, £5 In L :J ‘,.\\ f .qu {f KL ABSTRACT AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEACHING OF CRIMINALISTICS IN THE JUNIOR AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES OF MICHIGAN by Robert Harold Palrud The purpose of this study was the description of the status of education for police officers in basic criminali- stics for criminal investigation purposes in the public two- year law enforcement or criminal justice programs of Michigan. The elements concentrated on in this description are the course contents dealing with basic criminalistics, the methods used to teach this material, and the professional qualifica- tions of the faculty involved. A survey of 19 public two"year institutions was perform- ed, using a questionnaire dealing with the elements above. The course content was judged by the instructors Opinion as to whether his course would enable his students to perform each of 25 learning objectives derived from objectives of the basic police training program used in Michigan‘s police aca— demies. Data was reported from the responses of 18 institutions whose law enforcement curriculum required the student to take criminal in‘ conclusions (1) As a W] of field er experience hours). (2) Only a as crime la (3) Major tent of the gram and th lice office (4) Marked COurses Off On the basi (5) The nu the teacher The fO naliStics. e (1) Law en Criminal in Q) SPeCia COUISeS Of Lr‘lVErsit‘z’ I Robert Harold Palrud criminal investigation. Data analysis led to the following conclusions: (1) As a whole, the faculty investigated have a high amount of field experience (averaging 15 years), and low educational experience (averaging a Bachelors degree plus 21 to 30 credit hours). (2) Only a few (4 of 18) of the instructors have experience as crime laboratory analysts. (3) Major differences exist between the criminalistics con- tent of the required courses of the two-year education pro- gram and the mandatory training programs for Michigan's po- lice officers. (4) Marked differences exist among the criminal investigation courses offered by the two-year institutions, when evaluated on the basis of criminalistics content. (5) The number of supplemental teaching methods utilized by the teachers of these courses varies widely. The following recommendations were made to improve crimi- nalistics education: (1) Law enforcement program coordinators, when searching for criminal investigation or criminalistics instructors, should express their needs to the managers of crime laboratories. (2) Specialized criminal investigation teaching methods courses of seminars should be provided through Michigan State University, other state universities, or through extension courses. (3) The] investiga gation p0: training 1 year inst; (M Lack: he desigx for crimir (5) Mich: enforcemex EStablishn tics curri Robert Harold Palrud COUI‘SES . (3) The Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association should investigate the applicability of at least the criminal investi— gation portions of project C5STER, a competency-based police training system, to the law enforcement programs of the two- year institutions. (4) Lacking such applicability, the MCJEA should undertake the design of a performance objective-based learning system for criminal investigation, for use in the two-year programs. (5) Michigan's institutions of higher education with law enforcement or criminal justice programs should consider the establishment of courses and curricula in advanced criminalis- tics curriculua. AN AN? IN THE ir AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEACHING OF CRIMINALISTICS IN THE JUNIOR AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES OF MICHIGAN BY Robert Harold Palrud A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE School of Criminal Justice 1975 LIST OF LIST OF LIST OF Chapter 1. 3-3 F A LIST OF LIST OF LIST OF Chapter 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . THE PROBLEM . . . . . . . . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . . Statement of the Problem . . Delimitations . . . . . . . . . Definition . . . . . . . . . . . IMPORTANCE OF THE PROBLEM . . . Criminalistics as a Police Function The Nature of Criminalistics . . Criminalistics and the Criminal Justice System Summary . . . . . . . . . . . REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . Criminalistics in the Curriculum Criminalistics Course Content . Criminalistics Teaching Methods Teachers of Criminalistics . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Page iv vi 10 13 19 21 21 26 29 33 35 6. BIBLIOGF £3 PENDIC Page 4. RESEARCH OF CRIMINALISTICS EDUCATION . . . . . 37 Research Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Analysis of Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 5. RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 The Improvement of Criminalistics Teaching Skills 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O I O O O O 55 The Improvement of Criminalistics Course Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 6. SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 iii Table LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Police and Teaching Experience and Education Ratings for Criminal Investigation Faculty 41 2. Criminalistics Learning Objectives Taught by Criminal Investigation Faculty . . . . . . 45 3. Educational Methods used by Criminal Investi- . . . 48 gation Faculty . . . . . . . . . . iv Figure LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 o The COP‘OUt COPS o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 15 2. Frequency Distribution of Faculty Patrol Officer Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 3. Distribution of Total Police Experience . . . 42 4. Distribution of Percentages of Learning Objec- tives Taught by each Instructor . . . . . . 47 5. Frequency Distribution of Percentages of Instructors who Taught each Learning Objec- tive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Appendix A . B. Appendix A. LIST OF APPENDICES Page Sample Training Council Instructor Guidelines 79 Training Guide Criminal Investigation Objectives Criminal Investigation Course Guidelines Principles of Learning and Motivation. Questionnaire vi 84 88 93 94 Introductio: One dOI these days crime. Fr01 Upper Penin. 7_5% for the wide poll, I munity prob. The in for the Con- ade there h; the family . Stitlltions, whiCh contr. which fOSte; for the Pre Ll' . A tel! ‘flChlgan Sta in “$011195”, 2 . Michic 3113]an . w CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction One does not have to look very far or listen very hard these days to discover one of the major concerns of the state: crime. From the center of Detroit to the backwoods of the Upper Peninsula, crime is ever with us and ever-growing, up 15% for the past five years in Michigan.1 In a recent state- wide poll, crime was considered the worst of a list of com- munity problems.2 The institution which Americans traditionally look to for the control of crime is the police. Within the past dec- ade there have been identified many other social structures-— the family environment (or lack of it), our educational in- stitutions, our overcrowded cities, our beleagured economy-- which contribute in part to attitudes and personal situations which foster crime. But we still look primarily to the police for the prevention and solution of crime. 1A telephone conversation with the Records Bureau of the Michigan State Police revealed that the number of Part I Crimes in Michigan rose from 266,973 in 1969 to 466,488 in 1974, a 75% increase. 2Michigan Office of Criminal Justice Planning, The Michigan Public Speaks Out on Crime, March, 1974. ‘— ” During strations, became a hc legislatior ment was tl 1968, whicl tion, the a national e: As a : criminal j' proached a. with the a approaches data base Plication PIOblems, Perha zation Of the mean: tion Of th education by a PI‘OgI the Law En $96k highe \ 3 Publicggg During the 1960's and early 1970's, due to riots, demon- strations, and continually rising crime rates, crime control Ibecame a hot political topic and the target of much federal legislation and funding. The prime example of this develop- Inent was the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, which created the Law Enforcement Assistance Administra- tion, the agency responsible for coordinating and funding national efforts on crime control.3 As a result of this new interest and new funding, the criminal justice system (which was finally identified and ap- proached as suchlbegan to attain professional attributes, ‘with the advent of scientific research into the problems and approaches of the various system components, concern with a data.base for proper managerial decision making, and the ap- EXLication of new technology to both management and field problems. Perhaps the most obvious development toward professionali— zation of personnel in the criminal justice system has been 'the recent accent upon their education, especially the educa- ‘tion of the nation's police. All over the country, police €Education programs were given a tremendous shot in the arm try a program of the above-mentioned crime control act called 1:Ihe Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP), which was de- SSigned to encourage present and potential police officers to Seek higher education . \ .30mnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, Publlcm, June 19, 1968. Wi‘ service and encc college: availabl liferat: which he period L to 34.4 Th. in Grim. various the end sented WhO Wan jUStiCe Offered Th. With the resulting sudden supply of pre-service and in— service law enforcement personnel wishing to attain degrees, and encouraged to utilize LEEP tuition scholarships, Michigan's colleges and universities scrambled to attract this readily available source of students. The result was a sudden pro- liferation of law enforcement degree programs, a development which has sometimes been described as "hasty." During the period 1968 to 1974 the number of these programs rose from 15 to 34.4 There is a feeling on the part of many Michigan educators in criminal justice that the curricula and offerings of the various institutions should be standardized and defined, to the end that when a degree is granted or a transcript is pre- sented for analysis, the prOSpective employer or anyone else who wants to evaluate the person's education in criminal justice will not have to consider the quality of education offered at the various institutions in his evaluation. The criminal justice curriculum, that is, the body of the courses which a student is expected to take, has been and continues to be the focus for efforts at standardization of the law enforcement educational experience. However, these analyses of curricula have put very little accent upon course content and teaching methodology, with the result that a needed 4Data from editions 1 and 2 of Criminal Justice Education Programs in Michigan, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, published in 1972 and 1974. quest f< amounts could 0: name, t) evading Th. debilit. nalistiv patrol c many di trainin. largely institu In these v must fi One Par of know Odology in the Wh only On and Eff Should quest for uniformity in education can be sidestepped by what amounts to deceptive labeling practices: Various institutions could offer quite different material under the same course name, thus meeting the test of curriculum uniformity while evading the spirit of the test. This lack of information concerning course content is debilitating when one attempts to analyze the status of crimi— nalistics education in the state. Criminalistics for the patrol officer can be taught many different ways and include many different topics, with the result that the criminalistics training a patrolman receives at one institution could be largely or completely at variance with that offered by another institution. Statement of the Problem In order to end the possible inequities outlined above, these variances in course content and teaching methodology must first be identified and their prevalence measured. Thus, one part of the problem to be addressed in this paper is lack of knowledge about the specific subject materials and meth— odology used in the teaching of criminalistics to patrolmen in the junior and community colleges of Michigan. While the background and experience of an educator is only one measure of his or her ability to instruct properly and effectively, it is an important measure, and one which should not be overlooked when evaluating an institution's approach to education. Until this study there has been no known a experie heis e problem cations nalisti ment pr Th tions w enforce' tional law enf Th. Stituti justice StruCto Th Only as It dOeS tial Cr Th evidenc PerfOrm inveSti deteCti, known analysis of an instructor's background of professional experiences as related to the specific course material which he is expected to teach. Therefore, a second part of the problem is lack of knowledge about the professional qualifi- cations of instructors who are called upon to teach crimi- nalistics to patrolmen in Michigan's two-year law enforce- ment programs. Delimitations This study is concerned with public educational institu- tions within Michigan which offer an Associate Degree in law enforcement or criminal justice. It does not consider educa- tional programs leading to bachelor's or higher degrees in law enforcement. This study is limited by responses from the various in- stitutions in that the data for the evaluation of criminal justice programs came solely from questionnaires sent to in- structors at these institutions. This study will deal with the teaching of criminalistics only as it pertains to police officers, pre~or in-service. It does not deal with the education of practicing or poten- tial criminalists. This study applies only to investigations and physical evidence with which policemen are expected to cope in the performance of their normal duties. It does not pertain to investigations or analyses which are normally processed by detectives or laboratory analysts (e. g. homicides, bank robberie Definiti Cri discover protecti physical identifi poses 01 delimita are per; officer: be made robberies, arson, etc.). Definition Criminalistics, interpreted in a broad sense, is the discovery, recognition of value, recording, recovery, marking, protecting from contamination, packaging, and transporting of physical evidence, followed by examination, comparison, or identification, and interpretation of results.5 For the pur- poses of this study, the definition is narrowed, by the last delimitation above, to those portions of the science which are performed, or expected to be performed, by standard police officers. Whenever the complete science is meant, this will be made clear in the text. SEdward Whittaker, "The Adversary System: Role of the Criminalist," Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 18, No. 3 (July, 1973), p. 184. __ _ __ _____—_—___ _—_———’———l _ - .— _ —— In t am Opera Mat have different or value questions ceive the knowledge Crir CiPline ( COps? Al the Patrc I‘- AHA—1n. CHAPTER II IMPORTANCE OF THE PROBLEM In this chapter, the relationship of criminalistics to the operation of the criminal justice system will be examined. What have the police to do with criminalistics; why is it any different from other police duties; and what is its purpose or value in the criminal justice system? The answers to such questions will show why it is important that our police re- ceive the best possible education in criminalistic skills and knowledge. Criminalistics as a Police Function Criminalistics is often thought of as a scientific dis- cipline or an esteemed profession; why are we trusting it to cops? Authorities on the police function seem to agree that the patrolman should be ready to perform at least the rudi- ments of criminalistics: ". . . one of the basic functions of the uni- formed officer, the one that he performs more than any other, has not changed. That function is preliminary investigation. It doesn't mat- ter whether he gets a radio call, is called by a citizen, or makes an observation, he is nearly always the first officer at the scene of trouble. In the vast majority of these situations he is responsible for conducting the preliminary in- vestigation. In fact, for certain investigations rf‘. 4 HHfl'G_ A—hl _a Twc 0f the : reports SPonsit Commiss liShed and Qt United identj ards ( which require no special expertise, he may conduct the entire investigation."6 "The duties of the patrolman are of the ut- most importance to successful prosecutions. . . . It is he who through a proper and thorough understanding of evidence and its proper preservation, supplies the informa- tion necessary for successful prosecutions. It is he who must evaluate the evidence found at the scene of a crime to determine what action should be taken in making an arrest and in determining the type of crime that has been committed. He is a most im- portant part in any criminal investigation and he must be able to evaluate and preserve any evidence which might serve to identify the person responsible for committing an offense, as well as to assure successful prosecutions."7 Two authoritative commissions have analyzed the function of the police within the criminal justice system and their reports identify criminal investigation as one primary re— sponsibility of the patrol officer. The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Goals and Standards was estab- lished in 1971 and given the task of providing police agencies and other elements of the criminal justice system of the United States with a sense of direction and unity, by the identification of goals to be attained and concomitant stand- ards of action. 6John G. Nelson, Preliminary Investigation and Police Reporting: A Complete GuIde to Police Written Communications (Beverly Hills, California: Glencoe Press, 1970), p. xv. 7Floyd N. Hefron, Evidence for the Patrolman (Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1958), pp. v—vi. One ‘ police, a1 with the ' agency sh investiga nary inve important ( One volume of the commission's report refers to the police, and standard 9.7 of that volume deals specifically with the criminal investigation function: "Every police agency should recognize that patrol officers are preliminary investigators and that they should conduct thorough prelimi- nary investigations."8 In the commentary for this standard, important policies for its facilitation are given: Chief executives of police agencies must guard against officers and investigators becoming mere report takers. Failure to insure that each crime receives the appropriate level of investigation permits some crime to go unchal- lenged, creates a negative attitude among the public, and severely reduces the motivation of police officers regarding many types of crimes. Police chief executives, pleading lack of time and manpower, sometimes permit officers to re- spond to reports of crime more than 24 hours later. The officer then too often only "takes a report." He may conduct little or no prelimi- nary investigation. . . . Every agency should insure that eachwpatrol of- ficer has adequate training as a criminal investi- gator. . . . The patrol officer should continue the initial investigation at the scene until the time he spends seems unlikely to produce addi- tional benefits.9 [emphasis added] The Michigan Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice, working from September, 1973 until September, 1974 produced a report, Criminal Justice Goals and Standards for the State of Michigan, which parallels the national project, with 8National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Stand- ards and Goals, Police (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1973), p. 233. 91bid., p. 234. special a' practices specializ agency "e efforts a tary we r is direct critical standard tailed p; complica- If taSkS sh 15,: say hOurs in Tri; wiChed j. poliCe_I pOPUlar \ 10b crimina.‘ 11. 12. q 10 special attention paid to Michigan's particular needs and practices. The report treats criminal investigation as a specialized operation, and recommends as a subgoal that each agency "establish priorities to insure that its investigative 10 efforts are efficient and goal—oriented." In the commen- tary we read: "the success of this [investigative] effort is directly related to what an officer accomplishes in the 11 critical early stages of the investigation." Finally, standard 37.1 says: “the patrol officer should conduct de- tailed preliminary investigations in all but very serious or 12 complicated cases." [emphasis added] The Nature of Criminalistics If we take for granted that some basic criminalistics tasks should be done by the patrolman, can't it be done quick- ly, say part of a criminal investigation course or a few hours in the police academy? True, the basics of criminalistics training can be sand- wiched into a criminal investigation course or covered in a policenrun school. Indeed, it appears that this is a very popular method for preparing police officers for performance 10Michigan Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Goals and Standards for the State of Michigan, (Lansing, 1975), p. 62. 11Ibid. 12Ibid. of thei coupled of trai trainin pect Of togethe handlin better tective Su t0 the crimina Police ing for the fie. much ab< tions w] reaCt t< Problem“ Of effe< ll of their criminalistics dutiesz" A few lectures, perhaps coupled with a simulated crime scene search, are the extent of training offered in the best police academies. In many training facilities even less attention is paid to this as- pect of investigative procedure. This short exposure, . . . together with a more or less detailed set of directions for handling clue materials, constitute the present extent of the better efforts to educate the police recruit or neophyte de- tective."l3 Such a treatment amounts to a perfunctory introduction to the skills, knowledge, and attitudes which a professional criminalist attains. This is to say that the exposure of the police to criminalistics need not be confined to menial train- ing for the automatic completion of tasks. On the contrary, the field is ripe for education in criminalistics. There is much about the preliminary investigation and prosecution func- tions which require that the patrolman "effectively plan for, react to, or resolve a wide range of societal or technological problems on the basis of rational choice and an understanding of effects and alternatives."14 13James W. Osterburg, "Police Academies Can Teach the Recognition and Collection of Physical Evidence," Police, Vol. 14, No. 4 (March—April, 1970), p. 54. l4Quoted Material from a definition of "education" in: Esther M. Eastman, "Police Education intgmerican Colleges and Universities: A Search f5r Excellence," (Ph.D. dissertatibn, Kent State University, l972),p. l. 12 The words of a recent authoritative text will help to illustrate the extent to which a successful investigation may depend upon personal attributes and skills which a typical "training" curriculum does not develop: Physical clue material in and about the scene of a crime is highly fragile in the sense that the elements, time, inadvertent movement, im- proper packaging and handling and numerous other influences can reduce or destroy its evidentary value. The legal and scientific standards con- cerning the collection and processing of physical evidence are rigid. Evidently, crime scene work is a complex task requiring non—trivial skills. More importantly, it also involves a degree of judgment: A competent search of a crime scene demands spe- cialized training, an understanding of basic pro- cedures, an appreciation of the "why" of certain actions, and close attention to detail in carry- ing them out. . . . The success of any investiga- tion is always a function of the intellect and ex- perience of the officer. He must develop an hy- pothesis that will serve as the initial framework for the investigation. That hypothesis, based on the first survey of the scene, is simply a set of reasoned assumptions concerning how the crime was committed and the general sequence of acts that were involved. The hypothesis must be constantly reassessed in the light of each new fact or lead that is uncovered. . . . It is only through such a process of reassessment that the full value of the investigator's experience can be realized. So skins and judgment are important to a policeman's handling of a crime scene. To this list should be added 15Richard H. Fox and Carl L. Cunningham, Crime Scene Search and Physical Evidence Handbook (a prescriptive package prepared under Grant No. 7IFDF-7618 of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, Washington, D. C.: U. S. Govern- ment Printing Office, 1973) p. l. 16 Ibid., p. 14. 13 another important requisite for quality work-~a knowledge of applicable concepts: Identity is always sought in criminal investi- gations. Was the revolver found on the sus- pect the one that fired the bullet found in the body of a murder victim? If so, was it the suspect who fired it? More often than not the answers to such questions must be sought from seemingly unrelated items of information and physical evidence. Therefore several im- portant concepts bearing on the quality and usefulness of physical evidence in establish- ing identity should be considered. Basically, these concepts are: mathematical probability, class characteristics and similarity, compari- sons, individuality, rarity, exchange, and the relationship of experience to the investiga- tion.17 Criminalistics and the Criminal Justice System Can we afford the amount of criminalistics training and education which the authorities seem to suggest is necessary for the proper preparation of a police officer for the tasks expected of him? Can we afford not to give them this amount? This is a question which is properly answered only by a cost/benefit analysis far beyond the scope of this paper. However, some opinions will be given on the costs of criminal- istics education in the chapter on recommendations, and let it be suggested here that they need not be overwhelming. The benefits to be reaped, while not quantitatively stated, can be inferred from various writings such as the following con- cerned with the interaction of police with people, prosecution, and courts. 17Ibid., p. 3. 14 The people are the "purchasers" of our criminal justice system. They stand to gain much from the current intense in- terest on the part of police theorists in defining the proper functions and operating priorities of the police. But how do they learn about police functions; how do they visualize "the man in blue?" The mass media provide the most popular insights into police activities, and the pictures painted are not always rosey. The National Observer ran the picture on the following page as the cover for their issue of August 3, 1974. The ac- companying article told the public that much police "work" amounts to being seen and acting sympathetic, while real police work goes untouched. The article refers to the find- ings of Bill Evans, a director of police research at Cresap, McCormack and Pageant, Inc., a management consulting company. He made comments about a county police system which allegedly apply to many departments: Evans reports that the county's police officials emphasized public relations over crime-solving. Police officials wanted all calls handled swiftly so patrol cars could quickly "get back into ser- vice." Thus uniformed officers were "not ex- pected or allowed to conduct investigations at crime scenes." And consequently, leads which might have helped detectives were lost, Evans asserts. But Fairfax's detectives weren't en- couraged to make investigations either, Evans adds. They were to talk to all victims, "sympa- thize with them," and to indicate "police interest" in their cases. They were to make as many such "contacts" as possible. Thus they had little time left for detective work. Fairfax police performed V ‘. W x...“ 1.2-...“ . l I \-;\“::'I..-_-" “‘f/{ \\\. I h I. ‘V‘ :;:-_l.. ."H -‘ ““1 I 0;“:E‘5 \\ . \ x~ . I ‘.\ .15.; .', l .\ ! [’2' ‘("| \l ”I; . '.'.“.IT“.."‘ \ u (II/3;; Di \‘ '1“: I“ l y W \‘K WWI”; .. . . k H 1““ i\;’{ ',a ". ‘ ,I’l’lf I (m l W , / I ‘1. ~.o' :J:\ \ . f‘ a . -'.;';' \“.\‘ " (ll/’ -‘-:- ' - I ‘ ' I . o . I ../I 0 fr . r ,. . . . _ _,_ . ; - _ - ,. cm, .- : 4‘ .f. _\ "-..'- _ .. .0 i , \ - n " ”n . I‘VE/LII; Z;’l; mI/’///N.I/ "”//”//III"‘/ I "lllm' " -—-- - Figure 1. The Cop-Out Cops. v‘—- ’— ————— _. a—_.— —f Ha The art 16 as "neighborhood guards and report-takers rather than as policemen" Evans reports.l8 Have the police anything better to do with their time? The article makes some suggestions: . . . burglary is the most common "household and commercial crime." Yet criminologists acknowledge that burglary is the least- investigated, least-solved of major crimes. And in line with allegations that police de- partments have mainly responded to past criti- cism merely by improving their public rela- tions, many of the crime victims stated that the police performed satisfactorily although the officers did little more than listen to their stories. Jay Cameron Hall, a former policeman, crime lab specialist, and now a consultant to police, insists that properly trained police could do better. "Some states have high caliber, fairly well-trained officers," he says. "That's the exception. Few police have more than fragmented knowledge of scientific evidence—gathering, for example. So the gathering of physical evidence which could help identify burglars as well as other felons is almost nonexistant. My guess is that less than a tenth of one percent of crimes get more than a fingerprint check." Hall gives two main reasons for this. First, "Police don't know enough to realize what investigative possibilities exist." Second, "Police treat crime so lightly they feel they didn't need to bother with evidence collection, especially in burglaries."19 Theorists within the criminal justice system have re— cognized similar shortcomings in the activities of police agencies. The LEAA has adopted a "crime-specific" approach to analyzing objectives and successes of criminal justice action and research programs. Part of the strategy of this 18August Gribbon, "The Cop-Out Cops," The National Ob— server, August 3, 1974, p. 14. 19Ibid. 17 approach is to increase the risk associated with the commis- sion of crimes by improving the detection, identification, and apprehension functions of police. The hypothesis is that increased arrest rates will serve both a short-term purpose in bringing suspects into the criminal justice system with the threat of punishment, and a long-term deterrence function. The crimes chosen for intense analysis under this crime- specific model are burglary and stranger-to-stranger assaults. These crimes have a high rate of incidence, a low rate of clearance by arrest, and a high cost to society.20 If physical evidence collected and processed could be considered a benefit in a cost/benefit analysis of the in- vestigative efforts of our police, the following suggests one reason for the poor success rate of our police in containing the crime of burglary: Presently, the involvement of forensic science laboratories in the investigation of commercial and residential burglaries is minimal. A study conducted by Cornell Aeronautical Laboratories in 1968 found that evidence was collected and submitted to laboratories in a New York State tricounty area in only 1.6 percent of all bur- glaries reported to police. Data presented in the Stanford Research Institute Report "The Role of Criminalistics in the World of the Future" illustrated that less than one percent of burglary reports in Santa Clara County, California in 1970 resulted in an actual labo- ratory case report. Latent fingerprints are the only form of physical evidence which is regularly searched for at the scenes of bur- glaries. l ‘ 20C. R. Kingston and J. L. Peterson, "Forensic Science and the Reduction of Crime," Journal of Forensic Science, Vol. 19, No. 3 (July, 1974), p. 419. 21Ibid., p. 420. 18 Is there evidence other than fingerprints which the police could use to solve burglaries and convict burglars? In other words, are the potential benefits substantial? Re- search says so: "A study by Parker and Peterson in 1970 found that 88 percent of the crime scene environments studied possessed physical evidence meriting laboratory examination, but only four of the more than 3300 Part I offenses committed during the study period resulted in an actual crime laboratory analysis (excluding latent fingerprints). These data indi- cate that significant quantities of potentially meaningful physical evidence go unrecognized, undeveloped, and uncollect- ed."22 This gap between the potential and the actual use of criminalistics is tragic not only for the police, who lose much information which would be valuable in generating and identifying suspects, but also to the courts, where the use of physical evidence could ease some problems which the ad- judication process faces. Charles W. Tessmer, President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, com- ments on the importance of criminalistics in the courtroom: "In my last seven trials the outcome has rested to a large degree upon my ability to cope with scientific evidence and the explanatory testimony of the expert witneSs. As most criminal trial lawyers are beginning to know, scientific 221933. , p. 421. evidenc the in‘ A: Justice vs. 11 crimin tOF', 5! forcem the lo extrir vestig hinge ratory hairs, Partmt Searcj S v. % polic Preli EVide OlOg\ l9 evidence and expert testimony are becoming indispensible in the investigation and trial of many criminal cases."23 And no less an authority on the judicial process than Justice Arthur Goldberg, speaking for the majority in Escobedo vs. Illinois, called for increased use of and improvements in criminalistics skills: "We have learned the lesson of his- tory, ancient and modern, that a system of criminal law en- forcement which comes to depend on the 'confession' will, in the long run, be less reliable than a system that depends on extrinsic evidence independently secured through skillful in- vestigation. More and more the solution of major crimes will hinge upon the discovery at crime scenes and subsequent labo- ratory analysis of latent fingerprints, weapons, footprints, hairs, fibers, blood, and similar traces. As a result, de- partments must train and devote greater numbers of men to I O O I |.24 searching crime scenes for phy31cal eVIdence. Summary In this section we have found that authorities on the police function have agreed that the patrolman has a role as preliminary criminal investigator. Literature was examined which illustrated the complexity of the tasks involved in 23Charles W. Tessmer, in a book review of Scientific Evidence in Criminal Cases in Journal of Criminal Law, Crimin- ology, and Police Science, Vol. 65 No. 1 (March, 1974) 24 Escobedo vs. State of Illinois, 84 S. Ct. 1764. prelimj skills this rc cord 0: such as ment 0: revers: 20 preliminary investigations, implying that the knowledge and skills necessary for the patrolman to function adequately in this role are considerable. Finally, the unimpressive re- cord of the police in the investigation of frequent crimes such as burglary was reviewed, and the potential for improve- ment of the whole criminal justice system if this trend were reversed was touched upon. CI 1i ti t‘r. pa Sr Of CHAPTER III REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Chapter III presents other writers' opinions and findings on several topics relevant to criminalistics education. The first of these topics is the place criminalistics should hold in the curricula of educational institutions of the nation and the state. Then literature related to the course content is presented, followed by a section on possible teaching methods for criminalistics material. Finally, a word is said about previous studies of Michigan's criminal justice faculty. Criminalistics in the Curriculum Perhaps before one attempts to analyze the efficiency of criminalistics education in Michigan, he should ask the pre- liminary question: does criminalistics have any part in educa- tion at all? Certainly one of the hottest controversies in the field of criminal justice education today, resulting in part from the rapid growth of law enforcement education pro- grams, is the question of education, as opposed to training of the police. Stated very simply, some criminal justice educators ques- tion the propriety of having "training"-type courses within the curriculum as opposed to "education" courses. In a study by Esther Eastman on police education, these terms were de- fined as follows: "Education: the process by which persons 21 trair esser This lyze: beco crim forc Crec' in E COu: Sue, twO 22 are matured, trained, disciplined, and conditioned to effectively plan for, react to, or resolve a wide range of societal or technological problems on the basis of rational choice and an understanding of effects and alternatives." "Training: the process by which persons are brought to an adequate level of competence, skill and understanding to properly perform tasks expected or required of them."25 After many studies and much discussion, the education vs. training problem has been very well defined, but it remains essentially unsolved, at least at the associate degree level. This fact is reflected in the several studies which have ana- lyzed the associate degree law enforcement curriculum, and it becomes especially obvious when one analyzes the treatment of criminalistics which these authors propose. In a 1963 study of 49 community colleges with law en- forcement curricula, Gammage suggested the inclusion of three credits each of criminal evidence and criminal investigation in a standard curriculum.26 While these are not criminalistics courses per se, topics of criminalistics are a standard part of these courses, and it is this writer's very subjective guess that this curriculum would be equivalent to at least two credits of criminalistics work. 25Eastman, p. 1. 26Allen Z. Gammage, Police Training in the United States (Springfield, Ill.L Charles C. Thomas, 1963) p. 178. Ruthe: credi‘ a res force cludi nal e cover study the l nal COUI T} (J'U thO ’U O/fcr’ 23 In a 1964 thesis on police curricula in junior colleges, Rutherford proposed a standard curriculum including four credits each of criminal investigation and chemistry.27 As a result of a more extensive survey of 164 two-year law en- forcement programs in 1968, Vaupel suggested a curriculum in" Cluding three credits each of criminal investigation and crimi- nal evidence.28 Again, these courses would be expected to cover many aspects of criminalistics. A 1969 LEAA-funded study of police education and training in Florida suggested the use of a core-course curriculum which includes both crimi- nal investigation and an introduction to criminalistics course.2 One of the more impressive studies of the two-year law enforcement curriculum was performed under the auspices of the American Association of Junior Colleges and the Interna~ tional Association of Chiefs of Police with the aid of a na- tional law enforcement advisory council. The resulting docu- ment—-the American Association of Junior Colleges Law Enforce- ment Program Guidelines (AACJLEPG), published in 1968--sug- gested a two-year curriculum which included these credits each 27James W. Rutherford, "The Feasability of Instituting a Police Curriculum at the Junior College Level" (M. A. Dis- sertation, Michigan State University, 1964), p. 136. 28Carl F. Vaupel, "A Survey and Analysis of Two-Year Police Science Curricula in the United States with Recommended Criteria" (M. A. Dissertation, University of South Dakota, 1968), pp. 137-138. 29Warren E. Headlough, Development Police Training and Education in Florida (a report developed under Grant No. 350 of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration) (Tallahassee, Fla.: Florida Police Standards Council, 1969), Appendix E. of crim cedures best me time. ‘ compar curric ductic ricule complg Educ; 933a. (1.1m 24 of criminal investigation, logic, criminal evidence and pro- cedures and Introduction to Criminalistics.3O This being the best nationwide study of the two-year curriculum up to that time, Yankee, in 1970, used the AACJLEPG as a standard for comparison in his dissertation on the two—year law enforcement curricula in Michigan.31 His survey revealed that the Intro- duction to Criminalistics course was required in 6 of 22 cur- ricula studied, or 28% compliance, while the average rate of compliance was 63%.32 Indeed, Yankee recommended that the AACJLEPG be revised to exclude the Introduction to Criminal- istics course, on the basis that 65% of a panel of 35 educa- tors used in a study of four-year curricula by Marsh33 con- sidered the course to be unimportant.34 A lengthy study of the status of criminal justice higher education efforts in the nation was done by Esther Eastman in 30Thomas S. Crockett and James D. Stinchcomb, Guidelines for Law Enforcement Education Programs in Community and Junior Colleges (Washington, D. C.: American Association of Junior Colleges, 1968), p. 18. 31William Joseph Yankee, "A Description and Evaluation of the Associate Degree Law Enforcement Curricula in the Public Community and Junior Colleges of Michigan" unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1970). 32 Ibid., p. 110. 33Richard F. Marsh, "A Core Program Proposal of Under- graduate Studies for the Professional Preparation of Law En- forcement Personnel in Four-Year Colleges and Universities" (unpublished Masters thesis, Florida State University, 1969). 34Yankee, op. cit., p. 134. 25 1972, producing much quantified information.35 Drawing upon philosophical arguments and impressive references on the need for law enforcement education "anchored in the liberal arts," Eastman recommended a two-year program with no requirements for criminalistics or criminal investigation courses. One presumes that any criminalistics education would have to come from four unspecified elective courses.36 The Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association (MCJEA), established in 1970, probably had the greatest ef- fect of any group on curriculum choices of the two-year in— stitutions in Michigan. Its initial goal was "to standardize curriculum and instructor standards within the various pro— grams to facilitate credit transferability between two and 37 In 1973 the MCJEA adopted its own four year programs." core curriculum guidelines for associate degree programs, and Criminal Investigation is included as one of the 8 recommended courses.38 No criminalistics or other courses are mentioned. Although there may have been considerable discussion within the association before adoption of the curricula, no supporting 35Eastman, op. cit. 361bid., pp. 207-208. 37Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association, "Coor- dinating Criminal Justice Education in Michigan: The Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association" (unpublished mono- graph [East Lansing, Michigan] 1974), p. 1. 38Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association, "Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association Recommended Associate Degree Core Curriculum in Law Enforcement" (unpub— lished monograph; [n. p.] 1973). 26 rationale is given in the document for the inclusion or ex- clusion of particular courses. The foregoing illustrates the profound disagreement which exists on the part of academicians as to the role which crimi- nalistics and criminal investigation should play in the two- year law enforcement curriculum. A far more complex problem is the choice of content for these courses--the next topic to be reviewed. Criminalistics Course Content In addition to the previously-mentioned MCJEA, the Michi- gan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council (MLEOTC) is an— other body which has considerable influence on the state's efforts in criminal justice higher education. The Council is a state agency which develops, certifies, and helps to ad— minister the training programs which are mandatory for most of Michigan's police officers. This training usually occurs within the setting of a police academy, but portions of aca- demic degree programs are, in certain cases, substituted for requirements of the training program.39 Some of the content of the Council training program deals with criminalistics, and therefore is of interest to this study in light of the mutual dependency of education and train- ing: each, when properly performed, contains elements of the other. There also exists the unexplored possibility that the 9Conversations with Jerry Stemler and Wesley Hoes, M. L. E. O. T. C., on August 21, 1975 and September 5, 1975, respectively. ' 27 Council program has exerted considerable influence on the con- tent of criminal justice educators' courses by virtue of its being the only standardized program in the state until 1973, and because of close ties between some police academies and two—year institutions. Starting from a basic curriculum guide written in 1966, the year of its inception, the Council built a revised and enlarged curriculum for use in its police academies, and in 1972, published their Instructor Guidelines Basic Trainigg 40 Manual. Garza and Pierce, in a 1973 study analyzing the ob- jectives of this training package, described the development of the program as using a "subject-oriented" approach, depend- ing heavily upon current knowledge and opinions for the de- cisions on content and study objectives. On this point they write: "The unit subjects and the lessons were based on exist- ing training programs, the opinions of the instructors in the academies, the opinion of the senior administrators in the field, and the personal judgment of the person preparing the individual sections of the program." And they continue on the quality of the program: "The training program developed, which is presently in use, is one of the most complete factual, and professional training programs in existence today."41 40Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council, Instructor Guidelines Basic Training Manual (East Lansing, Michigan: MLEOTC, 1972. 41Manuel Garza and Kenneth Pierce, "A Comparative Study of the Project STAR Police Terminal Performance Objectives and the Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council Basic Training Objectives (unpublished Masters Thesis, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1973. 28 The material of the Instructor Guidelines Basic Training Manual dealing with criminalistics is found in a unit entitled Criminal Investigation, composed of nine sections on partic- ular topics such as vice investigation, collection and pres- ervation of evidence, mock crime scene, fingerprint collec- tion and analysis, etc. The bulk of the material consists of a suggested outline of main points. This is preceded in each section by a page containing a list of objectives for the section, and several suggested teaching activities. For an example of a section of the Criminal Investigation unit, see Appendix A. The directions which accompany each section of the unit make it clear that the basic task of the teacher is to in— struct so that the student is able to meet the stated objec— tives of that section. These objectives are of special im- portance for two reasons. First, they serve as "concise statements of the lesson content and provide an excellent overview of the Units of instruction."42 More importantly, they serve in this study as the major evaluative tool for analysis of the criminalistics content of the criminal inves— tigation courses in the two-year law enforcement programs. The objectives are operationally stated, that is, the student is supposed to "explain," "state," "cite," or "demon- strate" the knowledge or skill component of the objective. 421bid., pp. 35-36. 29 However, they are not "state of the art" learning objectives in that they have no statement of conditions under which the objective is to be demonstrated, nor standards which describe the minimal level of performance indicating achievement of 43 The 53 student objectives for the Council's the objective. unit on criminal investigation are given in Appendix B. To note one more literature source for criminalistics course content, the Michigan Criminal Justice Educators As- sociation has developed a "course guideline" for each of the eight courses in their recommended Associate Degree Core Cur- riculum.44 Each guideline is simply an outline of appr0priate material for the course, unaccompanied by explanatory or guid- ance materials. The complete guideline is shown in Appendix C. Aside from the section "obtaining information," most of the material is directly related to criminalistics. Criminalistics Teaching_Methods One of the major concerns of this paper is with the meth- ods used by the faculty of Michigan's two-year institutions in teaching criminalistics to patrolmen, regardless of the title under which it is taught. This writer attempted to show in 43These are common attributes of modern instructional objectives as defined by authorities such as Robert F. Mager, in Preparing Instructional'Obiectives (Belmont, California: Fearon/Lear Siegler, 1962). 44Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association, "Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association Recommended Associate Degree Core Curriculum in Law Enforcement" (unpub- lished monograph: [n.p.] 1973). 30 earlier portions that the skills, knowledge, and grasp of concepts of criminalistics which are required of a patrolman if he is expected to perform adequately are non—trivial, in- deed, they are demanding and complex.45 Given these expecta— tions of the student, one would hope to find a matching degree of development in the teaching methods used to transmit these Skills, attitudes, and concepts. It appears that the opposite is true. To the writer's knowledge, the closest thing to a trea- tise on the teaching of criminalistics is an article by James Osterburg dealing only with the methods of teaching skills in evidence recognition and preservation, and this within the context of a police academy. Osterburg's approach revolves around his text The Crime Laboratory: A Case Study Method of 46 Scientific Criminal Investigation. The book utilizes the case study method: "Using actual police cases, the author selected a wide variety of clue materials so that the reader is reasonably exposed to the usual as well as some unusual clues that were found in real life criminal investigations. The innovative aspect that raises police education to a new high is the method chosen to present the concepts involved 45See esp. "The Nature of Criminalistics“ pp. 10-13. 46James W. Osterburg, The Crime Laboratory (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968). 31 in the recognition, collection, and preservation of evidence."47 Osterburg would overcome the lack of laboratory equipment in the schools by photographic presentation of the evidence: "A typical case exercise then consists of two photographs: one of the crime scene evidence; the other of apparently simi- lar evidence obtained from a suspect in the case. The aim is to determine if the crime scene evidence and that obtained from the suspect had the same origin."48 Lacking a literature dealing specifically with the teach- ing of criminalistics or criminal investigation, we can turn to general education theory, some of which is applicable to the particular problem of identifying good methods for teach- ing criminalistics. Obviously, if one seeks to analyze the teaching methods utilized by learning systems as potentially varied as those under consideration, the task could be simplified and facili- tated by the use of an organized body of theory describing such systems. A text and indeed a whole body of theory de~ voted to the systematic solution of teaching problems has been developed under the title of Learning System Design,49 by Davis, Alexander, and Yelon at Michigan State University. 47James W. Osterburg, "Police Academies Can Teach the Recognition and Preservation of Physical Evidence," Police, Volume 14, No. 4 (March-April, 1970). p- 54. 48Ibid., pp. 54-55. 49Robert H. Davis, Lawrence T. Alexander, and Stephen L. Yelon, Learning System Design (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974). ' 32 Learning system design is based on the principle that learning systems have interacting components, and that both the components and the interaction should be understood be- fore one attempts to improve the system. The theory provides five basic designing techniques; (1) describing the current status of the learning system, (2) deriving and writing learn- ing and objectives, (3) planning and implementing evaluation, (4) performing a task description and task analysis, and (5) applying principles of human learning.50 These techniques are tools which can be applied to the basic strategy of learning system design, which has three phases: "(1) analyzing system requirements in terms of sys- tem goals and the current state of the system; (2) designing the system by selecting from available alternative procedures, equipment, and materials; and (3) evaluating system effec- tiveness by comparing planned performance with actual per— formance."51 That portion of learning system design theory which is most applicable to the analysis of teaching methods for criminalistics is the technique for applying the principles of human learning. "Principles of human learning provide a set of criteria for selecting effective instructional pro- cedures, and, in effect, help in the solution of methods 52 problems. Learning System Design gives a number of general principles of student learning and motivation which can be 51 52 50 Ibid., p. 316. Ibid., p. 17. Ibid., pp. 9-17. teach solvi menti must crimi tem C to ma ing 1 knowj cipl: tems teac envi eXan tem Crin 33 applied in any learning situation. These are reproduced in Appendix D. Further, the book has sections dealing with the teaching and learning of concepts and principles, problem- 53 all of which have been solving, and psycho-motor skills, mentioned or inferred as classes of knowledge which a student must master if he is to become adequately educated in basic criminalistics. It soon becomes obvious to the student of learning sys~ tem design that this is a rich resource for teachers who wish to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of their teach- ing methods. While it does not address itself to one area of knowledge, it is stronger for its generality in that the prin- ciples and methods given are applicable to all learning sys- tems, and take into account the local constraints put upon teachers by their students, managers, resources, and system environments. In the chapter on recommendations there is an example of the application of the principles of learning sys- tem design to some typical problems faced by instructors of criminal investigation and criminalistics. Teachers of Criminalistics An analysis of teaching methods takes into account only part of the picture which makes up an educational experience. This methodology must be applied by teachers; their charac~ teristics and attributes are the subject of this section. 53Ibia.. pp. 219-300. 34 It is unfortunate that many of the qualities which make "a good teacher" are undefined or at least so subjective as to make a quantitative measurement unlikely. Thus, descrip- tions of law enforcement faculty in Michigan have been limited to objective data which may or may not directly influence their effectiveness in the classroom. This is the case with two studies, reported in 1970 and 1971, which have described the background of faculty teaching in Michigan's two-year institutions.54’ 55 The findings of the later study, which differ only slightly from those of the earlier, are summarized as follows: "It has been found that typically a faculty member of the law enforcement pro~ grams in the community colleges in Michigan is not academi- cally qualified (40% are below a Masters level), experientially low in teaching (averaging three years), [and] high in related field experience (averaging 11.5 years). . . ."56 Horn also reports that the respondents to his survey felt the academic preparation most desirable for a law enforce- ment faculty member is a Masters degree, and that the "de- sirable related field experience" for these faculty would be five years of general law enforcement.57 54Yankee, op. cit. (1970). 55William G. Horn, "A Profile of the Law Enforcement Faculty in the Community Colleges of Michigan with Recommenda- tions" (unpublished Masters thesis, Michigan State University, 1971). 56 57 Ibid., p. 37. Ibid., pp. 36-37. 35 However, the legitimacy of applying standards such as these to the particular set of faculty examined in this study might be questioned. On the one hand, given that criminal- istics is a physical science dependent upon logic and philo- sophical concepts, one might expect that faculty who deal with it would possess both field experience as a criminalist, or at least a criminal investigator, and an advanced degree in criminalistics or some related physical science. On the other hand, given the dearth of trained criminalists and the practical absence of institutions offering advanced degrees in the science, one might be surprised to find any faculty at all with this background. Summary In this chapter the literature concerned with the place of criminalistics in the two—year law enforcement curricula was reviewed. The findings show that most authorities would require at least a course in criminal investigation, with most suggesting one or more criminalistics-related offerings such as criminal evidence, chemistry, or logic. Two notable exceptions to this pattern are the AACJLEPG, which suggests a pure criminalistics course in addition to criminal investi- gation, and the liberal arts curriculum offered by Eastman, which has no provisions for even the criminal investigation course. Turning to course content, the guidelines of the Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council and the Michigan 36 Criminal Justice Educators Association were presented and their criminalistics content noted.’ A literature on teach- ing methods for criminalistics was found to be practically nonexistent, but a systematic approach to the improvement of instruction called learning system design was outlined, and its use as a resource was suggested. Finally, studies which dealt with criminal justice faculty in the two-year institutions were reviewed, and standards for "acceptable" experience were noted, but the ap- plicability of these standards to the set of faculty in this study was questioned. CHAPTER IV RESEARCH OF CRIMINALISTICS EDUCATION In this chapter the questionnaire which was the basic re- search method used to gather information on the teaching of criminalistics to Michigan police is described. The results of the questionnaire are analyzed, and conclusions drawn from the results are given. Research Methods To determine what criminalistics knowledge and skills are being taught to our police, the methods employed in the learning systems, and the academic preparation and field ex- perience of the instructors, a questionnaire was sent to the law enforcement program coordinators of the 19 public two- year institutions in Michigan which offer a program in crimi- nal justice or law enforcement.58 The questionnaire was to be executed by the teachers of courses in criminal investiga- tion or criminalistics. The questionnaire is reproduced in Appendix E. 58These institutions were identified from data in: Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association and Michigan Office of Criminal Justice Programs, "Criminal Justice Educa- tion Programs in Michigan," ([second edition]; East Lansing, Michigan State University, [1975]). 37 structc tective aieduc T] of con: "learn. knowle' would form t jectiv studen Traini They w when r the st Pendix I Cific audio- crime tion k tEaCh \ E ltere 38 The first portion of the instrument deals with the in" structor's background: his police experience (patrol, de- tective, command, and special positions), and experience as an educator. The bulk of the questionnaire is devoted to an evaluation of course content. The instructor was given a list of 25 "learning objectives" dealing with criminalistics skills and knowledge. If he felt the methods and content of his course would educate his students to the extent that they could per- form the objective, he was directed to check off that ob- jective. These "learning objectives" were drawn from the student objectives of the Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council Instructor Guidelines Basic Training Manual.59 They were reworded slightly to make them grammatically correct when read with a general introductory phrase. For a list of the student objectives in their original form, refer to Ap- pendix B. The last portion of the questionnaire deals with spe- cific teaching methods used by the instructor: text(s), audio-visual methods, guest lecturers, lecture/laboratory hours crime scene search practice, instruction in evidence collec- tion kits, and miscellaneous methods or equipment used to teach evidence recognition, collection, and analysis. 59The relevance of these student objectives to the course content of educational programs is discussed in the literature review; see pp. 28-29. 39 Followup letters, telephone calls, and personal contacts were used to obtain as large a sample as possible. In addi- tion, instructors were contacted by telephone for information on their academic degrees, and for clarification of responses on the completed questionnaires. In several cases where the institution's curriculum, methods, or course content indi- cated an instructional approach above average in quality, a visit to the institution was made. Analysis of Results Thirty completed questionnaires were returned by 19 in- stitutions. At this point a further delineation of the scope of the paper was considered, with the result that only the data describing those courses which are required for the associate degree in law enforcement will be reported. It was felt that this limitation would add to the coherency and ease of interpretation of the data without subtracting from its effectiveness in meeting the objective of describing the typical education in criminalistics for the Michigan police officer. Since none of the ten reported criminalistics courses were required for the law enforcement degree, and one of the criminal investigation courses was not required,60 it was determined that eighteen questionnaires.describing criminal investigation courses would provide the data for 60Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association and Michigan Office of Criminal Justice Programs, Op: Cit. 40 this study. The data is reported anonymously, as was promised the program coordinators of the institutions. Each respondent faculty was assigned a "faculty number" which is used uni— formly throughout this paper to label the data he provided. The instructors' experience profile will be reported first, then the data on criminal investigation course con- tents, then the methods used by the instructors to teach these courses. The raw data describing the faculty experience with po- lice agencies and as educators is given in Table 1. Fifteen faculty reported experience as patrolmen; the average amount of experience was 6.9 years. It should be noted that the three faculty who had no patrol experience each reported ex- perience in a police-related field, although the equivalency of these experiences would be difficult to determine. A fre- quency distribution of the faculty patrol experience is given in Figure 2. Eleven of the eighteen instructors reported an average of 3.9 years of experience in detective positions; the in- dividual experiences are quite evenly distributed over a range of one—half to ten years. Eight respondents reported command experience averaging 6.2 years, and the distribution is smooth across a range of two to eight years, with the ex- ception of one experience of 17 years. 3 m.H m. H mm mm o o o mH OH m.H m o mH o m b A SH 0 o o o mH o m m HH mH m m.H o o NH o 3 m m mH m m.H m o mH HH 0 o m 3H H m 3 0 mm 3 m m m mH H m o o m. m. o o o NH m H 3 o e o o m 3 HH m m.H m 3 m.mH m.H m m w OH m m.m o 0 mm mm o o o m 3 o m o m.mm m AH m. m m 3 o m o m o o H 3 n o m. o e m.m m. o o m m m o m o m.m o o o m.m m 3 OH H o mH o m m m 3 o m.m o o m.HH m. o m.H m.m m H m o H mm o m OH mm m 3 o m o m 3 o o m H OOCOHLdem OOCOHQOQXM OOCOHHOQXM OOCOHHOme OOCOHOoaxm mchmm wcHLOOOH MCHzomoH Hm>Hmc< OOHHOQ COPOHOL OOCOHLOme oocmemaxm OOCOHQOQXM embesz 83833 mfipuphd 63THH£ 38883 H38. -838 paged 63638 Hopped OBOE ApHsocm coHHmmemo>cH HOCHEHLU pom mmcHPOm COHHOOSOM UGO mocoHpoaxm MCHLOOOH cam OOHHom H OHQOB H3 Number of 42 Faculty 0 0+- 2 2+- u u+- 6 6+— 8 8+-10 10+-12 12+ Years of Experience Figure 2 Frequency Distribution of Faculty Patrol Officer Experience Number of Faculty 5 .___ u 3 'F—fi‘ -- 2 .___. ___ l . 0 E] ._, _ L. I... D 1. E 0-H 5-8 9-12 13-16 17-20 21-2H 25—28 28+ Years of Experience Figure 3 Frequency Distribution of Total Police Experience 43 Police-related experience was reported in areas such as state investigator, research and planning, traffic division, communications, industrial security, training, juvenile work, military police, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ten respondents indicated experience in these areas, with seven having four years or less, while three had extensive experi- ence of 11, 22, and 27 years. The total years of police and police-related experience were calculated and included in Table 1, and a frequency distribution of this data is pro~ vided in Figure 3. Four faculty reported experience as crime laboratory analysts ranging from one to seven years and averaging 3.3 years. Their areas of specialization were fingerprints, ana- lytical chemistry, photography, drug analysis, and instruct- ing. One instructor reported extensive experience as a fire- arms expert, although this was not within a laboratory set- ting. Eleven respondents had experience as full-time faculty; the average amount was 3.9 years. This full-time experience was evenly distributed in a range of one-half to eight years. Part-time teaching experience is reported on an improvised scale: two courses per term and three terms per year, or six courses, was used as a standard for one year's part-time experience. For example, an instructor reporting having taught four courses would be credited with two-thirds or .7 year's experience. On this scale, 12 faculty had part-time experience of .5 to 5 years, and one faculty had 10 years of 44 experience. The academic experience of the surveyed faculty is in- cluded in Table 1. This experience is reported on a scale developed by Yankee61 as follows: Less than a Bachelors Degree 0 Bachelors to +10 credit hours 1 Bachelors +11 to 20 2 Bachelors +21 to 30 3 Masters Degree 4 Masters to +10 5 Masters +11 to 20 6 Masters +21 to 30 7 Masters +31 to 40 8 Masters +41 to 60 9 Doctorate 10 Three of the faculty had ratings of zero; thirteen had ratings from one to four; one faculty rated at nine, and one at ten. The average rating was 3.2. Raw data from the central portion of the questionnaire dealing with the teaching of the 25 "learning objectives" is given in Table 2. Also included in the table are the per- centages of the 25 objectives which each instructor taught, and the percentages of the instructors who taught each objec- tive. It should be noted that three instructors gave ambig- uous responses to some objectives. These responses are not 61Yankee, Op. Cit., p. 71. hfleZ czflndnalistics Learning Objectives Taught mew by Criminal Investigation learning Objective Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 .Percentage Faculty '3 'R 'K dePdOddedePdePdOdeOdodededeP \DKDONOKDQGDOCDOUDNONONO xxxxoxoxxxxxxooxxx xxxxoooxxoxxxxoxxx xxxoooooxoxxxxoxxx xxxooooxxoxxxxoxxx xxxxoooxxoxxxxoxxx xxxooooxxoxxxxoxxx xxxxoxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxooxxxxoxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxoxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxoxxxxxxxx xxxxoxxoxxxxoxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxoxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xooxooxouxlxooxlxx xoxxooxOIxxxoxxuxx xooxoooonxuxooxnox oooooooo:xuoooonox xoooooxOIxuxooxlxx x NOOXOOXOI l><>< HNMQ‘LOKDI‘wOiOr-INMV‘LOOBw HHHHHHHI—IH 13* 73* 100 95 83 100 100 100 95 72 61 78 5? Percentage 40* 53* 100 100 95 100 95 83 67 67 72 4” -Mmmsa®mfim&hrmmme *mmdm&hrammwamnmimh®dthcflwhdmofmmmmwa 46 included in either set of percentages; e. 9., if six ambiguous responses were given, the percentage of objectives taught was calculated on the basis of the other 19 objectives. The percentage of learning objectives taught by each in- structor varied from 40% to 100%. The frequency distribution of these percentages was skewed toward the high end, as shown in Figure 4. In other words, most of the instructors taught over half of the objectives. The percentage of instructors who taught each objective varies from 6% to 100%, with seven objectives being taught by all the instructors. A frequency distribution of these percentages is given in Figure 5. The percentages of faculty teaching each objective are easily classified into groups of low, medium, and high per- centages. With one exception (number 5), the objectives which called for the student to explain the analysis of physi- cal evidence were in the low class, being taught by an aver- age of 44% of the instructors. The six objectives which called for the student to physically demonstrate a skill were in the medium class, with an average of 70% of the faculty teaching them. The remaining 13 objectives were all in the high class, with a range of 83% to 100% (average: 96%) of the instructors teaching them. The overall average for the use of the 25 objectives was 78%. The data from the portion of the questionnaire dealing with the methods used to teach basic criminalistics is given in Table 3. Included is information on the texts used, the use of educational materials (slides, films, video tapes, 47 Number of Instructors 9 'F- 8 7 'F-w 6 5 u 3 2 l 0 _ C] [:1 L. L1. 0-20 Zl-NO Hl—BO 61-80 81-100 Percentages of Learning Objectives Figure u Frequency Distribution of Percentages of Learning Objectives Taught by Each Instructor Number of Learning Objectives 11 10 OwacmmqooLo 1:1 __ r: r. _ 0-15 16-30 31-H5 #6-60 61-75 76-90 91-100 1.1. 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Fifteen instructors reported using O'Hara's Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation62 as their major text, although at least one instructor was still using the second edition. Three instructors used Horgan's Criminal Investigation63 as a text. Other reference books were used in conjunction with the O'Hara text; two instructors used Scientific Evidence in Criminal Cases by Moenssens. The other major educational materials used and the percentages of the faculty which used them are: slides (72%), films (50%), literature reprints (39%), video tapes (17%), and overhead projectors (28%). Guest lecturers were used by 14 of the 18 respondents, or 78%. The average use appears to be two or three lecturers per term, and about half of these are crime laboratory ana- lysts. Six instructors reported a lecture-laboratory break- down; the amount of laboratory time per week varied from one- half to two hours. The amount of class time (including labs.) per term varied from 43.5 to 72 hours, but most totals were close to 48 hours. Eleven instructors, or 61%, had their stu- dents practice crime scene searches. Ten instructors, or 51%, dealt with the use of an evidence collection kit. 62Charles E. O'Hara, Fundamentals of Criminal Investiga- tion, (3rd Ed.; Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas, 1974). 63 1974). J. J. Horgan, Criminal Investigation (New York: McGraw, 50 A few instructors reported the use of special methods for teaching crime scene search techniques or the analysis of physical evidence; this information was not included in Table 2. The methods were videotapes of students searching crime scenes, case examples, police department crime scene photos, and tours of crime labs, the latter used by two in- StI’UCtOI‘S . Conclusions Reviewing the police experience and the educational ex- perience of the criminal investigation faculty as a whole, we can say that they have high field experience (averaging 15 years) and low educational experience, with 61% holding less than a Masters degree, and the average rating being 3.2, or a Bachelors degree plus 21 to 30 credit hours. These judgments are made in light of the opinions of criminal jus- tice faculty questioned in Horn's thesis, who felt that de- sired related field experience should be 5 years, and de- sired educational experience would be a Masters degree.64 This author considers the exceeding amount of police experience held by the criminal investigation faculty to be a moot distinction, as one can argue both benefits and losses from this extended service. However, the substandard aca- demic preparation of these faculty is obviously a far more 64Horn, Op. Cit., p. 217. 51 serious matter. Eastman, in her study of law enforcement higher education remarked, ". . . the advanced work of Masters programs provides faculty with an essential academic breadth, and the beginnings, usually, of research competence. These qualities are both important at the associate level."65 If we make the assumption that the three instructors with ratings of three on Yankee's scale (Bachelors degree plus 20—30 credit hours) have enough momentum to carry them on to attainment of the Masters in the near future, that still leaves eight faculty, or 44%, far from the goal. In the au- thor's opinion, this marks a serious deficiency in the academic preparation of a significant number of those who are given the task of preparing our police for their role as criminal in- vestigators, a deficiency which is reflected in a loss of ef- ficiency and effectiveness in the criminal justice system. This research has also revealed that most instructors (14 of 18 respondents) have no experience as crime laboratory analysts. This is unfortunate, from the standpoint that laboratory analysts, as a profession, would probably make the best teachers of basic criminalistics. This opinion is based on their typical experience as criminal investigators, their mastery of the scientific analysis of evidence, their broad experience with the workings of the criminal justice system, Eastman, Op. Cit., p. 217. 52 and their professional attitude toward the investigative process. From the data on the criminal investigation instructors' use of the learning objectives of this study, three conclu- sions may be drawn: (1) With one exception, the instructors as a whole feel they utilize methods and course content which give their students the ability to "explain," "state," and "identify" the knowledge or concepts involved in the criminal- istics student objectives of the standard police training course used in Michigan. (2) The confidence of the instruc- tors in these same students to "demonstrate" knowledge or skills associated with crime scene searches is significantly less. (3) The instructors as a whole are much less confi- dent that their students can explain the scientific analysis of the important classes of physical evidence: firearms, blood and other body fluids, soils and minerals, fabrics, plaster castings, and tool markings. In general, we can conclude that major differences ex— ist between the criminalistics content of the two-year educa- tion and mandatory training programs required of police in Michigan. It was one of the objectives of this program to measure such differences. Whether they are the result of 66Observations on the profession made during a summer practicum at the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory, East Lansing, Mich., 1972. Also note a related remark by Laboratory Director Lt. Donald Bennett that ”laboratory analysts would definitely make the best teachers of evidence technicians" (personal conversation, May 14, 1973). 53 differing philosophical attitudes on the part of trainers and educators, or different facilities or other restraints remains to be investigated. The percentage of objectives which the instructors felt their course taught varies from 40% in one case to 100% in four cases, with eight instructors responding at less than 75%. One can conclude that the opinions of the criminal in- vestigation instructors on the ability of their students to meet the criminalistics learning objectives varied markedly, and this probably reflects marked differences in course con- tent. The description of variation in basic criminalistics course content among the two-year programs was another ob- jective of this study. From a review of the data concerning teaching methods reported by the instructors, there seems to be a good deal of variation from one to another in the number of methods used. While some faculty use three or four of the audio- visual methods, guest lecturers, mock crime scenes, and an evidence collection kit, others report little or no use of these methods. We can conclude that the number of alternate and supplemental teaching methods used by the criminal in- vestigation faculty varies widely. To the extent that the experiences provided by these supplemental methods can be con- sidered course content, this variation in methods means a further variation in content, in addition to that noted in the paragraph above. 54 Summary In this chapter the author's research of the status of basic criminalistics education in the two-year law enforce- ment programs of the state has been described. The basic research method was a questionnaire for gathering data on the experience of the faculty, the criminalistics content of their courses, and the methods they used to teach the courses. Data was reported on required courses only, limiting the scope of the study to eighteen criminal investigation courses and their instructors. Analysis of the data on the faculty, course content, and teaching methods led to the following general conclusions: (1) The faculty in question have a very high amount of police field experience (averaging 15 years), and a low academic background (less than half held a Masters degree). (2) Major differences exist between criminalistics education provided by two-year institutions and criminalistics training provided by standard police academies. (3) Major variations in the criminalistics course content and teaching methods are evident among the two-year institutions studied. CHAPTER V RECOMMENDATIONS In this chapter, suggestions are made for methods of im— proving the overall quality of those faculty who teach crimi- nal investigation and criminalistics, and for improving the criminalistics content of criminal investigation courses. The Improvement of Criminalistics Teaching Skills "Regardless of course title or course description, in- formation and, more importantly, attitudes that are transfer— red from faculty to students are dependent upon the attitudes and knowledge of the instructor teaching the course."67 These thoughts by Eastman suggest the folly of concentrating on the improvement of course content without considering the col- lateral improvement of the instructor. In other words, the best-designed "package" of criminalistics material must still be applied by a person, and to maximize the effectiveness of the former, there must be certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the latter. This author sees two alternate ways of improving the cumulative teaching proficiency of instructors dealing with basic criminalistics. One way would be to start with better Eastman, Op. Cit., p. 207. 55 56 personnel in the first place, i. e., hire instructors with the best knowledge, skills, and attitudes to do the job. It was mentioned in the conclusion section of the previous chap- ter that professional criminalists would be an excellent source of instructors. The author recommends that the law enforcement program coordinators of the various institutions, when searching for personnel who would be teaching criminal- istics or criminal investigation, inform the directors of the state and local police crime laboratories that a need for such personnel exists. It is also recommended that the co- ordinators consider very carefully the attitudes, education, and experience of applicants for these positions, with an eye to the particular demands of the discipline. The other way of improving teaching proficiency in crimi- nalistics is further education and training of the teachers. Certainly the conscientious instructor, realizing that his self-improvement is an ongoing process beneficial to both himself and his students, is constantly seeking, formally or informally, to increase his knowledge of the discipline. On the other hand, personal initiative varies, as do personal opportunities and restraints. It seems obvious that the greatest improvement of the faculty in question could be real- ized through an organized, institutional program. Several methods could be recommended. One possibility would be a summer teaching methods institute for criminalistics and criminal investigation faculty offered by Michigan State 57 University. Such an institute could utilize the expertise of the School of Criminal Justice and of the University's Learning and Evaluation Service, and the facilities of the Michigan State Police central crime laboratory. A second method would be to offer the same sort of seminar or methods course through the various state universities, although staffing and diluted demand could present problems. A third method would be an extension course for criminal investigation instructors, perhaps the most difficult alternative in terms of effective course design, but most effective in reaching the maximum number of instructors. The Improvement of Criminalistics Course Content 'Communities of ideas, gathered together around central themes deeply rooted in human consciousness form the "disci- plines" of academic life. At a given stage of its develop- ment, each academic discipline represents a consensus on questions of priority, feasability, research technique, con- tinuity, and academic prestige. The disciplines, like their constituent ideas, have natural cycles of life. And the en- terprise of learning works best when we nurse and nourish the newborn, while burying the dead with minimum expense and "68 ceremony. 68Everett M. Hafner, “Toward a new discipline for the Seventies: Ecography," in Ecotactics: The Sierra Club Hand- book for Environmental Activists, John G. Mitchell, Ed. (New York: Pocket Books, 1970) pp. 214-215. 58 If we View the short history of criminalistics taught to patrolmen in Michigan in comparison to fields of learning which have been established for many years--chemistry or mathematics or philOSOphy, for example--it truly is a "new- born" academic discipline. As such, I believe it has much nursing to go through before it reaches a state which could be called mature. As a first step in the nourishment of the discipline of basic criminalistics, I would recommend that the theories of learning system design be applied to the problems inherent in teaching this complex subject. The first step in the learning system design process69 is the description of the learning system as it currently exists. "The description of the current status provides the information and data needed to insure that design decisions will consider all of the relevant variables, facts, and prob— 70 This was the basic lems before proceeding with the design. purpose of this paper. Although the information gathered was certainly not exhaustive, this study hopefully provided a profile of what is taught in criminalistics, how it is taught, and those who teach it. The second step in designing an ideal basic criminal- istics course is writing the learning objectives. This in“ volves selecting what is to be taught from all that could be 69As formulated by Davis, Alexander, and Yelon in their previously referenced work. 70Davis, et al., Op. Cit., p. 9. 59 taught in criminalistics—~probably the most difficult task facing the system designer. Fortunately, part of the labor has been done already. As noted in the sections on the im- portance of the problem and the literature review, studies have been performed to identify and analyze the goals, ob- jectives, and tasks of the police, and much of this material is directly applicable to the process of writing the neces— sary objectives. When considering the bulk of material which should be taught, it may be fruitful to conceptualize the matter in terms of a scheme taken from project STAR, in which the "learning elements" of knowledge, attitudes, and skills were related to the "behavior categories" of knowing (cognitive), feeling (affective), and doing (psychomotor), respectively.71 Let us divert, for a moment, to a typical crime scene problem, to see how these behavior categories can be used to identify criminalistics learning objectives. Given a toolmark left on a door by the intruder in a breaking and entering, what must the police officer know, feel, and do in order to facilitate the processing of the toolmark into physical evidence which could be useful in the courtroom? First, he should know what a toolmark is, where 71American Justice Institute, "Project STAR: System and Training Analysis of Requirements for Criminal Justice Participants, Police Officer Role Training Manual" (Sacramento: California Commission on Police Officer Standards and Train- ing, 1974) pp. 21-23. 60 to look for it, and how to collect it. It would also be helpful if he knew why the toolmark was valuable to the crimi- nal justice system: how the crime laboratory analyst can in- dividualize the toolmark as coming from the suspect's tool, and what this means to a judge and jury in the courtroom. This "helpful" knowledge is related to the officer's attitude, or feeling toward the task of collecting the tool- mark. It seems that the police have enough discretion in their actions that their feelings about a task might play an important part in determining whether or not it is performed at all, especially in roles and tasks which are not stressed as being an important or mandatory part of the officer's job.72 Finally, the officer must have the psychomotor skills necessary to collect the toolmark, either by removal of the door, or by a reproductive method such as moulage or photog- raphy. Certainly more knowledge would be helpful at this point, e. g., which method of collection is more reliable; which is easier (cost-benefit analysis); does the crime laboratory have the space to store a door; and should a sample of the paint on the door be taken in case microscopic amounts were transferred to the tool? The multiplicity of knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for the performance of this basic task reiterates the complexity of crime scene tasks in general. It is __ 7ZIt is the author's impression that this is often the case in Michigan and the rest of the nation. 61 important that the learning system designer be aware of the interplay of these learning elements when writing the learn- ing system objectives or his system will produce results in the field which are less than optimally effective. Another important step in the design of a general system of teaching of basic criminalistics is the application of the principles of human learning to the objectives after an analy~ sis of the related tasks has been performed. Let us look at some of the general principles of human learning and motiva— tion and recommend specific techniques which could be used in the classroom to help teach criminalistics effectively (refer to Appendix D for the original wording of the prin- ciples). Principles 1 and 3, concerned with meaningfulness of the course material and modeling,73 could be implemented very easily with a well-planned film or videotape portraying the system by which physical evidence is discovered, developed, and utilized, from the crime scene to the courtroom. Students should be made aware very early in the course that the evi- dence they search for and collect can have a major effect on the disposition of the crimes they are investigating. In the film or tape, officers searching the crime scene act as models to the student: discussing the logic processes 73Modeling appears to be an excellent way of instilling the professional attitudes of the criminalist, probably the most difficult of the three types of knowledge with which an instructor will deal in a well-designed basic criminalistics course. 62 involved in their search, registering pleasure and excitement when they discover "good" evidence, and exhibiting proper techniques of collection. Following the evidence to the crime laboratory, the student would see the friendly communication which is characteristic of this encounter. They would then observe the evidence being analyzed by a technician who explains some concepts and principles behind his analysis and shows clearly how the individualization is established. Continuing on to the courtroom, the evidence would play a crucial part in the trial, as it often does in real life, and both the inves- tigating officer and the laboratory technician would be modeled in their courtroom roles. The final verdict would provide the ultimate reward to the investigative team, and reinforce the student's perception of personal gains to be had as a result of good investigations. Another simple way to provide models for the basic crimi- nalistics student would be to require readings on some of the "greats" of the science. Jurgen Thorwald, in his classic works The Century of the Detective74 and Crime and Science,75 has provided a fascinating insight into the lives of the founders of criminalistics, portraying their meticulous attention to detail, their tenacity in investigations which lasted for 74Jurgen Thorwald, The Century of the Detective, trans- lated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1965). 75Jurgen Thorwald, Crime and Science, translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1967). 63 months or years, and their struggles in dealing with short- sighted police administrators and judicial systems. Students can re-live the histories of men like Bertillon, Gross, the Pinkertons, Goddard, and Locard, as well as more modern workers, feeling their thirst for truth and learning to appreciate their legacy of fact-finding skills. One suggestion which Learning System Design makes in con- nection with Principle 4--open communication--is to avoid talk- ing about a subject in its absence.76 If one is teaching the recognition of physical evidence, for example, he should have examples on hand. This could be done at a mock crime scene, or in the classroom using audio-visual methods. One good re- source for teaching the concepts and principles of identifica~ tion and individualism of physical evidence would be Osterburg's text on the crime laboratory,77 for the very reason that it brings a wide variety of evidence material into the classroom. Principle 5 deals with novelty; it says variation in the style and means of presentation make the student more likely to learn. Thus, a good learning system design for criminali- stics will include a broad spectrum of methods and resources to encourage this variety. A bibliography of audio-visual and reprint materials would certainly be of value, as would a description of techniques for teaching difficult topics. For example, the use of a mock courtroom trial would be an 76Davis, et al., Op. Cit., p. 204. 77Osterburg, Op. Cit. 64 excellent device for familiarizing students with the role of the investigator in the courtroom. Videotaped replays could help the students analyze their own and other's behavior "on the stand." Perhaps law students could be enlisted as at- torneys and judges to add a heightened sense of realism. Other valuable methods of adding useful novelty to the class- room would be the use of guest lecturers such as crime labo- ratory technicians or crime scene investigators, and field trips to crime scenes, laboratories, and courtrooms. Principles 6 and 7 of Learning System Design tell us that active, appropriate practice distributed over time pro- vides for effective learning. This should be stressed es- pecially in teaching crime scene searches. In a letter from Edward Whittaker, director of the Dade County Crime Labora- tory, an illustrative remark on this topic is made: "The key ingredient to success [in crime scene technology train- ing] is simply the insuring that the student does the opera- tions himself, with his own hands. Lecture and study are fine, but actually doing the operations at a mock scene, in the laboratory and in the darkroom is the only assurance of capability for the graduate of the program. This concept cannot be stressed too much. It is absolutely requisite to 78 success." Letter from Edward Whittaker, Director, Dade County Crime Laboratory, November 20, 1974. 65 Perhaps part of the reason why most instructors do not use mock crime scenes is a lack of resources, especially the room and materials. A learning system design for criminal- istics should take into account these shortcomings by sug- gesting alternate methods. In place of a room devoted per- manently to mock crime scenes, one could use the classroom itself, a student lounge, or school theatre facilities. An abandoned house (with permission from the proper authorities) would make an ideal alternate. Also, one should not over- look the fact that many crime scenes are located outdoors or in office buildings or retail establishments, and practice sessions in these settings would broaden the students' per- spective. An important point should be made here. If a learning system for criminalistics is to be designed which can be used in all the institutions, it must have built-in flexability. It must be able to accommodate the various constraints put upon teachers by their environments. Thus, some schools will have the resources for a permanent mock crime scene set-up; others will not. Some police agencies place heavy emphasis on the value of physical evidence; others do not. Some in- stitutions have nearby state or local police crime laboratories which can be visited on field trips and whose analysts can be called in for guest lectures while others do not. The con- straints put upon a teacher may be considerable, but in all too many cases they are self-imposed, and a good learning system design should help in both situations by guiding each 66 teacher to the optimum system for his situation. An example of such a learning system design, applicable to many institutions, is an ongoing project of the MLEOTC en- titled COSTER: Competency-Oriented System for the Training and Education of Recruits. The project is still in the de- velopment stages, and no materials have been published in final form, but an initial report79 gives a good indication of the important principles and methods which should charac- terize the final product. In accordance with learning system design, the authors of COSTER have used precisely-stated performance objectives as the basis for the direction and content of their teaching methods. Another notable method utilized by COSTER is in answer to the problem, noted above, of developing one system which can be used in many institutional settings. This is done by providing specifications for three sets of "instruc- tional strategies" for each objective, allowing the teacher to pick between adequate, better, and best methods for ful- filling the objective. For each strategy the necessary per- sonnel, materials, transportation, and equipment are outlined. This provides the variable response necessary to overcome local teaching constraints. Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council, "Project COSTER: Competency—Oriented System for the Training and Education of Recruits, Phase 1 Report" (Lansing: MLEOTC, 1975). Also general information on the project was given in an interview with Mr. Jerry Stemler, project liaison officer, at MLEOTC offices on August 21, 1975. 67 It is recommended that the Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association study the final version of project COSTER materials to determine their adaptability for use in the institutions of higher education, especially in the area of basic criminalistics. In the event that such adaptability is found to be lacking, it is recommended that the Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association explore means for the development of a performance objective-based learning system for criminal investigation which can be applied in the two- year law enforcement program of the state. Two recommended alternate methods for this development would be the formation of a criminal investigation task force working under a feder- al or state grant, or the solicitation of a doctoral disserta- tion or study dealing with the problem. In most two-year law enforcement programs the education in criminalistics which is offered is limited to the criminal investigation course. In a few programs, however, the stu- dent is given the Opportunity to advance in the field through courses devoted purely to criminalistics.8O The author sees this as valuable, in that it provides the police officer with another career route, or a chance to delve deeper into an un- usual field which interests many practitioners. Certainly there is a need for pure criminalistics courses. The basic treatment of the subject in the criminal investiga- tion courses barely scratches the surface of this discipline, . Advanced.programs are underway at Jackson Community Col- lege, Oakland Community College, Macomb County Community Col- lege, and Delta Community College. 68 and the police officer has much to gain from continuing his education in criminalistics. Indeed, the practically untapped ;potentials inherent in advanced criminalistics education offers many institutions at all academic levels a chance to Inake a substantial contribution to the upgrading of Michigan's criminal justice systems. To this end, it is recommended that the institutions of higher education offering law enforcement or criminal justice programs, in cooperation with the local and regional law en- forcement agencies and planning agencies, consider the estabn lishment of courses and curricula in criminalistics which would assist the student in preparing for a related career, whether this be police officer, detective, crime scene tech- nician, or crime laboratory analyst. CHAPTER VI SUMMARY The continually rising crime rate in the United States has led to massive efforts to improve the criminal justice system; part of this effort has been aimed at improving the nation's police through education. This new accent upon edu- cation, in league with federally funded scholarships and grants, have created a demand for law enforcement education programs which has been filled most rapidly at the Associate degree level. The development of these programs has been "hasty" in the eyes of some educators, and there has been much interest in standardizing the curricula for the sake of uniform police education across the country and this state. This study has gone one step further, and examined the uniformity, or lack thereof, in education for the area of basic criminalistics for patrolmen. The problem was stated as (l) a lack of knowledge concerning methods and subject material used to teach criminalistics, and (2) a lack of knowledge about the professional qualifications of the educa- tors who are called on to teach basic criminalistics. The study was limited to those of Michigan's two-year institutions which offer an Associate degree in law enforce- ment or criminal justice, and to the types of knowledge which 69 70 a patrolman would be expected to apply in normal investigations. For the purposes of this paper, criminalistics was used in a limited sense, denoting the recognition, recovery, protecting, and transporting of physical evidence, these being typical tasks of the patrolman performing a preliminary investigation. In order to justify the importance of criminalistics to the criminal justice system and the seriousness of the problem, several approaches were taken. First, authorities on the po- lice function, most notably a federal and a state commission on the goals and standards of the criminal justice system, have identified and stressed the patrolman's role as prelimi- nary investigator. Then it was shown that the problem of criminalistics education is non—trivial; that there are comm plex skills and knowledge which must be ingrained in the po- lice officer if he is to perform adequately in this role. Finally, the present and potential use of criminalistics to alleviate problems which the criminal justice system faces was detailed, with special emphasis on the impact of common crimes such as burglary upon the people, the general failure of police to utilize physical evidence, and the impact of this failure upon the court system. Philosophical differences over the part education should play in "training" or "educating" the police have resulted in a wide variety of curricula being proposed by authorities for use in two-year law enforcement programs. Some of these cur— ricula make good provisions for basic criminalistics education, while others appear to lack these provisions entirely. 71 The literature dealing with basic criminalistics course content is quite limited, consisting mostly of a set of rudi- mentary performance objectives for criminal investigation de- veloped by the Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Coun- cil, an accompanying outline of main points, and a similar out- line written by the Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Asso- ciation for a recommended criminal investigation course. Liter- ature on methods for teaching criminalistics for patrolmen was found to be almost nonexistent, however a theory for designing "learning systems" was outlined, as general principles of the theory can serve in place of specific methods. Previous stud- ies dealing with the professional qualifications of law en- forcement faculty were examined, but the applicability of their results to the faculty of this study was questioned. The research method used to gather the information de- scribing the courses dealing with basic criminalistics was a questionnaire. It asked for three categories of information: the experience and education of the instructors, the content of their courses, and the methods they used to teach the courses. The course content was evaluated with 25 learning objectives dealing with basic criminalistics. These were drawn from the student objectives of the mandatory police training program used in Michigan's police academies. The instructor's opinion as to whether his students could perform the objec- tive was used to judge the criminalistics content of his course. 72 In order to give the data increased coherency and ease of interpretation, only courses required in the institution's curriculum were reported. This limited the data to descrip- tions of 18 criminal investigation courses. Data analysis revealed the faculty teaching these courses had an average of 15 years of related field experience and an average academic preparation of a Bachelors degree plus 21 to 30 credit hours. The percentage of the 25 learning objectives these fac- ulty taught varied from 40 to 100%, and most of the faculty taught over half of the objectives. The percentage of instruc- tors who taught each objective varied from 6% to 100%, with seven objectives being taught by all instructors. The objec- tives could be grouped into low, medium, and high classes of usage. Most objectives which called for the student to ex- plain the analysis of certain categories of physical evidence were in the low class, being taught by an average of 44% of the instructors. The six objectives which would have the stu- dent physically demonstrate a skill associated with crime scene work were in the middle class, being taught by 70% of. the instructors. The remaining 13 percentages were in the high class of percentages, averaging 96%. Educational methods and materials used by the criminal investigation faculty and the percentages of those which used them are: slides (72%), films (50%), literature reprints (39%), video tapes (17%), and overhead projectors (28%). Guest lecturers were used by 76% of the faculty, and about half of these are crime laboratory analysts. Mock crime scenes 73 were used by 61% of the faculty, and 51% dealt with the use of an evidence collection kit. The following conclusions were drawn from the analyzed data: (1) As a whole, the faculty investigated in this study have a high amount of field experience, and low educational experience. (2) Only a very few of the instructors have ex- perience as crime laboratory analysts. (3) Major differences exist between the criminalistics content of the required courses of the two-year education programs and the mandatory training programs for Michigan's police officers. (4) Marked differences exist among the criminal investigation courses offered by the two-year institutions, when evaluated on the basis of criminalistics content. (5) The number of supplemen— tal teaching methods used by the criminal investigation fac— ulty of this study varies widely from one to another. Two ways of improving the cumulative teaching proficiency of instructors dealing with basic criminalistics were recom- mended. First, law enforcement program coordinators should communicate with the managers of crime laboratories when searching for personnel, in order to attract professional criminalists to their staffs. Second, faculty could be pro- vided with specialized criminal investigation teaching methods courses or seminars through Michigan State UniVersity, other state universities, or through extension courses. In order to improve the criminalistics content of the criminal investigation courses it was recommended that the theories of learning system design be applied to the problems of teaching this subject. Application of principles from the 74 theory was illustrated. A competency-oriented training system being developed by the Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Train— ing Council was offered as an example of a learning system ap- plicable to varying teaching environments, and it was recom- mended that the Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association evaluate this system, when completed, for its applicability to the educational programs of the state. In the event that such applicability was found to be lacking, it was recommended that the MCJEA undertake the design of a performance objective- based learning system for criminal investigation through a funded task force or through the work of a doctoral candidate. Finally, it was recommended, in light of the potential bene- fits of continued education in criminalistics, that Michigan's institutions of higher education with law enforcement or crimi- nal justice programs consider the establishment of courses and curricula in advanced criminalistics. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY Coordinating Criminal Justice Education in Michigan: The Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association. [East Lansing]: Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association, 1974. Criminal Justice Education Programs in Michigan. First Edi- tion. East Lansing: School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 1972. Criminal Justice Education Programs in Michigan. Second Edi- tion. East Lansing: School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 1975. Crockett, Thomas S., and James D. Stinchcomb. Guidelines for Law Enforcement Education Programs in Community and Junior Colleges. Washington, D. C.: American Associa- tion of Junior Colleges, 1968. Davis, Robert H., Lawrence T. Alexander, and Stephen L. Yelon. Learning System Design. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974. Eastman, Esther M. Police Education in American Colleges and Universities: A Search for Excellence. Doctor of Philo- sophy Dissertation, Kent State University, 1972. Fox, Richard H., and Carl Cunningham. Crime Scene Search and Physical Evidence Handbook. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1973. Gammage, Allen Z. Police Training in the United States. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1963. Garza, Manuel, and Kenneth Pierce. "A Comparative Study of the Project STAR Police Terminal Performance Objectives and the Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council Basic Training Objectives." Unpublished Masters thesis, Michigan State University, 1973. Gribbon, August. "The Cop-Out Cops." The National Observer (August 3, 1974). 75 76 Hafner, Everett M. "Toward a New Discipline for the Seventies: Ecography." Ecotactics: The Sierra Club Handbook for Environmental Activists. John G. Mitchell, Editor. New York: Pocket Books, 1970. Headlough, Warren E. Development Police Training and Educa- tion in Florida. Law Enforcement Assistance Administra- tion. Tallahassee: Florida Police Standards Council, 1969. Hefron, Floyd N. Evidence for the Patrolman. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1958. Horgan, J. J. Criminal Investigation. New York: McGraw, 1974. Horn, William G. "A Profile of the Law Enforcement Faculty in the Community Colleges of Michigan." Unpublished Masters thesis, Michigan State University, 1971. Instructor Guidelines Basic Training Manual. East Lansing: Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council, 1972. Kingston, C. R., and J. L. Peterson. "Forensic Sciences and the Reduction of Crime." Journal of Forensic Science. Volume 19, Number 3 (July, 1974). Mager, Robert F. Preparing Instructional Objectives. Belmont, California: Fearon/Lear Siegler, 1962. Marsh, Richard F. "A Core Program Proposal of Undergraduate Studies for the Professional Preparation of Law Enforce— ment Personnel in Four-Year Colleges and Universities." Unpublished Masters thesis, Florida State University, 1969. Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Association Recommended Associated Degree Core Curriculum in Law Enforcement. [n. pr3 Michigan Criminal Justice Educators Associa- tion, 1973. Nelson, John G. Preliminary Investigation and Police Report- ing: A Complete Guide to Police Written Communications. Beverly Hills, California: Glencoe Press, 1970. O'Hara, Charles E. Fundamentals of Criminal Investigatiop, Third Edition. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1974. Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. Punlic Law 90-351, 1968. 77 Osterburg, James W. The Crime Laboratory. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1968. Osterburg, James W. "Police Academies Can Teach the Recogni- tion and Preservation of Physical Evidence." Police, Volume 14, Number 4 (March-April, 1970). Project COSTER: Competency-Oriented System for the Training and Education of Recruits, Phase 1 Report. Lansing: Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council, 1975. Project STAR: System and Training Analysis of Requirements for Criminal Justice Participants, Police Officer Role Training Manual. American Justice Institute. Sacramento, California: California Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training, 1974. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice. Police. U. S. Department of Justice. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1973. Report of the Michigan Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice. Criminal Justice Goals and Standards for the State of Michigan. Lansing: [Michigan Office of Criminal Justice Programs], 1975. Rutherford, James W. "The Feasability of Instituting a Police Curriculum at the Junior College Level." Unpublished Masters thesis, Michigan State University, 1964. The Michigan Public Speaks Out on Crime. Lansing: Michigan Office of Criminal Justice Programs, 1974. Tessmer, Charles W. Book review of Scientific Evidence in Criminal Cases. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science. Volume 65, Number 1 (March, 1974) Thorwald, Jurgen. The Century of the Detective. Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1965. Thorwald, Jurgen. Crime and Science. Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1967. ' Vaupel, Carl F. "A Survey and Analysis of Two—Year Police Science Curricula in the United States with Recommended Criteria." Unpublished Masters thesis, University of South Dakota, 1968. 78 Whittaker, Edward. "The Adversary System: Role of the Criminalist," Journal of Forensic Sciences, Volume 18, Number 3 (July, 1973). Yankee, William J. "A Description and Evaluation of the Associate Degree Law Enforcement Curricula in the Public Community and Junior Colleges of Michigan." Doctor of PhilOSOphy dissertation, Michigan State University, 1970. APPENDICES APPENDIX A INSTRUCTOR GUIDELINES81 81Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council, Instructor Guidelines Basic Training Manual (East Lansing: MLEOTC, 1972) pp. C 5.1 u C 5.5. APPENDIX A INSTRUCTOR GUIDELINES81 I. TITLE: Collection and Preservation of Evidence - 2 Hours II. OBJECTIVES: When the trainee completes this lesson, he will be able to: A. Describe the various types of physical evidence typically found, differentiating between corpus delicti and associative evidence. B. Identify proper protection of evidence. C. Explain appropriate packaging of the various types of evidence. D. Describe appropriate ways to mark evidence. E. Identify the requirements for maintaining chain of evidence. F. Explain the use of photography. III. SUGGESTED TEACHING ACTIVITIES A. This unit of instruction will provide the trainee with the proper techniques for collecting and pre- serving evidence. Emphasis will be made to assure that physical evidence is both admissable and valid in court. B. The SUGGESTED OUTLINE OF MAIN POINTS which follows is not intended to replace the initiative, imagina- tion and creativity of the instructor. They in- clude only minimum instructional requirements, which in all instances should be magnified'and expanded upon by the instructor. However, the OBJECTIVES listed above MUST be met. A major deviation from 81Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council, Instructor Guidelines Basic Training Manual (East Lansing: MLEOTC, 1972) pp. C 5.1 ~ C 5.5. 79 80 the outline and/or objectives must be cleared with the school coordinator first to avoid fruitless duplication and redundancy of subject matter taught in another unit. Refer to the M.L.E.O.T.C. Instructor Guidelines Basic Training Manual Appendix for a sample lesson outline which may aid you in developing a personal- ized lesson presentation. It is strongly recommended that numerous questions be asked throughout the lesson to obtain feedback on the students' grasp of the concepts and generate class discussion and participation. OBJECTIVES are statements of the desired outcome of the instructional unit. All instructional aids such as slides, charts, etc., should be selected to fit the OBJECTIVES of the course, and be present- ed in such a manner as to assure the maximum value to the students' learning experience by heightening interest and attention, broadening understanding, and increasing retention. IV. SUGGESTED OUTLINE OF MAIN POINTS A. Discuss the value of physical evidence such as: 1. Serve as the starting point of the investigation. 2. Item of information about the crime. 3. Information retrievable from physical evidence often depends upon circumstances and conditions. a. Time b. Weather c. Training and ability of the investigator to: (1) Recognize evidence. (2) Handle evidence. (3) Interpret evidence. 4. May indicate Modus Operandi. 5. May establish a connection between a suspect and the evidence. 81 6. May also eliminate persons and things from con- sideration. Discuss the value of individual characteristics of objects such as: 1. Wear 2. Peculiarities of manufacture 3. Accidental changes 4. Purposeful changes Discuss protecting evidence such as: l. Prevent destruction 2. Prevent contamination 3. Prevent unauthorized removal. Discuss the following types of physical evidence, differentiating between corpus delicti and associ- ative vidence. l. Firearms 2. Ammunition 3. Clothing 4. Tools 5. Fibers 6. Blood 7. Paint 8. Documents 9. Liquor 10. Impressions ll. Poisons 12. Drugs 13. Glass 14. Soil 82 Describe and demonstrate proper methods of collect- ing, marking, recording, packaging, and transport— ing the above types of physical evidence. Discuss the requirements for maintaining the chain of evidence. 1. Limit the number of persons handling the evidence. 2. Have a record indicating who located it, who handled it, until presented in court, including dates, time and reasons. 3. Testimony in court will have to establish that the evidence was: a. Found at the scene b. In possession or control of the suspect c. Related to the crime in some manner d. Has not been altered e. Has been positively identified f. Taken from whom and given to whom Photography is utilized to provide a permanent visual record of the crime scene and physical evi- dence located. Briefly discuss the legal points of law concerning admissibility of photographic evidence: 1. The object pictured must be material or rele- vant to the point in issue. 2. The photograph must not appeal to the emotions or tend to prejudice the court or jury. 3. Photographs may not be unduly prejudicial to the defendant. 4. A photograph must be free from distortion and not misrepresent the scene or the object it purports to reproduce. Summary. 1. The summary will be a review of the most imm portant points presented, including the In- structional Scope and the Training Objectives. 83 All questions should be answered. A short quiz should serve as an evaluation of both the trainees' understanding and the teaching ability of the instructor. RESOURCE MATERIAL Publications: Internal Association of Chiefs of Police. EVIDENCE COLLECTION. Training Key 70. HANDLING AND TRANSPORTING FIREARMS. Training Key 126. FINGERPRINT EVIDENCE. Training Key 72. TOOL MARKS. Training Key 45. Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council. INSTRUCTOR GUIDELINES BASIC TRAINING MANUAL. Book Bibliography. Film Catalogs: Carpenter, Glenn B. LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING MATERIALS DIRECTORY. Glenndale, Maryland, Capitol Press, 1969. Department of State Police. FILM CATALOG. East Lansing, Michigan. Public Affairs Division, Depart- ment of State Police, 1971. International Association of Chiefs of Police, Inc. POLICE FILM CATALOG. Eleven Firstfield Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland. Michigan State University, University of Michigan. EDUCATIONAL FILMS. Audio-visual Education Center, The University of Michigan, 416 Fourth Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48103, or Instructional Media Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824. Video-Tape Recordings: Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council. INSTRUCTOR GUIDELINES BASIC TRAINING MANUAL. Refer to Appendix C. Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council. (Consult school coordinator for latest listings). Sound-On-Slide System: Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council. (Consult school coordinator for latest listings). APPENDIX B TRAINING GUIDE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OBJECTIVES APPENDIX B TRAINING GUIDE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OBJECTIVES INVESTIGATION C.1.A. Explain the objectives and basic tools of criminal investigation. C.1.B. Explain scientific analysis of at least the follow- ing types of evidence: Firearms, blood and other body fluids, soil and minerals, fabrics, plaster casting, and tool markings.* C.1.C. State the elements and investigative techniques associated with: Burglary, larceny, assaults, rob- bery, homicide, sex offenses, checks - forgery — frauds, and arson. C.1.D. Cite examples of the types of offenses for which false reports are most often made, and specify the usual motives for making false reports in these cases. C.2.A. Define vice violations. C.2.B. Explain organized crime's involvement in vice activities. C.2.C. Describe illegal gambling activities. C.2.D. Cite several common gambling devices. C.2.B. State the meaning of the laws pertaining to prosti- tution, gambling, and non-licensed liquor violations. C.2.F. List several concepts utilized for the investigation of vice activity. C.2.G. Explain the procedure for establishing the creditility of an informant. *Chosen as a learning objective for the purposes of this study. 84 85 C.3.A. Discuss the sources, effects, and appearance of the following categories of abused drugs: Barbituates, Amphetamines, Opiates, Hallucinogens, Cocaine, Marijuana, and Toxic Agents (glue, paint, etc.). C.3.B. Explain the psychological and physiological results of abuse, emphasizing the distinction between psycho- logical dependence and physiological addiction. C.3.C. Discuss recognition of drug abusers, including the paraphernalia typically found. C.3.D. Discuss applicable federal and state statutes, em- phasizing the distinction between narcotic and dangerous drug classifications. C.3.B. Explain techniques of drug investigation emphasizing the roles of the undercover agent and the informer. C.3.F. Discuss the role of organized crime in drug traffick- ing, and the consequent enforcement difficulties. C.3.G. Explain social aspects of the drug abuse problem, i.e., relation of problem to general legitimate in- crease in drug use, social effects of drug abuse, rehabilitive efforts. C.4.A. State the significance, purpose and objectives of crime scene search.* C.4.B. Explain the importance of safeguarding a crime scene.* C.4.C. Describe the role of the first officer at a crime scene.* C.4.D. Explain various systematic methods of search.* C.4.E. Identify means of locating microscopic evidence.* C.4.F. Describe proper methods of drawing a crime scene search.* C.5.A. Describe the various types of physical evidence typically found, differentiating between corpus delicti and associative evidence.* C.5.B. Identify proper protection of evidence.* *Chosen as a learning objective for the purposes of this study. C.5.C. C.5.D. C.5.B. C.5.F. C.6.A. C.6.B. C.6.C. C.6.F. C.6.C. C.7.A. C.7.B. C.7.C. C.8.A. C.8.B. C.8.C. 86 Explain appropriate packaging of the various types of evidence.* Describe appropriate ways to mark evidence.* Identify the requirements for maintaining chain evidence.* Explainthe use of photography.* Define investigation, interviewing and interrogation. Explain the difference between interviewing and in- terrogation. Describe appropriate physical settings conducive to effective interviewing and interrogation. Explain the importance of the interrogator's attitude and adequate preparation. State and explain effective psychological approaches for various types of subjects. Explain the function and use of polygraph examinations. State the legal preface and conclusion necessary for a proper statement. Discuss the purpose of fingerprint identification. Identify basic fingerprint classification. Identify the methods of discovering and lifting 1a- tent prints.* Demonstrate ability to roll ink prints and life la- tent prints through practical exercises. Demonstrate ability to protect the scene of the crime.* Demonstrate ability to conduct a crime scene search.* Demonstrate ability to properly collect various types of evidence.* Demonstrate ability to conduct a latent print search.* *Chosen as a learning objective for the purposes of this study. 87 C.8.B. Demonstrate ability to conduct effective interviews and/or interrogations. C.8.F. Demonstrate ability to draw a crime scene sketch.* C.8.G. Demonstrate ability to analyze an investigation, and reach a logical conclusion.* C.9.A. Explain the size and seriousness of the stolen vehicle problem. C.9.B. Explain the basic information needed on a stolen vehicle complaint and ways of recognizing the false complaint. C.9.C. State conditions which may lead to the discovery of stolen vehicles. C.9.D. Explain the importance of V.I.N. C.9.B. Discuss proper procedures for searching for a stolen vehicle. APPENDIX C MICHIGAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION COURSE GUIDELINE I. II. APPENDIX C MICHIGAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION COURSE GUIDELINE Criminal Investigation General A. Methods of Investigation Nature of investigation Information Interrogation Instrumentation Identification Tracing and locating criminal Proving guilt Corpus Delicti Elements of offense Role of reason Representative approach f—‘OKDmQONU'l-h-UJNH O FJH w P] :3" (D investigator's notebook Purpose Materials Recording notes Recording aids ubbJNH 0 Report writing 1. Importance 2. Purpose 3. Qualities 4. Sequence of reports 5. Parts of reports 6. Practice exercises Initial investigative steps A. Crime scene search . Protection of scene . Assignment of duties . Estimate of situation . The search a. Mechanics of search b. Methods c. Precautions d. 'Evaluation 88 thH 89 5. Reconstructing of crime 6. Equipment 7. Practice exercises Crime scene photography 1. Equipment 2. Evidence rules 3. What to photograph a. Overall views b. Deceased c. Evidence d. Environs Special techniques Photographic data "Posed" photographs and markers Practice exercises or demonstration \lmmb Crime scene sketch 1. Equipment 2. Rough sketch 3. Elements of sketch a. Measurements b. Essential items c. Scale d. Compass direction e. Title and legend 4. Projection 5. Finished drawing 6. Practice exercises Care of Physical Evidence 1. Types of physical evidence a. Corpus delicti b. Associative c. Trace . Evaluation of evidence Procedure a. Protection b. Collection c. Identification d. Preservation e. Transmission f. Disposition 4. Chain of custody (JON III. Obtaining information A. Interviews 1. Introduction to the art 2. Qualifications of interviewee 3. The place and time 4. Approaches 5. Types of interviews 6. Preparation Techniques a. Types of subjects b. Situations Evaluation Notebook Interrogations .5me Fundamental rules Procedure Purpose The interrogator a. Knowledge b. Conduct c. Dress d. Attitude The interrogation room a. Privacy b. Simplicity of room c. Distracting influences d. Seating arrangements e. Technical aids Supreme Court guidelines Detection of deception a. Physiological symptoms b. The lie detector or polygraph Admissions confessions and written statements \0CX)\]C\U1.I=~WNI‘-‘ Purpose Voluntariness Content Methods of taking Statement forms Witnesses Tests of admissibility Duress and coercion Deception and promises Recording interviews and interrogations 1 Methods a. Mental notes versus written notes b. Stenographic notes c. Sound recording d. Sound motion picture 2. Types of sound recording a. Overt transcripts b. Surreptitious transcripts 3. Techniques Informants 1. General 2. Motives 3. Obtaining confidential informants 90 IV. 91 . Protecting the informant . Treatment . Communicating with . Evaluation of informant \lmmp Tracing and sources of information 1. Missing persons (witness, victim, other) 2. Tracing the fugitive 3. Agencies possessing informative records and other sources a. Governmental agencies b. Private sources c. Directories Surveillance 1. General 2. Surveillance of places 3. Shadowing or tailing a. By foot b. By automobile 4. Practice exercises Undercover assignments . Introduction . Objectives . Types of assignments . Preparation a. Study of subject b. Cover story c. Conduct of assignment d. Communications with headquarters DWNH Identification and reproduction A. Observation and description 1. Physical description 2. Modus operandi Identification by witnesses 1. Methods a. Verbal b. Photographic files 0. Artist's assistance d. Police "line up" Fingerprints and the mechanics of recording 1. Importance 2. The nature of a fingerprint 3. Recording fingerprints a. Equipment b. Technique c. Judging acceptability d. Practice opportunity 92 Crime scene fingerprints 1. Types of fingerprints a. Visible b. Plastic c. Latent 2. Searching for fingerprints Developing the impression a. Powder b. Chemical Fingerprint photography Handling and transmission Lifting fingerprints Practice exercises on \lmLfl-b 0 Classification of fingerprints 1. Ridge characteristics a. Type line b. Delta c. Core 2. Pattern types a. Arches b. LOOps c. Whorls 3. Blocking Out a. Symbols b. Rules c. Ridge counting and tracing 4. Primary classification 5. Practice exercises APPENDIX D PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION83 83Robert H. Davis, Lawrence T. Alexander, and Stephen L. Yelon, Learning System Design (New York: McGraw—Hill, 1974), pp. 198—208. APPENDIX D PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION83 Principle l-~Meaningfulness: A student is more likely to learn things that are meaningful to him. Principle 2-—Prerequisites: A student is more likely to learn something new if he has all the prerequisites. Principle 3--Modeling: The student is more likely to acquire new behavior if he is presented with a model per- formance to watch and imitate. Principle 4--Open Communication: The student is more likely to learn if the presentation is structured so that the instructor's messages are Open to the students' inspection. Principle 5--Novelty: A student is more likely to learn if his attention is attracted by relatively novel presenta- tions. Principle 6--Active Appropriate Practice: The student is more likely to learn if he takes an active part in practice geared to reach an instructional objective. Principle 7--Distribute Practice: A student is more likely to learn if his practice is scheduled in short periods distributed over time. Principle 8--Fading: A student is more likely to learn if instructional prompts are withdrawn gradually. Principle 9—-P1easant Conditions and Consequences: A student is more likely to continue learning if instructional conditions are made pleasant. 83Robert H. Davis, Lawrence T. Alexander, and Stephen L. Yelon, Learning System Design (New York: McGraw—Hill, 1974), pp. 198-208. 93 APPENDIX E QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX E QUESTIONNAIRE Please continue your answers on the reverse side of the questionnaire when the space provided is inadequate. respondent institution Please give the number of years of experience you have in the following fields: patrol officer on a police force detective on a police force command position(s) in a police force other special police positions ; specify crime laboratory analyst give fields of spe- cialization as an analyst full-time educator part—time educator ; give no. of terms/year and no. of courses/term as a part-time instructor Give the course title of your criminal investigation or criminalistics course (Please use separate questionnaires if more than one course is relevant to the educational objectives listed below). 94 95 Place a check next to the item if the content of your criminal investigation or criminalistics course and the teach- ing methods you employ in the course will educate your stu- dents to the point where they will be able to: N “mm-bu 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. explain scientific analysis of firearms. explain scientific analysis of blood and other body fluids explain scientific analysis of soil and minerals explain scientific analysis of fabrics explain scientific analysis of plaster castings explain scientific analysis of tool markings state the significance, purpose, and objectives of crime scene search explain the importance of safeguarding a crime scene describe the role of the first officer at a crime scene explain various systematic methods of search identify means of locating microscopic evidence describe prOper methods of drawing a crime scene sketch describe the various types of physical evidence typically found, differentiating between corpus delicti and associative evidence identify proper protection of evidence explain appropriate packaging of the various types of evidence describe appropriate ways to mark evidence identify the requirements for maintaining chain of evidence explain the use of photography in crime scene work identify the methods of discovering and lifting latent prints demonstrate ability to protect the scene of a crime 96 21. demonstrate ability to conduct a crime scene search 22. demonstrate ability to properly collect various types of evidence 23. demonstrate ability to conduct a latent print search 24. demonstrate ability to draw a crime scene sketch 25. demonstrate ability to analyze an investigation, and reach a logical conclusion What text(s) is/are used in this course? What other educational materials (such as: slide presenta- tions, film loops, and other audio-visual methods; literature reprints, etc.) are used in the course? Are guest lecturers emplyed? If so, how often and are they experienced laboratory analysts? others: How many lecture hours per week and laboratory hours per week do you use? lecture lab. How many weeks in a term? Do your students practice crime scene searches? Are your students educated in the use of an evidence collection kit? Please outline any other methods or equipment you use to teach evidence recognition and collection. If you teach the analysis of physical evidence, outline the methodology and equipment used. Check here if you wish to have a c0py of the results of the study.