two sheriff dept detectives who depended on the telephone to the extent that their obese asses never left the office. One was buds with a secretary who did his paperwork. A friend was a young burglary detective who had so many open cases that after three years, he gave up and returned to patrol. He got in trouble for not managing paperwork. I have heard that there is a whole new set of politics once a person works out of the head shed.

Good luck in your new position. Your bosses selected you because of qualifications, performance, and the high probability that you will excel.

[HCM]

It turns out I'll be moving into my dept's CID in the near future. All of my LE experience to date has been limited to patrol. I'm excited to make the switch, but curious if any experienced investigators here have advice on ways to prepare. I'm obviously expecting to lean heavily on the senior detectives at our dept, as well as our own formal training processes. But I'm curious if are there any books, training materials, courses, etc. that you found helpful when making the switch. I've been reading up lately to try and improve in the areas of interview techniques, writing search/arrest warrants, and death investigations. Any tips (in-thread or PM) would be appreciated!

Second BBI’s recommendations.

I’m a big fan of The Reid Technique interview schools but there are other good ones out there.

Get good at social media, this will be a constant process as it evolves like a virus.

Learn about cell phones - both exploiting the contents of devices and location data.

Business cards - even if you have to print them yourself.

How is your writing ?

[RJflyer]

Don’t forget where you came from. A lot of Patrol have a “lazy detective” stigma they attach when they don’t agree with why their righteous collar is getting streeted for the night. Take the time to explain to them the why. Many times they just aren’t looking at the long term progress of a case. If they know the whys, and if you treat them as equals, they will be more likely to help you down the road.

This certainly resonates with me. I've always had a sense of ownership over many cases and generally hated passing them off to detectives. One challenge I'm expecting to have to overcome is the "strategic patience" (for lack of a better term) since I've always been accustomed to closing out cases relatively quickly at the street level.

I’m a big fan of The Reid Technique interview schools but there are other good ones out there.

If this is a topic better suited to a private forum, I certainly understand...but how did you come about deciding which approaches/techniques were most successful for you? At the patrol level, I've developed a few different approaches I like to use when dealing with people on the street. But when conducting interviews/interrogations on a more formal level for complex investigations, how did you develop your own unique approach(es)? Was it primarily based on formal training or on-the-job experience as an investigator? Or a combination of both?

[KevH]

Learn how to write warrants and to do so quickly, especially for call detail records, cell phones(the physical device), and social media. Go to a Cellebrite class as soon as you possibly can.

Up until about five years ago phones and social media were secondary...kind of like icing on the cake to a good investigation. These days they are everything.

[Wondering Beard]

If you're not good at social media, get good. This was my big failing. I was sub-par and I had to lean heavily on a specialty unit for things I should have been able to do myself.

Get good at social media, this will be a constant process as it evolves like a virus.

This got my attention.

I have never been LEO much less a detective, and outside of this forum I don't do social media, so my question is entirely out of ignorance: Why would a detective need to be good at social media and in which way? I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that it's not just about reading social media posts.

If this question gets into specialized material that is not appropriate for a public forum, don't hesitate to remove my post. :-)

[BehindBlueI's]

This got my attention.

I have never been LEO much less a detective, and outside of this forum I don't do social media, so my question is entirely out of ignorance: Why would a detective need to be good at social media and in which way? I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that it's not just about reading social media posts.

If this question gets into specialized material that is not appropriate for a public forum, don't hesitate to remove my post. :-)

Because people put their whole lives on social media, including the crimes they commit. Facebook post of Johnny Mope wearing the same clothes and flashing the same gun as seen in surveillance video of the robbery. Johnny posting "I hit a lick" and fanning out a few hundred books about 30 minutes after the robbery. Using Facebook marketplace, Let Go, etc. to arrange for sales that are actually robbery setups. Gang affiliations. Who knows who, who's threatening who, and then who gets shot. Using the phone number they used on a social media sight to call in a delivery and rob the driver. "Those dumb ass cops don't know Man-Man shot Ray-Ray" type posts. Using Facebook messenger to coordinate a drive-by shooting. Using social media to arrange dope buys. To intimidate witnesses. To communicate false stories to tell at upcoming trials.

And other stuff. That gives you an idea, though. Even as tech-retarded as I am I've managed to wrap up people based on their social media stupidity, location of their phone, etc.