UNC Police: General Order 08-03R2 - Criminal Investigations Assignments

Title

UNC Police: General Order 08-03R2 - Criminal Investigations Assignments

Document Information

Purpose

To establish guidelines for the assignment and documentation of cases after completion of the preliminary investigation.

Policy

Incident and Investigation reports must be screened by the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) supervisor, to determine which cases need follow up. Cases that warrant continued investigation, are then assigned by the CID supervisor. The CID supervisor maintains a record of each assignment. Each case is given an administrative designation that indicates its working status.

Units Affected

UNC-CH Police Department Sworn Personnel

References/Forms

• UNC-CH Police Department General Order 00-02 Oath of Office/Code of Ethics & Duty to Intervene
• UNC-CH Police Department General Order 01-04 Agency Jurisdiction
• UNC-CH Police Department General Order 08-01 Investigative Section: Establishment Section
• UNC-CH Police Department General Order 08-02 Preliminary, Follow-up of Criminal Investigations, Cold Case Files, and ID Theft
• UNC-CH Police Department General Order 12-01 Records Management
• UNC-CH Police Department General Order 12-02 Field Reporting and Management
• UNC-CH Police Department Records Management System

Definitions and Descriptions

CID: Criminal Investigations Division

RMS: Records Management System

Procedures

I. Assignment Criteria

All Incident and Investigation reports are screened by the CID supervisor and the following types of cases are assigned for follow-up:

1. Homicide;
2. Robbery;
3. Rape;
4. Kidnapping;
5. Extortion;
6. Suicide;
7. Arson;
8. Auto theft;
9. Burglary;
10. Crimes against persons resulting in injury;
11. Crimes resulting in property loses in excess of $1000.00;
12. Crimes of a sensitive nature that are likely to attract public or media attention;
13. Crimes with specific requests for investigation, from administrative personnel;
14. Crimes that are part of a pattern that points to an individual or group;
15. Crimes that are a part of a series of similar crimes; or
16. Crimes with a potential for clearance due to eyewitnesses and/or physical evidence.

II. Assigning a Case to an Investigator

1. When the CID supervisor assesses a case meets the criteria established in section I above, the CID supervisor then assigns the case to a CID investigator. The on-call investigator is assigned to any cases that meet the criteria established in section 1 above, if they are called out after hours.
2. Assigned cases are managed through the UNC-CH Records Management System (RMS) in the investigator dashboard software.
3. The investigator who receives the initial case assignment, is the lead investigator on that case and is accountable for that investigation. This does not preclude the assignment of additional personnel to assist in an investigation.
4. The CID supervisor uses the UNC-CH RMS investigator dashboard software to track the following information:
   1. Report number;
   2. Type of offense;
   3. Date of report;
   4. Investigator assigned;
   5. Date of assignment;
   6. Name of complainant;
   7. Location of incident; and
   8. Case disposition.

III. Case Information

1. Case information is electronically accessible to the assigned investigator and the CID supervisor. Depending on the nature of the case, the case information can be locked out so only certain individuals can access the case.
2. The lead investigator of an assigned investigation is responsible for all the documentation related to a case during the time the investigation is being actively pursued.
3. Investigator makes a request for a clearance code when the CID supervisor is notified about closing the case. The CID supervisor reviews the case and assigns a clearance code.
4. Each assigned case is given one of the following administrative designations to indicate its status by the assigned investigator, and reviewed and approved by the CID supervisor:
   1. Open: The case has been assigned to an investigator and investigative efforts are active;
   2. Inactivated: All available leads have been exhausted without result; however, investigative efforts may be resumed in the future;
   3. Closed: The investigation has been concluded or cleared by arrest, arrest by another agency, death of the offender, prosecution declined, or victim refused cooperate; or
   4. Closed Leads Exhausted.
5. Files are only printed out on an as needed basis by an officer. (i.e. court).