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DETECTIVE TRAINING POR THE
STATE OF MICHIGAN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

by
PATRICK P. HEALEY

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Educational Administration

1994

UMI Number: 9524939

Copyright 1995 by
HEALEY, PATRICK PAUL
All rights reserved.

UMI Microform Edition 9524939
Copyright 1995, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.
This microform edition is protected against unauthorized
copying under Title 17# United States Code.

UMI
300 North Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

ABSTRACT
DETECTIVE TRAINING POR THE
STATE OF MICHIGAN LAN ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
by
PATRICK P. HEALEY
The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a need
to

change

the

detective

training

and

establish

a basic

detective

course in Michigan based on the perceptions of 27

selected

criminal

Michigan.

An additional purpose was to determine what they

investigative

detectives

throughout

perceived to be the critical subjects that need to be included
in a curriculum designed for a basic detective course and how
such a program could be implemented and financed.
The personnel interviewed were selected from agencies
divided by size into large, medium, and small departments. A
proportionate number of selected personnel were chosen to
represent each group.

In addition, the personnel selected

criteria were further subdivided into three separate groups
based on the level of experience as a detective.
The ethnographic method was used to gather the research
information and determine what the participating detectives'
perceptions were as they relate to the research questions.
The major findings were that the participants clearly
stated that a need existed to change the current detective
training in Michigan.

More importantly,

they unanimously

agreed that a basic detective course should be established
in Michigan.
Interviewing was judged to be the number one function
of a detective and was considered his/her "bread and
butter". The other important functions included: crime
scenes, communications, report writing, basic investigating,
criminal law and courts, street skills and people skills.
In addition, other themes were identified but were not
directly related to this study: Indexing Arrest and
Clearance, Detective's Function, Good Detectives, Can Anyone
Function as a Detective?, Police Officer's Function, Formal
Training, Transition Phase, Promotion & Assignment to
Detective, Train and Transfer, and Cooperation with the
Prosecutor's Office.

To my wife, Diana
and ray son, Brian, who provide me with
support and help in countless ways.

In Memory of my son,
SEAN HEALEY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all
of the detectives who participated in this study
and their organizations that assisted
me access to their detectives.

by allowing

Particular thanks

to my committee, the unsung heros who work behind
the

scenes

and

give

of

themselves

to

others and asking nothing for themselves.

helping
Special

thanks to Dr. Louis Hekhuis, my advisor and chair
of my committee; and to Dr. Eldon Nonnamaker,

Dr.

Peggy Riethmiller, and Dr. Vincent Hoffman, for all
of

their

help,

counsel,

and

encouragement.

Finally, I

would like to thank and acknowledge the

memory

two

of

professors

and

members

committee who also gave me friendship,
encouragement:

members,

by

me,

College

their

continue

families,

fellow professors,

enforcement,
of

help,

my
and

Dr. Robert Trojanowicz and Dr. Eric

Beckman who are and will
missed

of

to be

fellow

committee

their friends in law

and especially the students
Education,

sorely

Department

of

in the

Educational

Administration and the School of Criminal Justice
at Michigan State University.

111

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
Introduction .......................................
2
P r o b l e m ..............................................6
The Significance of the P r o b l e m ..................... 7
P u r p o s e .............................................11
Proposed Research Questions ....................... 12
Secondary Questions
............................... 12
Definition of T e r m s ................................ 13
Limitation of the S t u d y ............................ 15
P r o c e d u r e .......................................... 16
O v e r v i e w .............................................16

CHAPTER II
Introduction ....................................... 19
Historical Perspective ............................. 20
Bill of R i g h t s ...................................... 27
Grand J u r y .......................................... 28
Reasons for Unpunished C r i m i n a l s .................... 31
Police Effectiveness ............................... 31
Influence of Narcotics Enforcement ................ 34
Deterrence & Selective Prosecution ................ 36
Current Training of Law Enforcement Officers . . . . 3 7
History of Detectives ............................. 41
Detectives' Functions ............................. 44
S u m m a r y ............................................ 48

CHAPTER III
M E THODOLOGY...............................................50
P u r p o s e ............................................ 50
Ethnographic Research ............................. 51
R a t i o n a l e .......................................... 53
Sources of D a t a .................................... 54
Data C o l l e c t i o n ....................
56
L i m i t a t i o n s ........................................ 58
S u m m a r y ............
60

iv

CHAPTER IV

PART I
ANALYSIS OP FINDINGS: OVERVIEW

......................... 61

Demographics.........................................65
E d u c a t i o n ...........................................66
General Police Experience ......................... 67
General D a t a .........................................68
PART II
ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS: PRIMARY RESEARCHQUESTIONS

....

68

Research Questions ................................. 68
Summary of F i n d i n g .................................. 68
Research Findings ................................. 69
Excerpts of Participants' Responses
.............. 70
Question 3 5 .........................................70
Question 3 6 .........................................77
PART III
ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS: SECONDARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS

...

94

94
Research Questions ................
Summary of F i n d i n g s ................................ 94
Research Findings ................................. 95
Curriculum: Basic Detective Course
.............. 95
Question 3 8 ........................................ 96
Implementing: Basic Detective Course ............
107
‘Question 3 9 ..............
107
114
Financing: Basic Detective Course ..............
Question 4 0 ....................................... 114
S u m m a r y ............................................122

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
O v e r v i e w ............................................124

v

CONCLUSIONS

Primary Q u e s t i o n s ................................. 125
Secondary Questions ............................
126
128
Discussion: Primary Research Questions ..........
Significance of Job Stress and the L a w ............ 130
135
Current-basic Detective Courses ................
DISCUSSION
Curriculum: Secondary Research Questions . . . .
138
Discussion .................................... 139
Implementation: Secondary Research Questions
. . 140
142
Financingi Secondary Research Questions ........
R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s .............................. 144

ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS
S u m m a r y ........................................... 147
Cooperation with the Prosecutor's Office ........
147
Detectives' Function ............................
149
Good D e t e c t i v e s ...................................149
Can Anyone Function as a D e t e c t i v e ? .............. 150
150
Police Officers' Function ......................
Formal T r a i n i n g ...................................151
Transition Phase ................................
152
Promotion & Assignment to Detective ............
153

IMPLICATION for FUTURE RESEARCH
O v e r v i e w ..........
158
Indexing Arrest and Clearance ..................
159
Conviction R a t e ...................................162
Train and T r a n s f e r ................
163
S u m m a r y ........................................... 166
E n d n o t e s ........................................... 168
References ..............................
180
Appendix A: Questionnaire:
Detective Training for the State
of Michigan Law Enforcement Agencies

vi

186

Appendix B: Consolidation:
Excerpts of Participants'
Transcripts
. ........

191

Appendix C:

Transcript: Respondent005 .........

192

Appendix D:

Transcript: Respondent012 .........

209

Appendix E:

Transcript: Respondent025 .........

232

Appendix F: Interview: Det/Lt. Andy Palmer
Training Unit Investigative Unit
Michigan State Police ............

254

Appendix G: Interview: Det. Roger Gripe
Basic Detective Training
Los Angeles Police Department

. . .

257

Appendix H: Interview: PO. Giovanni Porcelli
Criminal Investigative Course
New York City Police Department . .

259

Appendix I: Interview: William Nash, Chief,
Employment Standards Section,
Raymond Beach, Chief
Field Service
MSP (MLEOTC)........................ 261
Appendix J: Interview: Det. Thomas Cusanelli
Detective Bureau Training Div.
New York City Police Department . .

vii

263

LIST OP TABLES

TABLE 1: Racial Composition of Selected Personnel
TABLE 2: Department Size

. 65

......................... 66

TABLE 3: Experience Level of D e t e c t i v e s ........... 66
TABLE 4: Educational L e v e l ......................... 67
TABLE 5: Should Current Detective Training
Practices be Changed? ..................

70

TABLE 6: Need for Basic Detective C o u r s e ...........78
TABLE 7: Curriculum: Basic Detective Course
TABLE 8: Implementing: Basic Detective Course

. . .

96

. . 109

TABLE 9: Financing: Basic Detective Course . . . .

116

I

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTIONi

The American

Criminal

Justice

System is

based on a

democratic form of government that allows its citizens the
greatest amount of freedom of choice and equal justice for
all.

It was designed by our forefathers

citizens'
system

constitutional

itself.1

incarceration

If

figures

rights
we

as

were
the

to protect

from the criminal
just

index,

using
then

the

the

justice

arrest

and

system has

performed that function; but in so doing, especially in the
last thirty years,

it has lost credit ability in protecting

citizens from being victimized by the criminal element in our
society.3

The

focal

point

of

the

criticism

was

aimed

primarily at the police because they represent the direct
power

over

our

society.3

Peter Manning,

a professor of

sociology and psychiatry at Michigan State University and
noted author of several books on police work, claims that the
police

have

promoted an

"impossible"

mandate.

The police

encourage the public to think of their work in idealistic
terms that are grossly exaggerated, rather than the work that
is

actually done by the police:
They have been assigned the task of crime
prevention, crime detection and the apprehension of
criminals.
Based on their legal monopoly of
violence, they have staked out a mandate that
claims to include the efficient, apolitical and
professional enforcement of the law.4

2

He further explains that the police do not have the
necessary

qualifications

to

measure

up

to

the

public's

expectations and/or their own mandate and tend to hide behind
the shield of professionalism.

The term professionalism is

used

organizational

to

encompass

secrecy,

bureaucracy,

securing scientific technologies, compiling statistical data,
and indexing high arrest rates to demonstrate how proficient
they are at protecting society.5
1975)

found

that

one

of

the

The Rand Study

inadequacies

of

(Vol.II,
measuring

investigative effectiveness was the fact that the number of
arrests

and clearances

reported by police departments

is

subject to administrative manipulation.6
In addition to those criticisms voiced by Manning, there
are numerous other reasons why law enforcement has not been
able to
live up to its mandate to reduce crime.

One of the primary

reasons is that most of the crimes being processed by the
courts, corrections, and probation systems are being committed
by repeat offenders.

Ronald Christinson (1967) reported that

87.5 percent of all persons arrested for non-traffic offenses
have been arrested before.7

The police and the courts may

share a common objective of reducing crime but each has
conflicting and sometimes differing methods and objectives.8
Highly active offenders commit over 80 percent of all crime.9

The Rand Study {Vol.I, 1975) found:
...some individuals will not be readily deterred
from criminal activity by reasonable preventive
measures. For them the criminal justice system is
not a credible deterrence; they do not find that
the penalties of criminal conduct outweigh the
benefits;
and
they
are
prepared
to
act
accordingly.10
The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics,
reported that 43 percent of all felony probationers in a 32
county study were arrested while on probation.11

A second

major obstacle faced by law enforcement in their attempts at
crime prevention

is the

illegal

use

and distribution

of

narcotic drugs. The National Institute of Justice sponsored
research in Washington D.C. and New York City in 1985 which
showed that 69 percent of all,arrestees had evidence of use of
one or more drugs in their systems at the time of their
arrest.13

These figures were corroborated by the Bureau of

Justice Statistics' 1989 study of 21 U.S. cities which showed
that 67 percent of all males and 66 percent of all females
arrested, tested positive for illegal drugs.13 Other reasons
expressed

usually

relate

to

social

issues,

such

as

urbanization, lack of jobs, housing, etc.,14 The police have
no control over social issues and are basically reactionary in
their response to crime.

Edwin Sutherland (1939) offered that

one of the more generally accepted explanations for the cause
of crime, is that "criminal behavior is learned".15
also

Manning

explains that a police mandate "automatically entails

mutually contradicting ends - protecting public order and

individual

rights."

"managing

their

The

police,

public

image

therefore,

and

resort

indexes

of

to

their

accomplishments by producing statistical data."16
A study by Berk, Brackman, and Less (1977) reported that
newspapers and media coverage define the "magnitude of the
problem"

as well as setting the policy agenda.

A strong

relationship was found between crime and its news coverage and
the priority given by state legislatures.17

When crime is

reported to be increasing, one of the quickest solutions is a
reflex

action

Trojanowicz,

of

"throwing manpower at

Michigan

"Police bodies,

in

State

and

of

crime."16

University,
themselves,

explained
do

not

Robert
that,

solve

the

problem. It's the type of information that they get to solve
or prevent crime".19 Washington D.C. has the largest ratio of
police to citizens with 89 officers per 10,000, compared to
Michigan's

21

per

10,000.20

The

Washington

D.C.

Police

Department, with its increased manpower, has not been able to
curb

the

crime

rate

and

is

one

of

the

nation's

top

25

jurisdictions for prison populations.21 James Q. Wilson (1978)
noted that when crime increases, the public response is to
demand more or better policemen.
...the citizen...believes, with reason, that if
there were no police at all there would be more
crime, and therefore he supposes that if there were
more police there would be less crime.
When he
sees a policeman on the street corner, the citizen
often feels more secure and assumes that the
burglar or mugger seeing the same officer will feel
less secure. If a crime is committed, the citizen
believes that the police should diligently look for
the criminal, even if it means neglecting their

community service functions.
The citizen is
impatient with theories that argue that crime can
only be prevented by reforming prisons or ending
poverty.
He thinks that crime--or at least crime
that affects him--will be prevented if sufficient
policemen walk by his home or business often
enough.32
Wilson
Department,

further

explained

that

the

N.Y.

City

Police

(NYPD), attempted to determine if more police

officers did make a difference and conducted their own study
known as "Operation 25".

They doubled the number of officers

assigned to the 25th Precinct for a four month period during
1954.

They reported that serious crimes such as muggings,

auto thefts,

and burglaries did decrease during the four

months and the experiment was seen as a success. Felonious
assaults did not drop as much, and murders actually increased,
but those usually take place in private areas and the overall
operation was deemed a success.

Wilson disclosed:

"Operation 25" was used to justify to the mayor and
city council police demands for increases in
manpower. The increases were forthcoming. Between
1954 and 1974, the size of NYPD increased by 54
percent,
while the population remained about
constant.
However, crime increased even more
rapidly than the police.”
If more crimes are solved because more criminals
are arrested, the crime rate must go down--or so
one would suppose.24
There is one confusing assumption that appears in much of
the literature; an arrest is equated to solving a crime.as
This is due, in part, to how police indexes are maintained. If
the crime is solved, then it is assumed that the problem has
been resolved.

Wilson states that the value of an arrest

"depends crucially on what the courts elect to do with the
arrestee".3*

Most policemen recognize

that,

for serious

crime, the arrest is just the start of the process.
One of the major reasons why the police are not able to
fulfill

the

public

expectation

and

their

own mandate

because of insufficient training of their detectives.37

is
The

Rand Study (Vol.II, 1975) found that "more than half of the
police departments surveyed reported that they had no training
program whatsoever

for newly-appointed

investigators"

and

followed a policy of on-the-job training.28

PROBLEM:
Robert

Trojanowicz

American law enforcement
additional manpower.

and

others

have

argued

that

the

system does not necessarily need

Ackerman and Johnson (1991) pointed out

that the one specific area in law enforcement where training
and education is lacking,

and is considered to be the most

crucial to the entire system, is in the area of training of
police detectives.29 Significant progress has been made by the
law enforcement institution by providing basic law enforcement
training to recruits.30 However, similar progress has not been
made

by

the

investigative

arm

of

law

enforcement;

in

particular, the training of law enforcement detectives.31 What
law enforcement may actually need is a better trained and more

educated police

force

that knows how

to get what Robert

Trojanowicz suggested is the proper information "to solve and
prevent crime".

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM:
Law enforcement agencies are being out-matched by today's
organized crime groups which include narcotics groups and
cartels,

traditional Mafia and other ethnic groups, street

gangs and white collar crimes which pose a greater threat to
our society than at any other time.

The organized crime

groups consist of groups as small as two or three individuals
to

large

Yablonsky

organizations
(1990)

involving

thousands

of

members.

reported that two-thirds of the top 500

largest corporations have been convicted of serious crimes
such as bribery.32

Ivan Boesky who was convicted in 1986 of

insider stock trading paid a record 100 million dollar fine
and received three years in prison.33

Michael Milken was

convicted in 1989 of insider stock and junk bonds trading and
paid

a

750

million

dollar

fine

(a new

record)

and was

sentenced to ten years in prison.34 The Colombian cartel earns
an estimated 60 billion dollars a year from the sale of
cocaine in the United States.35 Today, the criminal has more
financial resources to hire the most knowledgeable lawyer,
CPA's, computer analysts or whatever other legal or technical
expertise is needed to out-smart law enforcement agents.
narcotics

cartel

has

60

billion

dollars

as

compared

The
to

President

Bush's

"War

on

estimated

to be between

narcotics

officer

will

Drugs"

spending

authorization

7 and 15 billion dollars.
tell

you

that

the

Any

national

and

international narcotics traffickers have the best planes,
guns,

cars,

radios,

surveillance

equipment,

and

tactical

intelligence that money can buy. Because of this tremendous
monetary disparity and legal constraints the American law
enforcement

detective

cannot

sit back and wait

experience to accumulate."3*

Today,

for

as never before,

"his
the

detectives, as well as all law enforcement officers, are being
curtailed by their environment with such things as court
decisions

relating

to

constitutional

rights.

This

is

reflected in decisions concerning the 4th Amendment and the
Exclusionary Rule and the 5th Amendment - Advice to Rights
etc. (Greenwood 75, Eck 1983) .37
The number of criminal cases worked on by detectives, as
determined by the 1976 Rand Study,

ranged between 6.2 sex

crime cases and 26 "youth & women" cases per month.

The

number depends on the type of case and excludes missing
persons which are in excess of 80 per month.3* These figures
do not include any statistics related to Child Sexual Conduct
(CSC),

which

investigations.

is

the

fastest

growing

area

in

criminal

This is due, in part, to a greater awareness

and to state statutes which require the reporting of suspected
violations

by medical

professionals,

schools,

and

social

welfare departments. Any investigator who has worked CSC type

cases will relate that these cases are some of the most
difficult types of investigations that an investigator will
encounter.

These

cases

require

specialized

mature,

training

experienced

investigators

with

in

medical,

psychological,

and special interviewing techniques because

children cannot be interviewed using the same techniques as an
adult.
Det/Lt. Andy Palmer, Michigan State Police (MSP), is the
present commander for all training of MSP detectives and
special

investigators.

Previously,

he

was

a

assigned to MSP special narcotics task forces.

commander
The task

forces were made up of various local law enforcement agencies
that provided officers to work as undercover police officers
on a three-year rotating basis.

It was determined that the

newly-assigned officers were taking a minimum of 18 months
after they were assigned to become

proficient

enough to

contribute to the unit in an effective manner.39

Det/Lt.

Palmer instituted a basic narcotics school for newly-assigned
officers and with a follow-up advanced training program after
six months.

The course reduced the required time to six

months for a newly-assigned officer to become effective.40
Sam Walker (1989) asserted that if education did nothing
else, it would enhance the individual's capacity to cope with
the increasingly rule-bound,

working environment.41

Daryl

Gates, the former Chief of Police for LAPD and Roger Gripes
(1990) explained that in today's world, detectives need to

10

have available as much current information and knowledge as
possible when they start working as detectives.42

Jurkanin

(1984) stated that there was a significant correlation between
the number of years of formal education and the level of
attained job knowledge.43
There are over 40,000 law enforcement agencies in the
United

States

comprised

of

approximately

420,000

law

enforcement officers.44 With the exception of New York City,
Los Angeles, and a few other Police Departments, there are no
basic

detective

training

programs.

Thomas

Hendrickson,

Executive Director, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police
for

the

State

of

Michigan,

stated

that

Michigan

has

approximately 500 state and local law enforcement agencies but
only 477 agencies are registered according to the current
unpublished 1992 census.

The remaining 23 departments are

usually one or two-man departments which typically do not
register.

The largest police department in Michigan is the

City of Detroit with 3,914 officers.
Police

currently

has

2,102

officers

The Michigan State
assigned.

Prior

to

Det/Lt. Palmer being appointed the MSP commander for detective
training,

the only training MSP detectives received was on-

the-job and several days of in-service training each year.

He

has now instituted a one-week, basic detective school followed
by several "core" courses that will be required of every MSP
detective.

11

The Police Officer Standards & Training Commission (POST)
for the State of Michigan is presently represented by the
Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training Council

(MLEOTC)

which provides state-wide minimum standards for all Michigan
law enforcement.
MLEOTC, through its membership, has established regional
training centers at

six police academies,

colleges, and six state universities.

seven community

Geographically located

throughout the State of Michigan, these centers provide the
basic police training certification of 472 hours to all sworn
police officers in Michigan.

In addition, the centers provide

the 80 hours of in-service training required of new officers
and also provide in-service training for experienced police
officers.

One

of

the most

important

aspects

of

having

consolidated training facilities is that it provides education
for small police departments who cannot maintain their own
academies.45

PURPOSE:
The purpose of this study was to determine if there was
a need to change the detective training and establish a basic
detective

course in Michigan based on the perceptions of 27

selected

criminal

Michigan.

An additional purpose is to determine what they

investigative

detectives

throughout

12

perceived to be the critical subjects that need to be included
in a curriculum designed for a basic detective course and how
such a program could be implemented and financed.

PROPOSED RESEARCH QUESTIONS;
1.

Based

on the

enforcement

perceptions

of

selected

law

personnel, is there a need to change

current detective training practices?

2.

Based

on the

perceptions

of

selected

law

enforcement personnel, does the State of Michigan
law enforcement system need to establish a Basic
Detective Course of instruction in Michigan?

SECONDARY QUESTIONS:
1.

Based

on the

perceptions

of

selected

law

enforcement personnel, if a basic detective course
is needed, what type of curriculum would best meet
this need?

2.

Based

on the

perceptions

of

selected

law

enforcement personnel, how could a training program
be implemented throughout the state?

13

3.

Based

on

the

enforcement

perceptions

personnel,

how

of

selected

could

a

law

program

to

provide training to all law enforcement departments
in the state be financed?

DEFINITION OF TERMS;
1.

A

detective

enforcement
arrests,

is

a

sworn

officer

executes

who

type

is

or

investigations

local

authorized

search warrants,

criminal investigations.
civil

state

to

and

law
make

conduct

He/she may also conduct
such as

seizures

and

forfeitures.

The detective normally works in plain

clothes

conducts

and

investigations.

"reactive

type"

follow-up

He/she may also be assigned to

"proactive type" investigations as part of special
investigative units such as narcotics, vice, and
organized

crime.

The

detective

is

usually

responsible for conducting investigations of the
most

serious crimes,

such as,

homicides,

rapes,

assaults, robberies, burglaries, child abuse, and
other crimes classified as seriouB.

The types of

crimes may also be categorized into victim crimes,
property crimes, fraud, and others.
2.

Criminal investigator is synonymous with the term
detective.

14

3.

A generalist is a detective who is assigned to work
all criminal cases assigned by his department or
agency.
work

In larger departments a generalist will

criminal

investigations,

cases

not

classified

as

such

as,

homicides,

special

narcotics,

vice, child sexual conduct, and other type cases.
4.

A specialist will normally be assigned to special
units

such as homicide,

narcotics,

or

organized

crime and will specialize in one type of crime or
type of criminal.
5.

The term, "Dick" is a nickname for a detective.

6.

A

detective

sergeant

is

normally

a

first-line

supervisor assigned to a detective bureau.

The

term, Detective Sergeant, is considered to be both
a

rank

Police

and

a

(MSP) .

investigator
assigned

to

position
The

MSP

positions
temporary

with
has
for

the
both

Michigan

State

detective

troopers

investigative

who

and
are

duties.

Detective Sergeant is a permanent position with the
MSP and has the authority of both investigator and
supervisor.

15

7.

A patrol

officer

is normally a uniformed police

officer who is primarily concerned with the order,
maintenance,

deterrence,

service,

and

law

enforcement functions of the police mission.
the

name

implies,

the

patrol

officer's

As

primary

mission is to conduct a patrol of a geographical
area and they are usually the first to respond to
the initial incident or complaint.

They produce

the initial incident investigative report.
serious

incidents

are normally

forwarded

More
to

the

detectives for follow-up investigations.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY;
This study is limited to the perceptions of Michigan
detectives and investigators.
made

of

Michigan

detectives'

Therefore, no comparison was
training,

methods

procedures to federal law enforcement agencies.

and/or

The findings

cannot be generalized to other police organizations outside of
Michigan.

According to Kerlinger (1973), a selective sampling

may be based on the "judgement and deliberate efforts of the
researcher

to

achieve

a

representative

sample".46

The

selection of the subjects was based on the personal knowledge
and judgement of the researcher and also on recommendations of
different detectives from around the state who recommended the
subjects based on their personal knowledge of the subject
and/or the department.

16

PROCEDURE;
Twenty-seven currently assigned detectives/investigators
were

contacted

and

interviewed

using

the

ethnographical

interviewing procedures described by James P. Spradley (1980)
which is similar to the studies of Houle

(1963) and Brown

(1989) . Selective interviews were conducted by the researcher
and tape recorded.

Spontaneous interview notes were also

recorded and maintained.

The subjects were selected from law

enforcement agencies throughout the state of Michigan in an
attempt to cover the largest geographical area possible.

An

attempt was made to select detectives from small, medium, and
large departments with varying degrees of experience. The
reason for this selection criteria was based on the assumption
that individuals from different size departments and varying
experience levels would have differing perspectives.

17

OVERVIEW:
One of the primary purposes of this research is that
other research does not center on the educational needs of the
detective.
measuring

Most
the

studies on detective work concentrate on

outcomes

of

investigative

work

in

the

qualitative terms of arrest and/or clearance rates of cases.
Few have asked the detectives who actually do the job, what
they think or what they suggest is needed to improve the
quality and/or effectiveness of Michigan detectives.
Considering

the

detective's

perception,

the

specific

purpose of this study was to determine if there was a need to
change the detective training and establish a basic detective
course in Michigan based on the perceptions of 27 selected
criminal investigative detectives throughout Michigan.

An

additional purpose is to determine what they perceived to be
the critical subjects that need to be included in a curriculum
designed for a basic detective course and how such a program
could be implemented and financed.
Chapter II consists of a historical review on the basis
of the investigative position,

including the development of

the detective position and the relevant literature.
analytical

foundations

for

the

research and

The

the previous

research is reviewed providing the background and significance
of

the

problems

development.

facing

the

detective's

educational

18

In Chapter III the methodology of the study is described.
The research focus and the relevant literature on ethnographic
research is included and discussed.
are

included

conclusions
findings.

in
and

Chapter
discussion

Chapter V

IV.
of

The results of the study
Chapter

the

V

contains

implications

of

the
the

also includes a discussion of a number

of recurring themes that were expressed by the participants as
issues and concerns relating to Michigan detectives.

These

themes were not directly related to the Primary or Secondary
Research Questions but were of sufficient interest that one or
more could be considered for a future research study.

CHAPTER II

INTRODUCTION:
Police power in the United States is a political position
whether

it

is

a

federal,

state,

or

local

department

or

agency.47 The federal directors of law enforcement agencies,
such as the FBI, DEA, etc., are appointed by the President of
the United States. State Police are appointed by the governor
of the state.

County Sheriffs are elected by the voters of

the local county and Chiefs of Police Departments are normally
appointed by the various mayors and/or city councils.
law enforcement agencies are influenced

Most

by the political

segments that make up and govern the community.

Most law

enforcement personnel try to aspire to be apolitical as part
of

a professional

and unbiased

dispenser

of

egalitarian

justice to all. They balance these conflicting interests by
protecting

the

citizens'

rights

while

investigating

the

accused and protecting the innocent while incarcerating the
guilty.44

Significant progress has been made in raising the

educational level and training

of law enforcement personnel

across

of

the

country

in

hopes

making

the

police

more

effective in carrying out their mission and responsibilities.49
Unfortunately, the education of the detectives has not kept
pace

with

the

complexity

of
19

our

society;

nor

have

the

20

technological advancements and sophistication of the everincreasing criminal elements and organizations which work
night and day,

seven days a week,

to defeat and evade the

scrutiny of the various law enforcement agencies and their
investigative personnel.50
This benign neglect of the law enforcement institution
and,

in

particular,

of

enforcement has not been

the

investigative

arm

of

completely unintentional.51

law
The

American Constitution and the Bill of Rights have made the
American criminal justice system far more technical and much
more difficult for law enforcement personnel to apply than
their counterparts

in other societies.

In addition,

the

political psyche and the American personality have contributed
to the slow evolution of the American law enforcement system.
The role of the police officer has always been confusing, one
as the law officer and the other as peace officer.52
American system of
response to the

criminal

justice evolved piecemeal

community needs.

The
in

In the United States there

was no universal or federal direction as in the case of Sir
Robert Peel's, "Principles of Law Enforcement", as enacted by
the English Parliament.53

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE;
Peter Manning and John Van Maanen (1978) emphasized that,
"The present form and function of any police organization is
linked to the history of its development".54 In order to know

21

where the current American police organizations are going in
the future it is useful to understand the foundation upon
which the

system was

created.

American criminal

law is

centered around the American Constitution and Bill of Rights.
It

is

the

system.

"heart-beat"

Greenwood,

of

the American

et.al.,

essential

that

detective

understand

recognize

and

acknowledge

justice

(1975) pointed out that it is

every police
the

criminal

officer and especially every

basic
the

judicial

difference

principals
between

to

"strong

suspicion and proof beyond a reasonable doubt".55
American criminal law is based on an adversarial system
as opposed to the inquisitorial type which is used by most of
the continental European countries.56 The inquisitorial type
basically stated that a person is presumed guilty until proven
innocent.

The adversarial type, also found in England, allows

both sides,

in a dispute, to try and convince the judge or

jury who is telling the truth and/or who is right.

The major

difference in the American system is that a person is presumed
innocent until proven guilty.57

American criminal law can

trace its ancestry back to Biblical law, Roman law, and most
directly to the British common law.58
types of law,

There are two primary

statutory and case law.

These laws impact

directly on American criminal law, but case law is considered
to be the most important because it is developed and supported
by other similar cases, usually referred to as precedence.59
The Criminal

Penal Codes for most states and the federal

22

government are based on statutory laws.60 A statutory law may
be written by a legislature but it is not generally acted on
by law enforcement agencies until several test cases have been
reviewed by the courts.

Recently,

the State of Michigan

passed a new felony law prohibiting a person from assisting
another person in attempting suicide.

Several days after

enactment, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was arrested and charged with
the crime of assisting a person who committed suicide.

At the

preliminary hearing, the presiding judge not only threw out
the

law as unconstitutional,

but added a new element by

claiming that a citizen had a constitutional right to commit
suicide.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., a supreme court justice

(1902-1932), made the following comments on common law:
The common law is not a brooding omnipresence in
the sky, but the articulate voice of some sovereign
or quasi-sovereign that can be identified.
The
life of the law has not been logic; it has been
experience. .. In order to know what it is, we must
know what it has been, and what it tends to
become... The very consideration which judges most
rarely mention, and always with an apology, are the
secret roots from which the law draws all the
juices of life.61
Common law was

flexible and could be adapted to the

British colonies but the cornerstone of the English government
was the Magna Charta, which established a constitution that
theoretically guaranteed rights to each British citizen.

From

the start of the colonization, the British influence in the
American colony was
mores, and laws.

recognized

in

its

language,

customs,

As symbolized by the Puritans, the American

settlers were not necessarily people who fully embraced the

23

English law,
contrary,

government,

these

were

parliament,
the

and/or King.

religiously

On the

repressed,

the

imprisoned, the radicals, the rebellious, and the cataclysmic
people that European countries wanted to get rid o f . The end
of several European wars,
resulting

favorably

for

partially fought
England,

established

Common Law as the law of the land.62
of

the British law were

in America and
the

However, the realities

far from theoretical.

century English law history was known as the
where

men

could

be

charged

with

English

treason

The

18th

"blood code"

for

almost

any

violation of the law.
Men hanged at the gallows for treason were cut down
while still alive and their bowels removed and
burned in front of them, they would then be
beheaded and quartered.63
English law enforcement was transplanted in America with
the

appointments by

constables

to

the

king of governors,

the American colonies.

normally backed up by the army.

sheriffs,

The King's

and

law was

If English law was harsh on

its own citizens, it had no qualms about dealing sternly with
quarrelsome colonists and demanded that they should pay part
of the cost laid on the English taxpayers for the defense of
the American territory.64
It would be an understatement to say that our forefathers
were not at all happy with the system of government being
dictated to them by King George and the English parliament,
especially as it related to taxation.

However, all Americans

24

at the time were in agreement with the Glorious Revolution of
1688,

and the great Bill of Rights

it had guaranteed to

British citizens, "especially rights of liberty and property upon

which

no

monarch

or

government

could

rightfully

infringe" .6S
One of the authors of the Declaration of Independence,
Thomas Jefferson, set forth in succinct and eloquent language
the American Democratic Creed:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness...laying
its
foundation
on
such
principles and organizing its powers in such form;
as to them shall seem most likely to affect their
Safety and Happiness...66
The man most responsible for popularizing these doctrines
upon which our nations' laws were founded was John Locke, who
had written his famous "Second Treatise on Civil Government"
a

century

before

Jefferson.

Both

the

Declaration

of

Independence and the American Constitution use phases like
"All men are created equal", "Life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness", "We hold these truths to be self evident", all
of which are contained in the Second Treatise.67 He wrote it
in order to justify the English Revolution.

Prior to the

establishment of organized society and/or government,
lived in a state of nature.
there

man

One would think that without an

organized

society,

were

no

laws

to

govern

man's

behavior.

According to Locke, this state was not a lawless

condition because Natural Law was known to all men through the

25

use of reason and was binding to all.*8 The real "nature" of
natural law has been argued by philosophers for centuries.
The

definition

of

natural

law

according

to

Webster's

Dictionary is "rules of conduct supposedly inherent in the
relations between human beings and discoverable by reason."69
At the time of our country's birth, the most recognized
threat to the freedom of the individual was the existing power
structure of the monarchy or the government.70 Consequently,
the American government was to be established with a low
profile upon which the doctrine of Laissez Faire developed.
The term literally means "let the people do as they please".
Laissez Faire evolved into an American political economic
doctrine by which the owners of industry and business fix the
rules

of

competition,

without

governmental

regulation or

control.71 This doctrine was taught by political economists,
preached every Sunday by clergymen, and invoked by lawyers and
judges.72
During the 1800's and early 1900's, the moral attitudes
of most Americans condemned government corruption and fraud in
business.

But, under Laissez Faire, it became difficult to

recognize the difference between legitimate competition and
dishonesty.

Bribery was wrong,

but tips to help public

officials became borderline cases.73 As Laissez Faire rolled
westward with the frontier it became synonymous with the law
of God.

As our country took hold, the citizens kept pushing

the frontier westward with emphasis on the individual, self­

26

protection,
justice.74

and

the

frontier

notions

of

law,

order,

and

Due to the dangers of the frontier wilderness and

Indian wars, Americans have always relied on self-reliance and
weapons to back up their independence.
natural

extension

of

the

Law enforcement was a

American

psyche

and

characteristically action-oriented and very violent.

was
Oscar

Hardlin (1965), analyzing the difference between the American
and British judicial system, noted:
"the exceptional diffusion of violence in our
society... from the beginning, a much more violent
society than that of most European countries.
Carrying arms and rounding up a posse were aspects
of American history that are still glamorized in
today's movies and television."75
Consequently, organized law enforcement in the United States
got a late start and it was not until
started the first police department.

1840 that New York

The military uniforms

which appeared in New York during the Civil War were probably
in support of the Union Army.76

And,

early

enforcement

1900's that

federal

law

it was not until the
agencies were

established and police departments began to become prominent.
Law enforcement in the United States has always been tied
directly to the controlling political and budgetary forces of
their

respective

maintaining order,

communities.

Because

of

their

role

in

the police have always found themselves

right smack in the middle of most controversial political and
economic struggles.77

27

BILL OF RIGHTS:
The drafters of the Constitution did not know precisely
what they wanted in a new Constitution when they convened in
Philadelphia
delegates
original

in the summer of

1787.

Most

of

the

recognized that changes had to be made
Articles

of

Confederation

government was to succeed.

if

the

In preparation,

newly

state
to the
formed

James Madison

studied the histories of the Greek confederations and the
Italian republics.78
Gov. Edmond Randolph of Virginia laid the foundation of
the American Constitution with his Virginia

Plan.79

The

delegates were aware of the British constitution and were
determined not to make the same mistakes.

The British had

executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government,
but did not have separation of powers.

Our founding fathers

did not trust a government which could unite all of the
state's power into the hands of a few leaders.

They relied on

another prominent philosophical writer, Montesquiue, who wrote
and devised the "checks and balance" system for the separate
branches of government, each branch being equal but having
specific roles to play.90 The legislature could pass laws and
control financial appropriations, but the executive branch was
responsible for implementing and enforcing the laws, while the
judicial

branch

would

rule

constitutionality of the law.

on

the

legality

or

the

The most significant difference

recognized by the drafters was that the British citizens had

28

individual rights.

But these rights were stated in individual

statutes which could be changed or altered by parliament.
The constitution would not have passed ratification if
there was not an agreement to pass the Bill of Rights.

Our

founding fathers believed so strongly in individual liberty
that they felt individual rights needed to be protected.
Therefore they made these rights part of the constitution
itself,

thereby making

abridge

these rights.81

it

impossible

for

legislators

to

The first ten amendments to the

constitution are known as the Bill of Rights.

Seven of the

ten amendments relate directly to safeguarding individual
rights against governmental police power.

GRAND JURY:
The philosophy upon which our criminal justice system was
established was designed to protect the innocent person from
the

state.

In

the

legal

profession

concerning the American legal system.
guilty men

go unpunished

than

there

is

a dictum

"It is better that nine

that

one

innocent

man be

convicted."82 It was no accident that the grand jury provision
was placed in the Fifth Amendment.

The founding fathers

wanted

prosecutor

the

control.

citizens,

not

This process

the

local

to be

in

is presently used by the federal

government and approximately half of the state governments.
In the remaining states,

indictments are obtained through

"informations" filed by the prosecutor.

When a grand jury is

29

utilized,
jurors

the evidence is presented to a panel of citizen

(normally 23 for federal grand juries and varies in

numbers from state to state).
for investigating the

The grand jury is responsible

allegations

against

a defendant

to

determine if there is reason to believe that a crime has been
committed.

In actuality, it is the prosecuting attorney who

is responsible for bringing criminal charges to the grand
jury.

However, the grand jury may not vote for an indictment

unless there is a reasonable belief, "probable cause", that a
crime was committed.

This was the intent of the founding

fathers. A grand jury investigation normally takes longer and
does require prosecutors to develop their cases before they
are presented to and voted on by the grand jury.

After a

"true bill", an indictment, is returned by the grand jury the
investigative phase is completed and the prosecutor cannot
continue to develop evidence related to the specific charges.
In local

courts,

prosecutors,

where

"informations"

are

issued by

the

the accused has a right to have a preliminary

hearing before a judge to determine if the accused should be
bound over for trial.
The police frequently complain, some justifiably, that
the

courts

have

released

a

guilty

party,

or

that

the

prosecutor refused to prosecute or issue an arrest warrant, or
that they have a lenient plea bargaining policy.

As reported

in the RAND Study (1976) some police frustrations are caused
by the refusal of the police to acknowledge the difference

30

between strong suspicion and proof beyond a reasonable doubt.83
It was further reported that the police
timely, thorough, written reports.84
evidence"

is

the

main

reason

fail to provide

The term "insufficient

for

failures

to

sustain

convictions or for reduced charges being plea bargained. The
system is designed to be complicated so that prosecutors do
not exceed their authority and bring unfounded or unsupported
charges against a citizen.
Louis A.
officers

Radelet

occupy

a

(1978)

crucially

stated that
important

maintenance of order in the community.

law enforcement
position

in

the

However, he further

explained that it is vital that the police recognize that
order in itself is not the ultimate end of government in the
free society.
"That therefore, the principle of equal protection
of the law for all citizens and respect for their
rights as persons, are absolutely fundamental under
our system of government".85
Jerome

H.

Skolnick,

a noted author who haB written

considerably on law enforcement issues, stated that in regards
to police becoming more professional:
...the police must accustom themselves to the
seemingly paradoxical yet fundamental idea of the
rule of law, namely that observance of legal
restraints may indeed make their task more
difficult. That's how it is in a free society.86

31

REASONS FOR UNPUNISHED. CRIMINALS:
In

addition

protracted

trial

to

the

system,

cumbersome
with

grand

the

jury

and

seemingly

the

endless

innumerable delays and continuances, there are a number of
reasons why criminals are going unpunished.
reasons

is

that

the

victim

(Hinderlang & Gottfredson,

may

1976,

One of the main

not

report

Lauh

1981) .

the

crime

Burns and

Feltason (1957) also enumerated some of the other reasons.”7
1.

Police may decide not to arrest the person.

2.

Judges may decide not to hold the person.

3.

Prosecutors may decide not to prosecute.

4.

The grand jury may not indict the person.

5.

The jury may not convict the person.

6.

The judge may not sentence the person.

7.

The appeals court may reverse the conviction.

8.

The executive branch may decide
reprieve, or parole the person.

to

pardon,

POLICE EFFECTIVENESS:
Several of the above mentioned items can be attributed to
the police officer's or investigator's learned abilities and
knowledge or the lack there of.

Officers learn that if they

have to use physical force when dealing with the public, then
they should arrest the person in order to protect themselves
from possible future law suits.

The arrest gives the officers

leverage in later dealings with the accused.aa The literature
reflects the general understanding of the enormous amount of

32

discretion police officers have.

New York City policemen know

that "complaints of persons charged with crimes are given no
credence."89

In addition to running the risk of being beaten

by an angered police officer, citizens run the risk, in New
York and other jurisdictions, of being arrested and charged
with a crime they did not commit in order to keep the police
officer's record clean90 (Bittner, 1978: Chevigny, 1968: Reiss,
1971).
In general, it has been estimated that "50 to 80 percent
of all felony cases initiated by the police go no further than
the

prosecutor's

dismissed

to

office."91

conceal

the

A
police

few

of

these

officer's

cases

are

transgression

(Bittner, 1971) . But, more than likely, the bulk of these are
dismissed because they lack
therefore,

lacked

conviction.93

the

investigative thoroughness, and

necessary

Manning

(1978)

evidence

describes

to

sustain

how most

a

police

departments promote their officers from patrol to detective
work based on the number of "good pinches"- arrests that will
result

in a conviction.93

Other explanations suggest that

felony arrests are reduced to misdemeanors and some arrests
are dropped in order to develop informants and help solve
bigger cases.94
Many arrests are based on complaints made by citizens.
If the complainant drops the charges and refuses to testify,
the charges are usually dismissed.

Leger

(1977)

reported

that, in Chicago, of the 10,000 cases handled annually by the

33

City Police Fraud Division, only 800 to 900 results in any
formal prosecution.”

A typical city with a population of

400,000 was studied by Webster (1970) and he reported that the
police had arrested a total
traffic

violations.

Of

of 34,362 persons,

the

total

arrested,

excluding

15,590

were

arrested for drunkenness.96
Police officers rarely, if ever, arrive at the scene of
a robbery in progress. The most officers can hope for is to be
able to respond quickly in order to interview key witnesses
and secure the crime scene.97
more

serious

crimes

are

In most police departments the
usually

turned

over

to

the

department's detectives.99 Wilson (1975) questioned, if more
crimes are solved because persons are arrested, would it not
be

logical

to assume

that

the

crime

rate must

go

down?

Increasing arrest rates do not in themselves lower the crime
rate since many crimes are actually committed by the same
individuals (career criminals) . The police may arrest several
juveniles for a burglary which in fact was a random, impulsive
type crime.

Most burglaries are committed by the more skilled

professionals who are repeat offenders that are rarely caught.
After the criminal is arrested, he is released on bond usually
before

the police

paper

numerous trial delays.

work

is

finished

and

there

are

The individual may not be convicted at

all and if the person is convicted, burglary usually results
in a light sentence or probation.99

34

Wilson (1968) reported that, according to one estimate,
87.5 percent of all persons arrested for non-traffic offenses
have been arrested before.100 If a person is not convinced to
turn away from crime after his first arrest, there is a very
strong likelihood that he will become a repeat offender.
Recidivism is a major problem in law enforcement.

The average

person arrested will be arrested six or seven more times
during his life.101 Major crimes are not normally committed by
teenagers out for a joyride,
professional

or

career

they are usually committed by

criminals.

Many

of

the property

crimes, such as theft from an auto or Breaking and Entering
(B&E's) have been traced back to a narcotics problem.
INFLUENCE OF NARCOTICS ENFORCEMENT;
The National Institute on Drug Abuse in 1989 estimated
that

there are over

cocaine.

Assuming

5.8 million Americans
that

the

typical

who have uBed

pusher

approximately 25 people on a regular basis,

deals

to

the number of

pushers in the United States would then be estimated to be
230,000.103
estimated

The narcotics business in the United States is
to be

between

130

and

150

billion

dollars

in

contrasted to General Motors Corporation reported 123 billion
dollars in total sales for the year 1988.103

In Washington

D.C., in 1986, only seven percent of adults were arrested on
drug charges and of these arrested,
convicted.

only 20 percent were

The same crack dealers were being arrested eight

35

or nine times in the space of a few weeks.

The city jail was

operating a revolving door.104
Greenwood and Petersilia
asserted

that

the

(1975),

recidivism

rate

in their Rand Study,
was

one

of

the

most

significant problems confronting the American Criminal Justice
System in 1975.
not

be

They pointed out "that some individuals will

readily

deterred

from

criminal

reasonable preventive measures".

activity

by

any

The benefits of criminal

behavior far outweigh the punishment and "they are prepared to
act accordingly".105
The federal correction system instituted mandatory prison
sentences in November 1987.
the

basis

control".
for a

of

the

The philosophy was developed on

principal

"just

deserves"

and

"crime

Increasing sentences or incarcerating the defendant

longer

time would deter

others.106

The

Sentencing

Commission estimated that mandatory sentencing would increase
the federal prisoner population by ten percent based on the
Bureau

of

Prisons

1987

Report.107

In

theory,

if

the

professional criminal is incarcerated longer, the crime rate
will go down.
(1991),

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics

the total jail and prison population in the United

States was approximately 1.2 million prisoners. In 1987, the
total prison population was approximately
confined to jails,

state prisons,

880,000

inmates

and federal correctional

facilities. The combined state and federal population with
sentences exceeding one year length was 329,821 in 1980 and

36

increased to 823,414 in 19 91.109

Martinson

(1977) reviewed

200 studies of the methods and strategies being utilized by
the criminal justice system to reduce recidivism and found
little hope.

Only deterrence was

offered as

solution and punishing the offenders

a possible

is a major means

of

deterring incipient offenders.109

DETERRENCE & SELECTIVE PROSECUTION;
Something

that

deters

crime

in

the

first

place

is

significantly more effective than finding a cure afterwards.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has consistently utilized
the deterrence strategy since its inception in 1919.

The

method utilized is to achieve the highest possible degree of
voluntary

compliance

with

the

internal

revenue

laws

by

convincing the American public of the certainty that they will
be caught if they cheat on their taxes.

And, if they cheat on

their taxes, they will be prosecuted and sent to jail.

The

system currently enjoys a 95 percent voluntary compliance
rate.

The highly successful prosecution rate of tax evaders

and financial sanctions have contributed
this voluntary compliance .ll°

significantly to

One of the reasons why the IRS

Criminal Investigative Division is so successful is the fact
that

their

investigations

special
are

agents

very

extremely well trained.

who

conduct

professional,

well

the

criminal

educated,

and

37

The criminals have to know that there is some degree of
certainty

that

they will

be

caught

and a high degree

of

possibility that they will be convicted and sent to prison.
In 1986, approximately 90 million tax returns were filed, and
of

this

number,

prosecution.

5,861

were

not

necessary

effective

for

criminal

Of these, 2,460 individuals were convicted and

55 percent were imprisoned.111
is

recommended

system

to

Morris (1972) asserts that it

incarcerate

for

every

deterrence.112

felony
With

to have

the

an

increased

pressure being placed on prison crowding and federal and state
financial budgetary constraints,
increase significantly.

selective prosecution will

In order to achieve this futuristic

objective of selective prosecution the selection and training
of police detectives will be pivotal.

CURRENT TRAINING OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS:
It had been recognized for some time that a large part of
the deficiency faced by law enforcement throughout the United
States was the lack of qualified training being provided to
police officers.

The Presidential Crime Commission's Report

of 1967 identified training and education of law enforcement
personnel

as

immediate

assistance

enforcement

one

in

the

of

the
to

critical
improve

country.

elements

the

Based

that

proficiency
on

the

needed
of

law

commission's

recommendations, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration

38

(LEAA) was established with a primary goal of increasing the
minimum educational level of all law enforcement officers.
Based

on

significant

LEAA

leadership

improvements

were

and

made

to

financial

grants,

boost

minimum

the

educational level of newly-as signed officers and also increase
the educational level of experienced officers.

One of the

most profound changes was in establishing the Police Officers
Standard and Testing

(POST)

throughout

the country.

Even

during the 1960's and 1970's, many police officers were not
provided any training on how to perform their basic duties.113
Astonishing as it sounds,
exception.
the

the norm and not the

More astonishing is that some police agencies in

country

assigned

this was

still

do not

officers.

The

provide

any

training

to newly-

Crime

Commission

Presidential

established minimum guidelines for basic training of police
officers which are now mandatory requirements.

All states now

require an officer to successfully complete an accredited
police

academy

course

in

order

to be

a

certified police

officer.
Most

states

now

require

a minimum

of

400

hours

of

instruction to be given to police candidates.114 Michigan's is
currently

at

472

hours

according

to

the

Michigan

Law

Enforcement Officers Training Council (MLEOTC) . However, some
departments

are

circumventing

the

requirements.

Newly-

assigned officers are required to attend a certified academy
within two years of being hired.

There are police and sheriff

39

departments that do not have the financial resources to send
their officers to the academies.

These agencies hire new

personnel and work them for two years and terminate them
before they are required to go to the academy.

The agencies

will then replace the terminated officers with more new hires.
Some

sheriff

departments

in New Mexico

actually

transfer

terminated officers from one department to another.

Some of

the counties in the Southwest only have populations of less
than 5,000 inhabitants and simply do not have tax revenue
resources enabling them to send their personnel to the police
academies.
August Vollmer warned that
permitted
liberty

to

is

function as

safe."115

if

"untrained persons are

policemen,

Vollmer was

Berkeley, CA from 1905 until 1932.

no

person's

the Chief

of

life

or

Police at

He was one of the leading

advocates for educating all police officers.

He wanted to

attract the highest level and most qualified people to law
enforcement.
credited

He was

also

summer program at

Berkeley, CA in 1916.116

credited with
the University

starting a non­
of

California,

He also promoted professionalism of

law enforcement in the hopes of achieving equal status with
that of doctors, lawyers, and teachers.117
Law enforcement in America has not reached the level that
Vollmer envisioned nor has it attained those goals recommended
by

the

President's

Commission

Administration of Justice that,

on

Law

Enforcement

and

as a condition of initial

40

employment,

each

degree.118

The

candidate
Law

possess

Enforcement

a

four-year

Education

college

Program

spent

$370,000,000 to provide a college education to 370,000 police
officer recipients.119

The program did not achieve all that

it set out to do; however, some goals were achieved to a large
extent.
have

Today, all states require a sworn police officer to

attended

a basic

police

academy.

Most

states

and

agencies do fully comply with these standards.130
Other states have adopted the commission's position and
are licensing police officers as they do other professions
such

as

medicine

and

law.

The

State

of

Minnesota

has

progressed to the point where all law enforcement officers are
licensed by the state and require a minimum of a two-year
college degree, in addition to a 9 to 12 week skill course.
Licensed officers are required to earn an additional 48 hours
of

continuing

education

license renewed.
to

increase

the

credit

to

have

their

three-year

There is presently a proposal in Minnesota
minimum

educational

requirement

to

a

bachelor's degree level.121
The theory the federal government has assumed is that
they recognized that American law enforcement had a serious
problem with the way in which law enforcement was administered
to the American public.

The hope was that better educated

police officers would be better able to cope with the crime
problem.122

41
HISTORY OF DETECTIVES:

Jurgen
Detective",

Thorwald,

in

related

that

his
the

book
use

"The
of

Century
formal

of

the

criminal

investigations methods, strategies, and development of special
crime units to detect and solve crimes began in France during
the 1810 Napoleonic era.

The First Section of the Paris

Prefecture of Police was headed by Monsieur Henri, who had a
staff of 28 Justices and a few dozen inspectors.

Henri was

facing a rising crime rate and had the assignment to do
something about it.

As fate would have it, Eugene Francor

vidocq, a petty criminal, who had escaped from French jails
three times,

and who had been a fugitive hiding from the

police for ten years, decided to make a break from his past.
Vidocq requested immunity in exchange for assisting police in
fighting crime.123

Henri accepted Vidocq's offer and put him

in charge of his inspectors.

Vidocq's theory was that crime

could only be fought by criminals.

He hired a number of

former criminals and within the first year had arrested 812
murderers, thieves, burglars, robbers, and embezzlers. Vidocq
utilized a proactive style of policing.

He put his men

undercover in jails to work their way into criminal groups.
He established facial drawings and maintained files on known
criminals.

Later, he visited prisons to view the faces of new

criminals.

He was ousted in 1833 by a new administrator who

could not stand the idea of his entire detective force being
made up of former convicts.124 The French never stopped using

42

ex-convicts as informants and continued to use Vidocq's files.
By the year 1879, the French police had five million files on
known

criminals.135 Alphonse

Bertillon

created

the

workable, retrievable filing system for the French.

first
By the

turn of the century, his system was widely accepted by most
national law enforcement agencies; but it soon changed with a
more reliable means of identification, the fingerprints.
advent

of

the automobile,

telephone,

radios,

The

and other

investigative technology had a significant impact and change
on most law enforcement agencies in the United States.

Chief

Vollmer,

addressing a meeting of Chief of Police in 1922,

asserted

that

acceptance

of

the United

States

scientific

methods,

lagged behind Europe
and

that

the

days

in
of

obtaining convictions based solely on the accused' s statements
and confessions were over.135

President Hoover's National

Commission of Law Observance and Enforcement reported in 1933
that, "seventy-five percent of all policemen tested could not
pass

an

army

intelligence

test."137

Edwin

Sutherland,

commenting on the intelligence of detectives, stated in 1931:
"plain clothes detective was supposed to be a
specialist with unusual ability.
These positions
are probably secured by purchases or political
favoritism.
The ordinary chauffeur is probably a
brighter man than the average detective.1,135
The National Crime Commission in 1927 demonstrated that
crime was a national problem and "that an untrained police
officer was incapable of handling the complex crime problem

43

which accompanied advanced technology."139

The President's

Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in
1967 stated:
Only 22 percent of all property crimes reported to
the police were solved and only 59 percent of
violent crimes were solved.
The Commission
concluded that there were many reasons for this
apparent lack of effectiveness by the police, but
the absence of education of law enforcement
personnel was perhaps the single most important
reason.130
Ackerman and Johnson (1991) revealed that not much is
known

about

early

attempts

in

selecting

and

training

detectives, but what is known is that police administrators
made random selections without regard for qualifications.131
The men chosen for the detective branch of the
service are, as a rule, those who have served some
time as patrolmen, and have exhibited a peculiar
fitness for the position... the detective force
should be a goal towards which the clever members
of the general force might look to as a reward for
faithful and able work which was done in uniform
(Flynn 1973) .13a
Manning (1978), who was critical of the police, stated
that most police departments promote men from the patrol
division to detectives on the basis of "good pinches" that
might result in convictions.
The
protection
of
public
welfare,
however,
including personal
and property safety,
the
prevention of crime, and the preservation of
individual civil rights, is hardly achieved by a
high pinch rate. On the contrary, it might well be
agreed that protection of public welfare could best
be indexed by a low arrest rate.133

44

DETECTIVE'S FUNCTIONS;
The question that is not usually asked is, what does a
detective really do?

Due to misconceptions, created in part

from books, movies, and television, the public envisions an
action-oriented,

tough,

good-looking

guy,

who

is

always

involved in gun fights and high speed chases and is always
able to figure out who committed the crime and is able to
catch the crook.
image.

Manning

The police do not discourage the public
(1978) explained that police do engage in

"chases, gunfights, and careful sleuthing, but, these are rare
events.

Most police work is "... boring, tiresome, sometimes

dirty,

sometimes

technically

demanding,

but

rarely

dangerous."134 The nature of detective work was described by
Ackerman and Johnson

(1991) as encompassing the following

elements routinely performed by detectives:135
1.

Gather information.

2.

Detect and apprehend offenders.

3.

Prepare cases for prosecution.

4.

Perform crime scene searches.

5.

Identify, collect and preserve evidence.

6.

Operate computer systems.

7.

Locate, identify, and interview victims, witnesses,
and complainants.

8.

Locate, identify,
suspects.

9.

Write reports.

10.

and

interview

or

interrogate

Apply laws concerning criminal law and procedures.

45

11.

Perform undercover operations.

12.

Identify the modus operandi of criminals.

13.

Establish the corpus delicti.

Of these tasks, Ackerman and Johnson

(1991),

Meadows

(1986) and others have suggested that the more significant
elements

were

conducting

communications,

interviews,

public

both

written

relations,

and

common

oral,
sense,

intuition, hunches, chances, and luck.136 Erickson, Cheatham,
and Harrgard (1976) .studied the communication activities of
police officers and revealed that communications occupied 72
percent of their normal daily activities and 60 percent of
their

communications

took

place

outside

of

their

organizations.137
A layperson would call detectives' "hunches", intuition.
"But, investigators call it professional judgement, derived
from knowledge,

education,

training,

acquired skills,

and

experience."136 How does the detective acquire the necessary
skills and knowledge?

Van Maanen (1978) observed that:

Once a recruit has mastered the various technical
and social skills of routine policing... knowing
how and when to fill out the myriad of various
reports... there is little left to learn about his
occupation which can be transferred by formal or
informal instruction.139
As Westley (1951) pointed out, "the recruit must then sit back
and wait, absorb the subjective side of police work and let
his experience accumulate.1,140

46

Learning through on-the-job
method

of

training.141

experience

However,

the

is

the oldest

literature

support this theory as being the best.

does

not

The Houston Police

Department conducted a study from 1978 through 1981.

One of

the significant findings was that basic training did prepare
the officer for his/her career in law enforcement.142 Jurkanin
(1984) points out that it is the combining of the knowledge of
both the academy and the practical experience which helps the
student "acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities required
to perform his job."143

In addition,

a survey of Chiefs of

Police in 1978 revealed that approximately 40 percent of the
Chief's believed that college-educated officers were superior
to non-college-educated officers.144

Gates and Gripe

(1990)

reported that "on-the-job training and a few college classes
are no longer sufficient training for today's detectives."145
However,

Ackerman and Johnson

training

is

the

predominant

(1991)
method

found that on-the-job
used

nationwide

for

training detectives.146 Jurkanin (1984) further stated that if
learning by the on-the-job method was the most effective, then
all formal police training should be replaced.

As previously

stated, the most effective method appears to be a combination
of both academy and practical experience.147
While

the

problems

facing

detectives

are

constantly

changing and becoming more complex, there are very few police
departments

in

the

United

States

that

provide

any

training to patrolmen who are promoted to detectives.

basic
The

47

Michigan State Police offer a one-week basic detective course,
which

is

offered

once

a

year.

The

Los

Angeles

Department offers a two-week basic detective school.

Police
Both of

these schools are considered to be an introduction type school
and are followed by other more specific courses.

The New York

City Police Department (NYPD) also mandates a three-week basic
detective training course for newly-appointed detectives. The
Criminal Investigator Course is offered five times a year and
class size is limited to 50 to 60 students.

A newly-appointed

detective is supposed to take the course within the first year
after being promoted.
Detective

Bureau

However, it is up to the Department's

or Narcotics

Bureau

detective attends the required training.

to

ensure

that

the

The course is now

being offered five to seven times a year and the class size
has been increased to 70 to 75 students per class.

The reason

for the increase in the number of classes and students is
because the NYPD administration determined that detectives
from one division could not inter-transfer between detective
branches because of the lack of basic investigative knowledge.
The NYPD has a total force of approximately 30,000 officers,
of which approximately 3,000 are detectives and investigators.
Wilson (1975) examined one of NYPD's anti-crime patrols
conducted by NYPD's detectives.

At the time, 1,000 assigned

detectives represented five percent of New York's total force,
but made 18 percent of all felony arrests, 50 percent of the

48

arrests for robbery and 40 percent for burglary and auto
theft.

The arrests also resulted In three-fourths of those

arrested being convicted.14*
Brian Forst,

et.al.,(1982)

conducted a study of seven

police agencies and found that the number of arrests are a
superficial indicator of police effectiveness.

He found that

a more reliable indicator was the conviction rate because it
reflected the quality of an officer's actions.

He further

found:
A small group of officers accounted for the
majority of arrests that resulted in convictions;
and they also displayed the highest number and rate
of convictions.
In Los Angeles, for example, 19
percent of the officers accounted for half the
arrests that ended in convictions; in Manhattan, 8
percent of the officers made 50 percent of the
arrests resulting in convictions.
In all seven
jurisdictions covered by the study, 12 percent of
the 10,200 officers studied were responsible for
more than half of all convictions, while 22 percent
effected not a single arrest that ended in
conviction during the study period.149

SUMMARY:
The American criminal justice system was not designed by
the founding fathers to be an easy system for the government
to use in prosecuting a citizen.
specifically

included

in

the

The Bill of Rights was

Constitution

so

that

these

amendments could not be easily changed by the legislature
and/or the courts.

Simply identifying a perpetrator and

making an arrest does not solve a case and reduce crime.

As

pointed out in the Rand Study (1976) , a conservative figure of

49

over fifty percent of all felony arrests do not result in
convictions. What the present policies have led to is what is
known as the "revolving door policy"..

Frost's (1982) study

showed that only a small number of officers, 12 percent, are
responsible for over 50 percent of all convictions.

Education

of the detectives is crucial, especially in a free society,
where

individual

liberties

are

constantly being balanced

against the need to protect and enforce the criminal law.
Louis Radelet (1977) stated that in a "democratic society, the
conduct of the police officer is ideally the living expression
of the rule of law, with all its values and potentialities".150
Today, laws are more complex and there are more individuals
willing to take the chance of violating the law, particularly
in the area of narcotics where huge profits can be made from
illegal drugs.

There are defense attorneys able to question

every decision made by a detective.
stated,

police

agencies

cannot wait

investigator becomes productive.151

And, as Det/Lt. Palmer
18 months before

an

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

John Van Maanen (1973) attempted to explain why it was
difficult to observe and gather research information relating
specifically to police:
To most police observers, isolationism, secrecy,
strong in-group localities, sacred symbols, common
language, and a sense of estrangement are almost
axiomatic subcultural features underpinning a set
of common understandings among police in general
which govern their relations with one another as
well as with the civilians [Bayley and Mendlesohn,
(1969), President Commission,
(1967), Sholnick,
(1966) ] .1S2
Van Maanen further explained:
If we are to gain insight into the so-called police
problem, researchers must penetrate the official
smoke screen sheltering virtually all departments
and observe them directly. ..1S3

PURPOSE:
The purpose of this study was to determine if there was
a need to change the detective training and establish a basic
detective course in Michigan, based oh the perceptions of 27
selected

criminal

investigative

Michigan.

In addition, to determine what they perceived to be

50

detectives

throughout

51

the

critical

subjects

that

needed

to

be

included

in

a

curriculum designed for a basic detective course and how such
a program could be implemented and financed.

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH:
Ethnographic research has gone by a variety of other
names,

phenomenology,

symbolic

interactionism,

dramatory,

qualitative analysis, and ethnomethodology.154 Donald W. DorrBremme

(1983)

states

that

"the

essence

of

naturalistic/qualitative inquiry, from most points of view is
the examination of phenomena in their naturally occurring
context". According to Egon Guba (1978) , Michael Patton (1980)
and

others,

naturalistic/qualitative

is

ethnography

and

encompasses a holistic and inductive approach to:
...describe and explain a phenomena, situation,
events and /or programs as wholes, paying attention
to the context in which the activity occurs.1SS
Michael Patton further explained:
In
contrast
to
experimental
designs
which
manipulate and measure the relationship among a few
carefully selected and narrowly defined variables,
the holistic approach to research design is open to
gathering data on any number of aspects of the
setting under study in order to put together a
complete picture of the social dynamic of a
particular situation or program.156
According to Dorr-Bremme's,
Theory", ethnography
evaluations

is

undertaken

"Constitutive Ethnographic

the most
from

powerful
the

tool

in

those

phenomenological

perspective.157 The researcher is the primary collector of the
data and is immersed in the setting of the study.

The most

52

important aspect is the face to face interviews conducted by
the

researcher

values,

is

to

acquire

the

participant's

beliefs,

ideas, perspectives, and context specific ideals as

they relateto the "hows" of the phenomena.
organized?

How do they do what

"How are they

they regularly do?"158

Patton (1980) stated, the investigator searches inductively
for "pattern, themes, and categories in their data".

Dorr-

Bremme (1983) further state:
In the naturalistic or qualitative paradigm, these
"recurring
regularities in
sources"
(Guba
&
Lincoln, 1981/93) indicate directions for on-going
inquiry and , in the final analysis of the data,
constitute findings....
Usually, examples of patterns and categories from
actual
evaluation
data are
given,
and
the
investigator is advised to look for ideas, actions,
words, and phrases that recur and seem to logically
dovetail... fundamentally, they seek patterns of
co-occurrence
among phenomena...patterns which
display the system(s) of standards for perceiving,
believing,
evaluating and acting which group
members are using in-site to organize their
affairs.
Thus,
the
greatest
part
of
the
constitutive-ethnographic evaluator's interviewing
would
be
undertaken
to
elicit
participant's
descriptions and explanations of the program
relevant to interactions in which they routinely
engaged.189
In ethnographic research it is not required to have a
preconceived hypotheses.

Ethnography is defined as:

...the work describing a culture.
The essential
core of this activity aims to understand another
way of life from the natives point of view. Rather
than studying people, ethnography means learning
from the people (Spradley 1978, p3) .16°

53

It is an acceptable method for a field researcher to
utilize participant observation and interviewing in order to
investigate a phenomena.
In field investigations, there is considerable
value in the traditional use of informants and of
participant observations...the informant technique
provides almost the only way of getting at certain
attitudes, personality characteristics, and other
psychological attributes...1*1
According to Cusick (1983) it is necessary to portray and
describe the reality of phenomena being studied.

In such

research there is no attempt to compare theory with a purpose
of establishing significance.
Participant observation is an appropriate way to
undertake studies of social subsystems or their
components because the subsystem is itself a
participative venture created and sustained by the
members as they pursue their endeavors. According
to the logic of the method, the researcher must not
only witness and describe the events under study,
but by
conducting himself properly come to
participate in the creation and sustenance of those
events. Ideally, he will share the perspective of
the participants, and come to understand the events
just as they do. The result will be much more than
a third-person account of the events; it will be a
description and an interpretation of the events
from the point of view of those who create and
sustain them.162

RATIONALE;
The rationale for the above methodology is appropriate
for

several reasons.

First, the researcher is a participant

in law enforcement and is accepted as a member of the law
enforcement community.
knowledge

and

Secondly, the researcher has extensive

training

in

interviewing

and

observation

54

techniques.
population,
language,

Third,

the

researcher

has

knows the mores and norms,

access

to

the

speaks the common

and knows how to penetrate what might be deemed

"smoke screens". And finally, as Cusick (1983) states:
A field study, after all, is only an individual's
attempt to unravel and explain a human event,
giving particular attention to the collective
understandings of those who created the event. If
the event is significant, and the account is
intelligible and plausible, the result can be of
value to those interested and involved in similar
events. While such a defense is alarmingly simple,
to deny it is to deny that one may attempt to
understand and account for the actions of others or
that another may learn from a written account of
the attempt.163

SOURCES OF DATA:
The personnel

interviewed were

selected

from twelve

different Michigan law enforcement agencies, widely dispersed
geographically throughout the state in areas such as the upper
Peninsula, Upper Lower Michigan, Traverse City, Grand Rapids,
Ionia, Lansing and the Detroit area of Michigan.
were

divided

by

size

into

large,

medium,

The agencies
and

small

departments. A large department consisted of five hundred or
more police officers; a medium department, one hundred to five
hundred police officers; and a small department, less than one
hundred police officers.
The
different

rationale

selecting

sized departments

differences in
personnel,

for

from

personnel

is to recognize

from

three

the possible

individual perceptions that may exist among
a

small

one-man

department

with

scarce

55

resources,

a medium size department with limited resources,

and a large department with the presumption of an unlimited
amount

of manpower,

physical

and financial

resources.

proportionate number of selected personnel were

A

chosen to

represent each group.
In addition, the selected personnel criteria was further
sub-divided into three separate groups based on the level of
experience as a detective, and/or instructor of detectives.
The experience level criteria was designated as; High Level eight or more years of experience;

Medium Level - three to

eight years of experience; and Low Level - less than one year
but not more than three years.

It is also recognized that a

possible difference may exist in the individual perceptions
between highly experienced detectives and those detectives
with less experience.
It was

not the purpose of the researcher

to measure

differences thatmay or may not exist between the

various law

enforcement departments and/or the differences that may or may
not

exist

However,

based
if

on

the

dissimilar

individuals

for

the

departments

and/or

identifying

and

the

number

of

perceptions

years
were

different

sized

number

of years

recognizing

of

experience.

present

in

the

law

enforcement

of

experience,

these differences

would

be

considered significant and the field or ethnographic method is
considered to be the best method to detect and capture these
differences.

56

An example of a large law enforcement organization is the
Michigan State Police with 2,102 assigned troopers or the
Detroit Police Department with 3,914, which is the largest
police organization in the state.

A medium sized department

would be the Lansing Police Department,
with

256

sworn

represented

by

officers.
the

A

Kentwood

small

Police

Lansing, Michigan,

department
Department,

would

be

Kentwood,

Michigan, with 49 sworn officers.

DATA COLLECTION;
The preferred group of personnel for this study consisted
of 27 selected law enforcement officers who were currently
assigned

and

experienced

as

detectives.

Each

of

the

participants were provided an overview of the study prior to
the initial interview.

The overview included the purpose of

the study and the general areas of questioning.

The person to

be interviewed was assured of confidentially and also of the
fact that they were under no obligation to participate and
could withdraw from the study at any time.

A consent form was

obtained from the person prior to the interview.
The interviews were conducted in private and in person.
Several telephone contacts were made after the interviews to
determine if any additional information might be obtained.
additional information was obtained.

No

57

The interviews were tape recorded to ensure accuracy and
were later transcribed and edited by the researcher.

General

questions were prepared in advance of the interview.

The

introductory

and

questions

started

with

background

biographical data type questions ensuring that the participant
would know the answers and become comfortable responding to
the researcher's questions. The biographical questions were
followed up with the "grand tour" type questions described by
Spradley

(1980).

The "grand tour" questions allow for the

participant to eaqpound on broad areas.

These questions were

followed by "mini tour" questions which required more detail
and went into more specific facts.
standard

set

of

40

questions

which

The researcher had a
were

asked

of

each

participant (Appendix A ) . James P. Spradley (1980) described
this method as "Selective Observations" which represents the
narrowing of your focus and looking for the difference among
the specific participants.

Spradley recommends that as many

specific questions as possible be written out in advance of
the interview.164
respondents

The questions were open-ended to allow

the greatest

amount

of

freedom and

latitude.

Follow-up questions were asked whenever the researcher did not
fully understand the response, or whenever the participant did
not completely respond or understand the question that was
asked.

58

LIMITATIONS:
The limitation of all field or ethnographic research
studies

is

the

tendency

to draw generalization

from the

results. According to Cusick (1983):
It can be legitimately argued that their chief use
is not for generalizability, but for refining
concepts that may be used by others in the future
for more precise forms of research.165
He

further

explains

that

Weber

(1949)

denoted

that

abstracted generalizability in cultural sciences may not be a
worthy goal. Weber explained that "knowledge of the universal
or

general is never valuable in itself", because it lacks

site-

specific

information.

Cusick argues

that one

can

conclude from Weber that participant observation is among the
most valuable type of research because it is site-specific
information.166
Another limitation may be argued based on the method of
selection

instead

of

a

randomly

selected

group.

The

researcher intends to select members of the group based on
their experience and expertise which is appropriate for such
studies.
According to Glasser and Strauss (1970), from their book
on "Theoretical Sampling":
Theoretical sampling is done in order to discover
categories and their properties and to suggest
their interrelationships into a theory.
Random
sampling
is
not
necessary
for
theoretical
sampling...The researcher who generates a theory
need not combine random sampling when setting forth
relationships that are suggested as hypotheses
pertinent to direction of relationships, not tested
as description of both direction and magnitude.167

59

Cusick
random

(1983)

selection

states that
assure

"it is not necessary that

representativeness,

it

is

only

necessary that the phenomenon be present in the site".168
In support of the participant-interviewing techniques
John Best (1977) in his book, "Research in Education", states:
With a skillful interviewer, the interview is often
superior to other data-gathering devices...people
are
usually
more
willing
to
talk
than
write...certain types of confidential information
may be obtained that
an individual might be
reluctant to put in writing. It is possible to seek
the same information, in several ways, at various
stages of the interview, thus providing a check of
the truthfulness of the responses.
In areas where human motivation as revealed in
reasons for actions, feelings, and attitudes is
concerned, the interview can be most effective. In
the hands of a skillful interviewer, a depth of
response is possible, a penetration quite unlikely
to be achieved through any other means.169
Many critics of the ethnographic method tend to criticize
the

role of the researcher.

Cusick

(1983) agrees to the

extent that it is appropriate to center on the researcher's
role because it is from this role that the description and
explanation originate.

One of the major concerns is that the

researcher will inject his personal bias into the results of
the

study.

Cusick asserts

that

there

is no

theoretical

measurement by which one can be assured the worth of any
individual study.

The worth lies with the "plausibility of

the description presented".170

60

SUMMARY:
In summary, every effort has been made to insure that the
information presented accurately reflects
attitudes of those persons interviewed.

the beliefs and

The participants were

selected on the basis of their experience as practitioners as
well as the fact that they were criminal investigators.

The

ethnographic method is the most reliable method of gathering
the

information,

especially

when

dealing

with

police

personnel, as Van Maanen {1973} suggested can be difficult.
It's

essential to "pierce the of official secrecy"

it's

not

necessarily

the

public

administrators tend to promote.
that

"most

police

effectiveness

or

image

some

police

Greenwood {1975} revealed

administrators
the

that

because

day-to-day

knew

little

activities

about
of

the

their

investigative units and even less about the practices of other
departments".171 The purpose of using the ethnographic method
is to determine what participating detectives believe as it
relates to the research questions.

CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

OVERVIEW:
In this chapter the findings

and results of the data

collected are analyzed and presented.

The purpose of this

study is to determine if there is a need to change the
detective training and establish a basic detective course in
Michigan based on the perceptions of 27 selected criminal
investigative detectives throughout Michigan.

In addition, to

determine what they perceived to be the critical subjects that
need to be included in a curriculum designed for a basic
detective course and how such a program could be implemented
and financed.
This

chapter

Demographics,
Questions,

will

Analysis

be
of

divided
the

into

three

Findings-Primary

parts:
Research

and Analysis of the Findings-Secondary Research

Questions.
The demographics of the selected law enforcement officers
who participated in this study are contained in Part I of this
chapter.
the

The demographics will be followed by an Analysis of

Findings-Primary

Research

Questions

(Part

II),

and

Analysis of the Findings-Secondary Research Questions (Part
III). The researcher was able to draw on diverse backgrounds
and, according to Dye (1982), it might be helpful to provide
a profile of the selected personnel who participated in this
61

62

study.

The law enforcement detectives were selected from

various Michigan law enforcement agencies throughout the state
of

Michigan,

enforcement

representing
agencies,

small,

with varying

medium,

and

degrees

of

categorized as low, medium,

and high levels.

selected

currently

personnel

were

in

large

law

experience
All of the

positions

detective/investigators at their respective agencies.

of

It was

assumed that detectives from a small department in the Upper
Peninsula would have a different perception than a detective
working in the City of Detroit;

In a similar manner, it was

assumed that a young, inexperienced detective might have a
different perception than the older, seasoned detective.
The Analysis of the Findings-Primary Research Questions
is contained in Part
presented

first,

II.

A

followed by

summary of the findings
a detailed analysis

of

information relating to the Primary Research Questions.
number

of

excerpts

from

respondents'

transcripts

is
the
A
are

presented, illustrating typical responses relating to specific
questions from which a determination of their perceptions was
based.

First, is there a need to change current detective

training practices?

Secondly,

does the State of Michigan law

enforcement system need to establish a basic detective course
of instruction in Michigan?

63

Each
verbatim

respondent's
transcript

interview

prepared.

was

tape

Each

recorded

transcript

approximately twenty pages or more per interview.

and

a

averaged
Due to the

voluminous amount of transcribed material, approximately 600
pages, excerpts were selected from a representative number of
the

respondents'

consolidated

answers

statement

pertinent questions
pertaining

to

each

to

of

specific

the

questions.

respondents'

answers

is contained in Appendix B.
of

the

research

immediately after the research findings.

A
to

Excerpts

questions

follows

In addition,

three

samples of transcripts are contained in Appendices C, D,
and E .
Each question will be repeated on the top of each page
for the convenience of the reviewer.

Each respondent will be

identified

by a numeric code, such as, Respondent 001.

follow-up

questions had

respondent,

those follow-up questions will be identified by

to

be

asked

of

the question number and a lower case letter,

a

If

particular

such as, 35a,

35b, 35c, etc.
Part

III,

Analysis

of

Findings-Secondary

Research

Questions, will be presented in a similar manner to Part II.
A

summary of the findings will be followed by a detailed

analysis.

A number of excerpts from respondents' transcripts

are presented

(Appendix B)

to illustrate typical responses

relating to specific questions on which their perceptions were
based.

First,

if a basic detective course is needed, what

64

type of curriculum would best meet this need?

Secondly, how

could a training program be implemented throughout the state?
Thirdly, how could a program to provide training to all law
enforcement

departments

in

the

state

be

financed?

The

findings for each question will be presented and analyzed in
separate subsections as follows:

1. Curriculum
2. Implementing
3 * Financing

PART I

DEMOGRAPHICS

The

selected

detectives

from

12

personnel

consisted

different

law enforcement

Michigan participated in the study.
the range was 33-55.
white males

of

twenty-seven
agencies

in

The mean age was 42.4 and

The racial composition was twenty-one

(77.8%), three white females

(11.1%), two black

males (7.4%) , and one Hispanic male (3.7%) , (Table 1) . All of
the participants had attended an accredited Michigan police
academy.

TABUC X
RACIAL COMPOSITION
White
Male
Female
Total

or

SILKCTKD PKRSONNML
Hispanic

Black

Total

21

2

1

24

__3

__ 0

__ 0

__3

24

2

1

27

The selected personnel from the various departments were
closely divided with ten from small departments,

nine from

medium size, and eight from larger departments as indicated in
Table 3.

65

66

TABLB 2
DBFARTMBNT SXZB
Size

Percentage

Number of Detectives

37.0*

10

Small

9

33 .3

Large

__8

29.7

Total

27

Medium

100.0*

The number of years of experience as a detective for the
selected participants was one area where an attempt was made
to obtain representatives from three different levels. There
were five officers (18.5%) with low level of experience (0-3
years), ten officers (37.0%) with medium level experience (3-8
years) and twelve officers (44.5%) with high level experience
(8-23 years) as reflected in Table 2.

Table 3
BXFBRIBNCB LBVSL OB DBTBCTXVBS
Number of Detectives

Level

Percentage
18.5*

Low

(0-3 years)

5

Medium

(3-8 years)

10

37 .0

High

(8-23 years)

_12

44.5
100.0*

27

Total

EDUCATION;
Another factor that might impact on the perceptions of
the participants was their level of formal education.
educational

level

revealed

that

over

ninety-two

The

percent

67

(92.6%) had studied at the college level and seventy percent
(70%)

of those detectives had

college education.

in excess of two years of

Forty-four percent (44.0%) had obtained a

bachelor's degree or higher.

Nine of the detectives had both

an associate's and a bachelor's degree.
point

eight

percent

Seventeen percent

(14.8%)

had

Another fourteen

graduate

level

studies.

(17.0%) had studied criminal justice as a

major while attending college.

Only two of the detectives had

not pursued any higher level of education beyond the high
school level.

TABU 4
DETECTIVES' EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

N

Percentage

27

100.0%

12

44.4

Graduate Work/Degree

4

14 .8

Associate's Degree

5

18 .5

More than 2 > 4 years

4

14 .8

Less than 2 years

€

22.2

High School:
College:
Bachelor's Degree

GENERAL POLICE EXPERIENCE;
The total years as a police officer tended to correspond
with

the

total

number

of

years

as

a

detective.

Four

detectives had 0-10 years, eleven had 10-20 years, and twelve
had 20-30 years of general police experience.

68

GENERAL DATA;
The marital status of the 27 detectives divulged that
twenty-six were presently married with 2.3 children.

Five of

the detectives had been previously married and divorced.
one had been married twice.
prior military service.

Seven of the participants had

Six of the detectives had experience

as a police instructor.

ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS!
PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS

PART II

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

1.

Based
on
the
perceptions
of selected
law
enforcement personnel, determine is there a need to
change current detective training practices?

2.

Based on the perception of selected law enforcement
personnel, does
the
State
of Michigan
law
enforcement system need toestablish a basic
detective course of instruction in Michigan?

SUMMARY OF FINDING;
Based
on
the
participants'
perceptions
following findings are summarized:
1.

Only

the

Eighty-eight point nine percent (88.9%) of the
participants
believe
that
current
Michigan
detective training needs to be changed.

69

2.

One-hundred percent (100%) of the participants
believe that a basic detective course should be
established in Michigan.

RESEARCH FINDINGS;
Questions 35 and 36 were designed to elicit information
from the participants to determine if a need existed to change
the current detective training practices and if a need existed
to establish a basic
Michigan

detective

course

of

instruction

in

(Appendix B, Q-35, page 99; Q-36, page 106).

QUESTION 35:
Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?
The first requirement was to determine, from the selected
law enforcement detectives if they believed that there was a
need to change the present training practice for detectives in
Michigan.
The response to Question 35 is detailed in Table 1.
Eighty-eight and nine tenths percent (88.9%) were in favor of
changing the current Michigan detective training practices.
Seventy percent (70%) were strongly in favor and used terms
such as definitely and absolutely. Concerning those who were
not in favor of changing the present system, two simply stated
that it was not necessary.

70

SHOULD CURRENT DETECTIVE TRAXNXNQ PRACTICES BE CHANGED?
Department Size

Strongly Favored
Favored
Total in Favor

Small

Medium

Large

8

6

5

— k

— L

Total

10

19

8
_1
9

Percentage
70.4%
18.5

— 2.

9

Not Favored

Total

7

24

__1

__3

8

27

88.9%
11.1
100.0%

EXCERPTS OF PARTICIPANTS' RESPONSES:
The participants were all asked the same basic questions
and gave the following responses to Question 35 which are
contained in Appendix B:
35.

Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?
Respondent 002 s
Yeah, I think the training, like we've discussed
here
throughout
the
interview,
there
is no
uniformity.
I'd say
that everyone should be
required to go through at least the basic detective
training which is really a part of our state police
background.
We are
supposed to have that. I
suspect that most detectives do, but I don't.
It
seems to sort of stop at that point. There's other
training available and we do get some other
training, but there is no mid-level detective
training, per se. And there is no advanced level
investigative
skills
available.
Uniformly
speaking, there are schools you can go to, like the
Reid school and a school called SCAN, a written
word type analysis.
There are other schools that
are available, but there is no certain stage in
your career when you go to them.
Sort of when
you're available and when the training is ...

71

35.

Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?
Respondent 002 (Continued)i
...available. If the two don't coincide, seems you
missed it. I think that after two years you should
have this training, absolutely.
And maybe after
four years, you should have more training at a more
advanced level. And this should continue through­
out your career and that just doesn't happen. As
far as the way that they train you when you come
here? Is that what you are talking about?
Respondent 003i
Yeah.
I think there is a need initially when they assign
you, you know.
What they need to do also is to
send you to a basic school.
I think that's
important: the first thing before you start doing
cases. Send you to basic school, give you an idea
and then asBign you to one of the better detectives
and have him get you through the on-the-job
training part of it.
There is a need to do that
now. And I don't know when they would send you to
school. Probably when it became available or when
they had money.
I don't know how that works, so.
I think it's probably. Initially. I could foresee
what they could do is, that when you get on the
list for detective or sergeant, that six months
prior to that time they bring you up into that
unit.
They start and give you an idea.
You may
decide for ourself that you're cut out for this.
And you may say it to them. And they can look at
you and say is this guy qualified to do this or
not qualified? Right now we don't do that. I think
it is a real disservice to the people who are doing
it and to the administration because they don't do
that. Let people really know if they would be good
or bad or in between.
That could be a way they
could improve it, I think.

72

35.

Do you think there is a naad to change the current
detective training practices?
Respondent 007i
Well, there again, I don't know what they are for
sure in Michigan. I can only speak for Chippewa
County. 1 wish that we were more organized. And I
wish there was a better plan to training, for the
lack of a better term. Plan to train so that they
knew that I felt confident, then we would be able
to do something.
It's not to say they don't most
of the time, but they don't feel that I am. I'm
sure that they must feel that or they wouldn't put
me here.

35a. Are you talking about having a schedule type of
training...
Sure.
35b. ...as you progress through your career?
Sure. Yeah.
Like we said before, the only time
you're not learning is when, you think you've
learned it all. And, if anybody has gotten there,
I feel sorry for them.
35c. Uh huh.
Just.

You can always learn.

Respondent 008:
I think it would be nice if they had a school that
every new detective should and could attend before
they are promoted to detective.
That would give
them at least a basic understanding of what they
are going to be getting into and what they are
going to be dealing with and how to deal with it.
Respondent 013:
Yes.
35a. Why is that?
I think all of us get stagnant.
I think that the
method and ways of doing things are being changed
daily with more technology. I think that once you
get in a detective position in a union...

73

35.

Do you think there is a naad to ehanga the current
detective training practices?
Respondent 013 (Continued):
.. .situation and there's no threat to your job, you
get stagnant.
I mean, if it's a breaking and
entering, entering without permission, whatever,
you still got the elements, you think that you can
do the job. And once you've done so many of them
you're so comfortable with it that you don't think
there is any new technology to assist you there.
And the longer you stay in the field, the further
the gap spreads between the education desire.
Respondent 014:
Well, basically, there aren't any that I'm aware
of. There should be some kind of an indoctrination
period. Some kind of a certification that you can
receive.
It should be run by, as an arm of a
police academy in this community. And I don't know
if you are familiar how the police academies around
here work.
But, there are accredited police
academies in a variety of locations. Like Detroit
Police has it's own.
There's one here at LCC.
There's one at Ferris State.
All those are
accredited and if you complete a certain amount of
hours you're certified to be a police officer.
In
the same light, I think that there are more
directed, more specific, areas that can be helpful
to an individual that has just been promoted to an
investigator or a detective position.
That's on
top of all the other training that they have
already received. But it's like this interrogation
thing.
I think you should do it.
Absolutely.
They should figure out crime scenes.
I learned
crime scenes by going to the crime scene.
That's
how you learn.
Respondent 016:
Yeah.
I think our selection is wrong.
I think,
we're taking too young of people, wet behind the
ears, inexperienced.
They are getting by with it
because there's still some old-time investigators
up there that are taking these kids under their
wings and saying well this is the way we're going
to do it. But it's less and less.

74

35.

Do you think there is a nead to change tha currant
detective training practices?
Respondent 016 (Continued)i
As the old heads retire, you get less of that
experience level up there and I think the quality
is going to go down eventually and catch up with
you, because they are inexperienced. The only way
that you are going to overcome that is to send
these people away for training. Be it the Michigan
State Police.
They have some good courses.
Like
we talked, interviewing and interrogation, I think,
is important.
There is so much crime scene
investigation. There's a lot of good training that
can be had by these new people. And it should be
done.
It should be more and more especially,
seeing in our case anyway, that we are taking such
young people.
Respondent 021i
Oh, yeah.
There's no training. (Laughter) Except
at the police academy.
Like I mentioned earlier,
you have to have the qualified people to begin with
in the academy. And of course, once you get out of
it, you have to keep current. Keep up on it.

35a. What are they doing now for the selection of people
going to the academy?
For promotions, you mean?
35b. No, I mean, for taking, for rookies...
For rookies?
35c. ...just coming in?
the street?

Are they just taking them off

They just. They pretty much wiped out the Detroit
population. They're into the suburbs. Because of
so many years of this affirmative action with these
women and blacks. It has been going on for so long,
almost since I've been on here. Almost 25 years.
They wiped, virtually, so they're hitting a lot of
the suburbs.
So the criteria is basically, there
is no criteria. They
have eliminated the height, weight, physical, age
and they have dropped their standards quite a bit.

75
35.

Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?
Respondent 021 (Continued)i

35d. Do they do the backgrounds on them?
Yeah. They still do the backgrounds on them. They
make sure that you don't have felonies. At least,
two felonies.
35e. At least two felonies?
No, but they do check on them. And they do go out
and do the interviews with the neighbors and the
recommendations that people, that the recruits give
them.
And they check their work place and their
attendance and sick time and that kind of stuff.
They do all that kind of stuff. But personally, I
think, they're kind of lax on some of the people
that come on here. They should never be policemen.
Some of the women.
Actually, I never worked with
recruiting, so I don't know exactly what they look
for.
But the stuff that I mentioned is the stuff
that they are supposed to look for, clearances and
stuff like that.
But in my case, I mean, there
aren't too many highly qualified people still
coming on.
Respondent 027:
Not in our department.
35a. How about the rest of the state?
Well, yeah.
It wouldn't hurt. Some of them could
use a complete revamping. Some of the departments,
because they run the gamut. Some of them probably
don't have any.
35b. Now, you mentioned that yours changed a couple of
years ago with the change of the administration.
Is it permanent now or is it changing with
administrations?
What
if you
have
another
administration?
No.
The changes that have been made will stay
there. They make way too much sense and were made
in too much of an organized fashion to be changed
again.

76
35.

Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?
Respondent 027 (Continued)t
They weren't just changes for the sake of change.
They were changed after everything was analyzed.

35c. So it was the structure?
Yeah, and we operate pretty economically. He take
all of our available money.
The last few years
have been very, very hard with money in our
department.
That was kind of a driving factor
behind helping us organize too. It forced us into
a position to say, yeah, you
only got so many dollars, so spend it wisely. And
that's what we did.
For instance, the homicide
school that we are putting on, we're only sending
those people to that homicide school that didn't go
back in May of 91, which is the last homicide
school.
35d. Now, are these schools once a year?
This one is going to be once a year. He are still
improving our operations. This homicide school is
something that is evolving over at Michigan State
University through our people working with the
people in the criminal justice system there.
The
lady that just came there from the DPD, you might
know her, Audrey something is running their CJ
program over there. And we have been working with
her and Doctor Samson and some of the people that
used to do his.
For 14 years he used to do that
investigations of violent death seminar.
It was a
forensic type of investigation seminar. And that's
kind of evolving. And we're trying to put together
a homicide investigation program using our old
format from Crystal Mountain because it was so well
accepted up there.
This is going to be a yearly
thing like our basic detective school.
He expect
that in a couple of years we will have nobody that
hasn't
gone
through
a hands-on,
crime-scene
detective school.
He would like to run them all
this year. He would like to go back up to Crystal
Mountain and run everybody through it, but we don't
have the bucks to do that. So, we have taken that
money and organized our approach.

77
35.

Do you think there is a naad to change the current
detective training practices?
Respondent 027 (Continued)t
And hell, I'm really confident that we are gaining
every month, that our people are better and better
trained.
And, as we get new people in,
we
structure them right into it through me and my
counterparts.
There are seven of us around that control all of
the field detectives, and our boss is Mike (Last
Name) who does a good job of organizing and making
sure that we have everybody going in the same
direction. So, I'm tickled pink with our training
program.
With the money we got there, I don't
believe there's a better program out there.

QUESTION 3 6;
Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
The results were unanimous as exhibited in Table 2.

One

hundred percent of all respondents unequivocally stated that
a basic detective course was needed in Michigan.

Sixty-six

percent were strongly in favor of terms such as "definitely"
and "absolutely".

One respondent initially stated no but

further questioning revealed that he was

concerned about

standards and certification being set by the state MLEOTC,
which would determine who would be promoted to detective if
the

standards were accepted.

He also expressed concerns

related to detectives being required to achieve a minimum
grade while completing the basic detective course.

78

TABL1 6

oyimgH-ii
for BASIC DBTBCTXVB COO M B
Department Size

Strongly Favored

Small

Medium

6

7

5

18

67.0%

_a

_1

9

33 .0%

27

10 0 .0%

27

1 00 .0%

Favored

Large Total Percentage

Total in Favor
Not in Favor
Total

36.

10

0
9

_0
8

Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Respondent 004j
Yes.

36a. Strongly?
Yes. I would say yes, there. You have them for judges,
You have them for mayors, and...
36b. I did not think about that.
...you know, your various professionals.
And I
feel that a detective is just as professional and
there should be some type of basic school. I would
probably say that it should be no less than a week
long.
Maybe three to five days, and a follow-up
school with seminars, throughout the first year or
two.
But there definitely has to be some type of
initial training.
36c. How long was your interview and interrogation course?
Three days.

79
36.

Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Respondent 004 (Continued):

36d. Three days.
That's the basic course.
36e. If you put
mentioned.

in

interrogation

with

the

other

Well, one thing that I found, too. There should be
a basic interview and interrogation course.
But
one thing I found out when I went to the Reid
School, I had to make my mistakes first. I don't
know if you have ever been to that Reid School, but
you sit down and once you see how they elicit
information and the techniques and the things that
they utilize, you say, I can see where that would
work.
I could see where. .. that would work and
I've been doing this all wrong. And in fact, the
Reid School when I got transferred to Robbery and
Homicide, I had read up on the Reid School. I had
gone to a one day seminar at Michigan State through
ASIS on the Reid School. And I was so infatuated
with their technique that I came back and told the
department about this school. I said, man, this is
a basic school for any detective. I said, you have
to go to this school.
I didn't put in for it
because it cost about $500 to send a student to the
school. So, I ask them if I could get the book for
about $30. No problem, they got me the book.
In
the meantime,
while I was reading the book, they
decided to send two people to the school. So, that
ruffled my feathers. Anyway, I read the book from
cover to cover.
And in the meantime, I had been
transferred to Robbery and Homicide.
Well, when I got to Robbery Homicide, they had a
homicide that was being investigated.
And, of
course, I watched all of the detectives that were
in Robbery Homicide. Again, I was like a fish out
of water,
because,
man,
I figured,
working
homicide, man, you're working the real heavy-duty
crimes here. So I watched all our detectives. All
our detectives are extremely business like. Very,
very professional.
Then I read the Reid School,
and they, too, promoted professionalism. But they
use themes and so forth and so on.

ones

80
36.

Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Respondent 004 (Continued)t
Our detectives would call you in. They sit right
down. They would be just like Joe Friday, just the
facts, Ma'am. Whereas, the Reid School would sit
down,
get
to know
the person,
gain their
confidence, and develop themes.

36e. Well, we had a homicide that we were working.
It
was my first homicide, and they assigned me to a
senior detective. And the rule of thunib is that if
you don't solve a homicide within three days, the
case gets extremely cold. Well, after two weeks, I
had developed another suspect. It was a long shot.
He had a larceny warrant out for his arrest.
We
ended up arresting that individual. We go in and
the senior detective that I worked with said, Jim,
you developed this guy, we've been going two weeks,
haven't come up with anything.
You developed him, you work him. So I came in and
sat down, and I went into a completely different
mode than the detective bureau, Robbery and
Homicide people were using at that time. They went
the professional business route. I utilized the
Reid technique. I talked to the guy for 45 minutes
before I even talked to him about the crime. Five
minutes later, he told me he had shot the guy. And
it was all due to that Reid technique. I developed
a theme and plugged in all the parts and followed
it fairly consistently.
36f. Well, what I was getting at. You were saying that
the basic school should be a week. Would you cover
report writing, interviewing techniques and, if so,
is that a sufficient amount of time?
Well if you look at it that way. I think you have
to have at least a basic week, maybe one day on
interviewing
and
interrogation,
one
day
on
something else, because, basically, it's going to
be just like walking. You can show various, it's
intent. It's like showing a kid how to walk. You
have to learn how to fall down and get back up and
do it again.
Then maybe go back and have a
refresher course for two or three weeks.
Not in
two or three weeks, but sometime later.

81
36.

Do you think that there ia a need for a
detective course in Michigan?

basic

Respondent 004 (Continued)*
Maybe two or three months later. Mow, you say, oh
yeah, I know how that works, or why it doesn't
work.
But you definitely need a weeks' school,
just initially.
Respondent 006t
Yeah.
36a. That's what you were just talking about?
Uh huh. Yeah. I don't know. You might know better
than I .
Does MLEOTC (Michigan Law Enforcement
Officer Training Counsel)
have standards for
basics?
I don't think they've ever established
that. Hell that could be a good place to start.
36b. Who is that now?
The Michigan Law
Enforcement Officer
Training
Counsel, who set
the standards for the basic
certification for police officers. Maybe somewhere,
they could look into the basic standards for
promotion to "dick". Have them bring up the whole
state, not just, you know.
Respondent Oil initially stated that he was not in favor
of establishing a basic detective course but changed his
response in answers to the follow-up questions.

He initially

objected because he did not like the grading system used in
recruit training and felt that a change might represent the
introduction

of

grades

and

standards

which

would

be

transferred into the training objectives and outcomes set by
MLEOTC for detectives.
might

then be

used

The training objectives and outcomes
as

a determination

for

selection of

detectives by a individual department. His verbatim answer is

82
long and drawn out but it contained some valid concerns
relating to grading and MLEOTC's role in Michigan which are
covered

more

extensively

in

a

later

section

under

Implementing-Basic Detective Course.

36.

Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Respondent Olli
I would say no.

36a. Why would you say that?
Just for the fact
that I don't see any major
problems stemming from the training that they have
received from that particular department. Although
there is some, you
can perceive who is having
continued problems.I don't know if it would be a
seminar-type thing,
or a written- type thing, if
there is anything ever implemented. I wouldn't know
how to answer that. I know some people who I think
are totally incompetent being a detective, not in
this department but in other departments. It would
be nice to know that you could weed someone like
that out, but I don't know how it could be done. I
really don't.
36b. Well, when you came on board, how did they have the
training program set up for you?
It wasn't a set program at all. It was a need for
certain things. For instance, if I showed interest
in, boy, I sure would like to learn how to
interview children in CSC cases. The lieutenant or
a sergeant would contact training and they would
say do you have any classes in this particular
field and they would assist that way.
We have
arson investigators here. They showed an interest
in a certain field and they go after it.
36c. They might become a specialist then?
For instance, if one of the road officers stopped a
guy, arrested him for whatever reason, lets say,
for suspended ops, and they do a search incidental
to an arrest and they find drugs in the car.

83
36.

Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Respondent Oil (Continued)i
They find a large amount of money. They will call
me because I handle all of the forfeitures.
(Inaudible) forfeitures. If it was a house burning
they are not going to call me because I'm not
trained in arson.
They are going to call Tom
(Name) . He's been trained in it properly and knows
the arson. Everybody here has a certain specialty,
I think, of what they can do.

36d. Okay, but when you came on board...
There was no set program.
36e. ...no set program or no school?
No,
36f. So what did they do? Did they put you with a senior
detective?
When I came in, I had no partner.
I came in,
here's your keys, here's some complaints.
36g. You went right from road patrol to...?
Yeah.
I had tons of questions.
And I always
contacted either one of the detectives or one of
the command officers.
I would say, "how do I do
this".
Trial and error.
I can see small
departments who have one detective and he's brand
new at that job, who is he going toturn to?
He
has to learn it on his own.
But thereis no
set
program.
36h. Let me go back to the question then.
All right.

We got off track there.

36i. Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan? I mean, wouldn't it
have been easier if before you walked in, there was
a course that...
It would have been helpful.

84
36.

Do you think that thara la a naad for a basic
datactiva couraa in Michigan?
Raapondant Oil (Continuad)t

36 j . ...you went to and you had your interviewing or
some of the other things you mentioned, the crime
scene, photography...
It would have been very helpful.
36k. These things for two to four weeks, or something
like that before you?
It would have been great, but when the state get's
involved it's a pass or fail type.
I should say
it's a percentage type of pass.
You go to the
police academy for 11 or 13 weeks.
If you don't
make the academy, you don't have a job.
I guess
what I'm saying is, if the officer is competent
enough to get promoted, he should be competent to
take that training. I guess I...
361. Well I mean, if that's the hang up.
That's an
excellent point, though.
But, when you say that
it's up to the...?
That individual department.
36m. ...Okay, yeah. So that if they, I mean, they would
have to work with the school, or whoever is
providing the training.
I mean, all the trainers
could do is say, well these are the standards that
we set. Or the Michigan Law Enforcement could set
the standards.
Yeah.
36n. They say, well in the case he doesn't meet the
standards, okay, lets say the standard is 70 or 75,
something like that. And then all that they can do
is go back to the department and say to your guy,
we can't certify him, because of report writing or
some other aspect or something.
Y'know, he's
fallen down, he's unable to grasp it or something.
But then it would be the department's job for them
to provide the remedial-type training to get him up
to speed.
It would be great to have a basic-type
training. Don't get me wrong. Not that the state
shouldn't get involved, but I don't know if the
state should be the ones that are regulating it. I
wouldn't have the answer to that.

85
36.

Do you think that thara is a need for a baaic
detective couraa in Michigan?
Respondent Oil (Continued)>
It would be nice to know that there is, let's say,
LCC or MSU.
To say that we have an in-house
training two to four weeks long and this is what it
consists of for new detectives.

36o. Right.
Have a trial, I don't know.
I don't know if you
want to get MLEOTC involved in it or not. I don't
know. (Inaudible) I could see someone.
36p. Well, would you prefer to see the training at the
college level or LCC level? Like the outsiders?
No. I'm not saying that it shouldn't be regulated
by MLEOTC. It might be better to say, okay, we're
going to have three locations throughout the state
that are going to offer this two-to-four-week
class,
maybe three times a year at different
locations. Maybe MLEOTC just saying, these are the
standards. These are the standards you should have
in these classes, being a pass and fail type of
situation, so it's doesn't put so much pressure on
certain...
36q. Yeah.

You have to keep, yeah.

Y'know, what I'm saying.

It's uh...

36r. You lose sight of what...
Officers don't, anybody I should say, they don't
want you to have at least a 70 percent.
No one
likes to hear at least a 70 percent, but that is a
passing.
36s. The other way you can look at it, though in your
selection program, you're talking about that you
have to take a written test. Well, first of all,
you have requirements to be a police officer. You
got a written test.
You have an oral test.
So,
your selection is pretty good to start with.
That's correct.

86

36.

Do you think that thara is a naad
datactiva course in Michigan?

for a basic

Respondent Oil (Continued):
36t. So you're not picking some dud.
Right.
36u. So then it goes back to just like what you're
talking about, pass/fail. And if you get a guy in
there that the instructors really feel bad about,
they can just say, well, hey, we just can't certify
this guy, because he is totally screwed up.
Y'know, I mean? I can see some...
Oh, I can see.
36v.

...podunk town where someone's brother or cousin.
Yeah.
Then those are
should be weeded out.

the types of people

that

36w. Yeah.
But were we to say that the department should weed
out this person, 20 year veteran out.
I see exactly what you're saying.
36x. Uh, no, no, no.
That's a valid point, because after a guy's got 20
years.
I've seen it.
Because I'm in the Army
Reserves, also. We go to courses.
I went to one,
a senior course for Warrant Officers and everyone
in
there had
20
some years,
probably more
experience than the instructors, and they gave us
that. We had to have 85 percent to pass or fail
the test. I mean, on a regular basis. And we were
saying, you guys got to be kidding.
And yeah,
that's valid, it's really a good point.
But, having a basic program, I don't think that it
could be done in any less than two weeks.
Two
weeks, though, I don't think that anything could be
touched, what a detective needs to know, in two
weeks times. Four weeks, probably. Three to four
weeks, I would say, yeah.
I think.

87
36.

Do you think that thara ia a naad
datactiva coursa in Hichigan?

Cor a basic

Raspondant Oil (Continuad)t
36y. What about having like a series?
Or even, yeah. Y'know.
This day period, we're
going to talk about interviewing and interrogations
technique.
I think, it would be a big response
from the departments.
36z. But
it's,
pass/fail,
responsibility.

the

department's

Yeah.
36aa.

But more of the experience level going in at least
they would do away with the pressure.
Right. The way the State Police does their police
academy, or getting enrolled. Even considering the
police academy. A couple of guys from here have
been trying to get into the State Police for years.
A white, male, you got to have, what did they say,
a 96 or 97 percent.
Now that puts a lot of
pressure on them. But a lot of them do a good job,
though.

36bb.

They put a lot pressure on once they get in there
just going through the academy.
Yeah.

36cc.

I know exactly. When I went through, we had the same.
It was a lot different back then. But, one course,
one test with less than 70, you were gone. Y'know
what I mean? We had guys that disappeared.
Like this department. I had time in the jail. I
went to the police academy. And you had to have a
70 percent, at least, to pass. And I'm going, God
darn, I hate this pressure. I hate it. I hate it. I
graduated with an 88 percent but it's still that.

36dd.

It made you miserable.
Well, it made me study, if nothing else.

88

36.

Do you think that thera is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Respondent Oil (Continued)t

36ee.

It still goes back to do you need all of that pressure.
There's a lot stress there.
Yeah, I do. I remember when I was promoted, it was
like I'm a detective, now what. Y'know, what made
me a detective? I was just a patrolman and now I'm
a detective.
What is it that I'm supposed to do
better now as a detective than I did on patrol.
Respondent 012t

36a. What did they do when you...?
Well, when I first got in here the lieutenant was
real good for trying to schedule me for as many
different training seminars that I could go to.
But, it takes a lot of time to go through these
training seminars.
But, on the other hand, if
there was a month long training session where these
people could come in and teach you narcotics. You
could spend three or four days on interviewing and
interrogating.
You could spend days talking to
experienced detectives that can tell you what to
expect when you're working informants and how to
judge their creditability and reliability and how
to handle them.
If you did that right from the
beginning I think that you could get started a
little easier. I think it's a real good idea.
36b. So, your lieutenant recognized that you needed...?
Oh, yeah.
36c. ...so he scheduled you right away?
But with these training dates, some of
them might be six months in the future. I went to
homicide investigation and that was a year later or
whatever.
It's not any fault of our training
program.
I mean, you can only go to what's...
available and how much money they have at the time.
And there was a basic detective school over at MSP,
but I don't think that was in-depth enough.
That
was jammed at you real quick. Not a lot of time.
I think if it could be ...

89
36.

Do you think that thara is a need
detective coursa in Michigan?

for a basic

Raspondant 012 (Continuad)t
36d. Was it all detective training or was it ...?
I didn't think so. I thought a lot of it was crime
scene processing.
A lot of information as to
what's
available
through MSP,
through
their
different areas.
All of it was kind of a lot of
information to digest that quickly.
It was one of
those things, you got this thick book full of
information and you came back and put it on your
shelf.
And you waited to go to the schools that
were focused on those individual issues.
If there
was a program of duration...
36e. A more expanded?
...yeah, where you could actually, you know, for
the next three or four days you're going to be
working on narcotics, and that's it. You're going
to learn everything that you can learn in that time
frame on narcotics. That would be good. Then you
would have the interrogation skills and the
informants and surveillance. That would be kind of
nice.
Respondent 016:
One basic.

If it's a good course.

36a. Well, do you think that there is a need for basic
training for your officers or any officers for
detectives?
Yeah. If the Michigan State Police had, let's say,
just
just a one-week course down there on
detective work, I think that they could make it
very
interesting
and
it
would
be
helpful.
Someplace where we could send our new people, yeah.
I think that would help.
Yes.

90
36.

Do you think that thara is a naad for a basic
datactiva coursa in Michigan?
Raspondant 019 (Continuad)t

36a. If there was one, how would you envision it? How
long or?
If I'm not mistaken the Michigan State Police, when
they promote a trooper to the detective rank, they
send him to, and I don't know how long the school
is for, but they send him to a basic detective
school.
It maybe five weeks, ten weeks, I'm not
sure. And in that school they refine some of the
skills that they taught them in the academy and
they also tell them they have to stop thinking like
a trooper and start thinking more towards the
detective way of thinking. I think something like
that would definitely help any new detective coming
into
any department, or getting promoted within
the department.
How long it should be, I don't
know.
It would depend on how long the department
could afford to have them away. Or, I don't know
if they can do it, just assign him to a senior
detective kinda thing.
But, I think, every new
detective should have some training.
Respondent 02Ot
Absolutely.
36a. And why do you say that?
Because there are so many agencies that take a
patrol officer and put him or her into a detective
situation
with
absolutely
no
training,
particularly, because they need a detective.
And
while the basic skills, the basic ability, may be
there, that ability has to be developed, the
training has to be there and applied.
Respondent 021 t
Oh, yeah. Sure. Something I'm sure that they got
out already.
I've seen fliers of the stuff, the
different courses that are offered,
that an
individual can go to at some of these colleges.
But they have to pay it out of their own pocket.

91
36.

Do you think that thera is a naed for a basic
detective coursa in Michigan?
Respondent 021 (Continued):
First, they have to get permission.
They pay it
out of their own pocket and if they pass they get
reimbursed.
But, in a lot of the cases, people
just don't have the time. Personally, I don't have
the time to do it. And to dish out my own money
and to get it back later, I can't afford that up­
front money to begin with.
Right now, I haven't
seen too many people take advantage of these
courses that are offered. And if you work arson,
they got arson courses at different places some in
different states.
Sometimes the department will
send you.
I know when I worked commercial auto
theft, they had classes.
Good classes, well
documented, well known classes that were for car
theft. And occasionally they would send somebody.
They had to get permission from the Chief, the
Deputy Chief.
And, they would send them and pay
for the travel and hotel, but that's very rare,
though. If they would fund some stuff like that, I
think, and get paid for it while you're working, it
can only benefit the people. It would benefit the
department for one. And of course the officer.

36a. Right.

How many detectives do you have?

Here?
36b. In Detroit?
Oh, in Detroit. Well, we're down quite a bit. And
they just promoted a whole bunch a couple of months
ago.
Probably, about maybe 80 or 90, somewhere
around there.
Respondent 025 t
Yes.
36a. Why for the basic?
The basic provides a rookie detective a good basic
school with a good understanding of what our job
encompasses as well as where to go to get the
information that you need.
That should be
incorporated into a basic school.
You should be
aware of what the capabilities of our...

92
36.

Do you think that there ia a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Respondent 025 (Continued)*
...intelligence in the State Police has that they
can draw upon.
We should be aware of the Pats
(Last Name) of this world, the Dennys (Last Name)
of this world and the computer networks of this
world. All of this stuff that they have available
to them.
All that information is good exposure.
And there are a lot of departments, if you go to
the middle or smaller departments, that are very
focused or narrow-minded and not aware of all of
the capabilities that they have available to them
out there.
And if every officer who becomes a
detective and gets a week of basic school is
exposed to these types of things, I think it's well
worth the time. Obviously, after you're on the job
awhile and you have a better understanding of the
job, the advanced school. It may be a refresher to
some people in some areas. And then in other areas
it can open up new avenues of information. It's so
changing.
The rules of evidence in court, you
know, is changing from day to day.
New laws are
coming into play.
New technology is coming into
play. So, I'm all for it. I don't think that you
can get too much training.
Certainly, I wouldn't
say that a week of training a month is needed.
Respondent 027i
Oh yeah. I wish that every detective in the state
of Michigan could come through our basic detective
program.
When they come into the ranks of a
detective, I wish that they could all come through
our program.

36a. When you talk about the basic detective course, are
you talking about the basic detective plus the
core?
Well, yeah.
core.

I wish that they could have the whole

36b. When you talk about the basic detective course, are
you talking about the whole core?
No, I was talking about the basic detective school,
because I think that is far more realistic.

93
36.

Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Respondent 027 (Continued)t
I wish every detective in the state of Michigan
could, as they become a detective, go into our next
basic detective school.
If I wanted to dream, I
wish they could go to our whole core curriculum,
every detective.
I wish the whole state of
Michigan could be taking their detectives out there
and schooling them as we are schooling ours.
In
other words, you have a guy who has been a
detective for ten years but he hasn't had SCAN,
Scientific Content Analysis training.
You know,
not that it is necessary either.
You can have a
hell of a good detective without having SCAN
training.
But it just gives him the ability to
analyze a written statement a lot better. He would
be a better detective, when he's looking at a
written document.
So, I wish that they could all
have that.
The raid entry program, I wish that
they could all go through that. They are all going
into houses.
They're all supervising uniformed
people when they are approaching houses serving
search warrants, or they got a felony warrant for
somebody that they believe is in that house. God,
I wish they all could have that training because
you approach that house so much more efficiently
and so much safer.
I'm proud of our program that
we got.
That core curriculum I think would be
great. And there are some departments that you
will go to Pat, some of the county departments,
that may have surpassed our core curriculum.
I
don't know.
If there is, I would like to know
about that and I'm should that my bosses would like
to know about that.
And I know that my boss
already talked to you and said that when you put
out a product we're going to benefit from that.
Because, we may be able to say, yeah, we need to
expand our core curriculum.
And maybe we will have a model right here in the
state of Michigan.
We have some damn fine county
departments out here.
Kalamazoo, Kent County,
Oakland, Ingham County are all good.

94

ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS
SECONDARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS
PART III

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
1.

Based upon the perceptions of selected law
enforcement personnel, if a basic detective course
is needed, what type of curriculum would best meet
this need?

2.

Based on the perceptions of the selected law
enforcement personnel, how could a training program
be implemented throughout the state?

3.

Based on the perception of selected law enforcement
personnel, how could a program to provide training
to all law enforcement departments in the state be
financed?

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
1.

The participants believe that any curriculum
designed for a basic detective course should
include the following:
interview/interrogator;
crime scenes; communications; report writing; basic
investigator;
criminal
law/courts;
street
experience; and people skills.

2.

Sixty-three percent (63%), a majority of the
participants, believe that the MLEOTC should be the
agency to implement any basic detective course.

3.

Forty-eight point two percent (48.2%) of the
participants believe that the Michigan 302 Funds
should be used to finance the basic detective
course.

95

RESEARCH FINDINGS:
Questions

38,

39,

and

40

were

designed

to

elicit

information from the participants to determine what type of
curriculum would best meet the need of a basic detective
course,

and how

such a

course would be

implemented

and

financed.

CURRICULUM: BASIC DETECTIVE COURSE.
QUESTION 38:
If a basic detective course was offered, what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
The respondents were asked to enumerate several of the
most important subjects and/or skills,

that they believed

should be included in any curriculum created for a basic
detective course.

They had a number of responses but only the

top eight are listed in descending order of importance in
Table 3.
frequency

The list is based primarily on the accumulative
of

responses

to

Question

38.

Additional

accumulative responses on the essential skills and training
were also obtained from Questions 14, 27, and other questions
throughout the interviews (Appendix B, Q-38, page 128/ Q-14,
page 16; Q-27, page 73).

96

TABLE 7
CUSltlCULUSt BASIC DITBCTXVI COOKSB

Number

Percentacre

Interviewing/Interrogation

21

77.0%

Crimea Scenea

17

€3

Communicationa

15

55

Report Writing

14

52

Basic Investigations

11

41

Criminal Law/Courts

10

37

7

26

___________ 7

26

Street Experience
People Skills1

QUESTION 3 8 :
If a basic detective course was offered, what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Respondent 005:
Well, I guess it would depend on what type of
detective you are looking to educate.
Some
departments...
38a. I'm talking about basic.
Yeah,
okay.
Just
a general
training
for
everything.
Once again, you have to get into the
report
writing,
the
interviewing,
and
interrogation. I do a lot of that.
Crime scene
understanding, even if it's not to the point of
being a crime scene technician.

l. People skills is meeting and dealing with a variety of
people. The responding number also includes responses relating
to dealing with police informants.

97
38.

IC a basic detective course was offered, what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Respondent 005:
But understanding what is collected at a crime
scene, what can be done with it.
That type of
thing. And did I say report writing. If X didn't,
I'll beat that one to death.

38b. Well if it's that important.
It is. It's very inportant.

Let's see, what else.

Respondent 006:
Definitely, report writing would be important.
Interview
and
interrogation.
Crime
scene
processing, rather than crime scene preservation.
The uniform guys can do the preserving. They would
have to have at least a few hours on any new
technical things that can help you in crime scene
processing.
Interviewing and interrogation, crime
scene processing, report writing, I think, would be
wise, also.
This would probably come in under
interviewing, but a lot of people think
that
interviewing and interrogation is strictly for the
suspects. But interviewing witnesses is inportant
there too and complainants. And sometimes you just
don't ask them the right questions.
So, you want
to concentrate on that because that's a big thing.
If you don't get or don't solicit the information,
you won't know what to ask the bad guy.
I think
that's important.
People ought to look at that.
I don't know.
It's blank, my mind probably isn't
going much further now.
But, I didn't get into
court room process. And then depending on what
kind of assignment you're going to get, you might
want the specialty assignments. If you're going to
go on homicides, obviously, you're going to want to
go work at the medical examiners for a couple of
weeks, because these guys can help you.

98
38.

If a basic datactiva coursa was offered, what type
of curriculum would bast meat this naad?
Respondent 006 (Continued):

38a. What about program, testimony and stuff like that?
I think that's very important.
38b. Would that be under the process or would it be
something separate?
Well, I think, if you're going to be a good dick,
you're going to have to testify and that's
important.
Obviously, the best way to do it is
just to go out and do it. But, just because you've
been a patrol officer and you're going to be
testifying about traffic tickets, and miscellaneous
ordinances and traffic accidents,
it's a lot
different than constructing a crime scene and
bringing someone through that. And it's important
for a dick to be able to testify well.
You don't
want someone up there tongue tied.
So, verbal skills are crucial to be a good dick.
You may not need them to be a good patrol officer,
but you damn well better have them as a detective
testifying to a jury, especially, in real technical
cases.
I think, it's a necessary skill.
And
something that should be emphasized in training.
38c. Any others?
No.

Not right now.

Burnt out, I think.

Respondent 007i
Do you want a list of things that.
38a. Four or five, or whatever comes to mind.
Yeah.
Well, I would say that you want to address
three or four major, at least potential crime
scenes. Like your arson scene, your break-in, your
larceny, B & E scenes, maybe, of course, homicides.
We don't have a lot of homicides up here, but we
get enough that it would be

99
38.

If a basic datactive course was offered/ what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Respondent 007 (Continued):
nice to have a little of that underneath your belt
that you felt that you can handle a homicide scene.
Then, as you address each one of those you would
want specifics as to how to approach that scene.
One of the things that puzzles me, we have worked
with the crime labs two or three different times
and to listen to them talk, you wouldn't want to
itemize every list in a whole big house, you just
can't do that.
So, I think, target an area for
evidence relational to a scene or something. That
would be good.
Respondent 008:
My experience? I would say evidence collecting,
law, a lot of the law.
I think the photography
should play a part of it. Case preparation. Court
procedures. You can do a lot more involvement with
the courts and that, y'know. A lot of things are
kinda new, especially when your a detective bureau
does things, such as extraditions and stuff like
that.
It's totally different and we never dealt with it
before.
What
else.
Interviewing
skills.
Interrogation skills.
Writing, report writing.
(Inaudible).
Respondent 009:
I don't know.
You're going to have to have
investigative techniques, evidence, legal up-date,
crime
scene,
homicide
investigations,
arson
investigations. I think they ought to have a course
which handles each type of crime that you could end
up investigating.
Because, it was like four or
five years ago, that another detective went out
(retired)
and
I have an arson
or two to
investigate.
And I don't know anything about
arson,
I don't like arson.
So, you just kinda
work your way through it and then you might not
know what you're doing but hope that you find out
what you need to find out.

100

38.

If a basic detectiva coursa was offered, what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Respondent 009 (Continued)i
Well, we got sent to a school, about five or six
years ago, and the guy who taught it was so good.
He taught us all kinds of things that I never even
considered as being a way that you could work it to
solve an arson.
And if we had some training in arson, then I might
not have floundered around there for awhile for a
couple of times that I had an assignment.
So 1
think that you need some training in every single
type of crime that you can end up investigating.

38a. Any other major areas?
No.

For a curriculum core?

More for gathering evidence (inaudible).

Respondent 010:
That would be the crime scene investigations. And
the crime scene preservation, everything that we do
there to advanced photography school. You have to
have a couple sets of decent photos.
We have
someone who takes a photo and next week when we
look at them, you don't have anything good to look
at.
So those two need to be included as far as
curriculum, they're very important.
38a. You also mentioned interviewing?
Yeah. Uh huh.
Respondent 012:
I think that it's got to be comprehensive.
It's
got to cover several different areas. But, it has
to be long enough in duration so that you can get
into each area, instead of glossing over it.
Otherwise, to me it's too much information in too
short of a period of time. I think at least four
to six weeks, if not longer.
And then it should
cover all the areas that I've talked about.
All
the way from crime scene to interviewing and
interrogating to narcotics, auto thief, burglary, I
mean just each section.

101

38.

If a basic detective course was offered# what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Respondent 012 (Continued) i
I think if you can bring experts in on each section
to tell you how to build a case and how to do
different interviews for different cases would be
really good.
Respondent 013:
Well, I think we changed water on me.
basic and before you said advanced.

You said

38a. Well I'm switching back.
A basic detective course?
38b. Yeah.
I don't know how to classify a basic detective
course.
I don't know what a basic course is.
38c. What do you think the guy needs when he's starting
out.
Good interviewing techniques. Because if he makes
mistakes out there in regards to trace evidence,
and he develops a suspect.
And if he has
interviewing
techniques.
He
can
get
the
confession. And he can circumvent the mistakes on
the onset.
But if he's got the good basic skills, at the
onset, to pick up the trace elements available and
he's got good interviewing techniques, he's got
twice, 200 percent going for him. Because, if he
can't get the interview, he can put him at the
physical.
If he gets the interview and the
physical it's all over with and you're not even
going to go to court.
38d. What other items do you think...?
In the basic?

102

38.

If a basic datactive course was offered# what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Respondent 013 (Continued)*

38e. Uh huh. Interviewing?
Interviewing
techniques,
understanding,
mature, in what's going on in the country.
38f. This is what you would want
as the advanced (detective)
looking to you for "what do
What would you recommend
experience?

being

to give. Here you are
and they're going to be
I need to do the job?"
after so many years

Understanding the elements before you even start to
do the case.
38g. The legal elements...?
The legal elements.
If you understand the legal
elements, it kinda forks out and branches, the
work. You go to get that.
38h. What other items?
I guess, knowing the area where it (crime) went
down at. Again going back to. I'm kinda rambling
on.
Going back to your confidential informants.
Getting your information. Building your position.
You should be able to make a telephone call within
your county to any location and contact one person
that's going to give you information.
Either he
can or he can't. Or he may go out and get it. You
should have the capabilities.
You should have a
knowledge of where to go get it.
I'm not telling
(inaudible) or anything. I'm telling you that you
should have the knowledge to go there and find what
you need.
38i. So, how to develop informants, sources?
That's exactly right. Not only informants but
business personnel.
I don't know how to break it
down.
If you pull up on the scene and the garage
door is still on, because they got an automatic
door that raised it up and you were called there
for a B & E, you would want to know who to go to
find out how much time that light was in cycle.
Because two minutes before, that guy could have
left while you were there.

103
38.

If a basic detective course was offered, what type
of curriculum would best sieet this need?
Respondent 013 (Continued)t
Things along those lines. Not only technical things
but general knowledge of things. And if you don't
know, where to go find it.
Is that too broad for
you?

38j . Well, yeah.
If you had more specific items like
the interview, the elements?
Yeah.
38k. Developing Cl's. What other basic?
need to do the job?

What does he

Good report writing.
Good report writing.
Don't
say too much. You don't have to say too much.
If
you're going to write a book you're going to get
crucified on the stand. If you're going to write a
paragraph, you're going to have to think up there.
Y'know, a defense attorney position.
The worst
thing he wants you to do is ramble on.
He wants
you to answer yes or no.
If you have a paragraph
there and you say what the situation was like. Now
he's open for you to expound on what you were going
to say. And he doesn't know what you're going to
say and he don't like that. A defense attorney is
not going to ask the question unless he knows the
answer.
Now you got him worried about you.
(Inaudible).
Respondent 015 1
For vice, the first thing they have to learn is how
to work an informant.
How to generate and how to
use them. Actually, that would be beneficial for
anybody.
For any officer, whether you're working
burglaries or.
How a case is put together.
Organization of it.
38a. Do you prepare the package when you take it down to
the prosecutor's office?
Drafting
search warrants.
Evidence.
The
preparation or the preservation of evidence however
you want to look at it.

104
38.

If a baalc detective course waa offarad, what type
of curriculum would bast meat this naad?
Respondent 016:
Interview and interrogation.
Crime scene.
Let's
say if you were going to talk about interviewing
and interrogation, but I think you need to learn
more people skills. Body language. That's all I
can think of right now.

38a. Would you get into report writing and stuff like
that?
Our detectives don't write that many reports. They
just interview somebody and just write down what
they say.
The whole report from the original
incident should be on your desk from the patrol
officer.
Respondent 020t
What
areas?
Certainly,
interviewing,
interrogating.
The difference between writing an
investigative report and a street crime report.
The follow-up type reports. And then you get into
the
specialty
areas,
surveillance.
Again,
depending
on what
type of
assignments
the
individual goes to.
38a. Well, let's say for basic detective.
Now, what
should all of them, what would you want to see them
come out of there with?
Basic detective, again: interview and interrogation
skills,* report writing skills; certainly, the
elements of the law; crime scene work, definitely;
photography; latent prints; gathering evidence; the
chain of evidence,* certainly, surveillance; some
narcotics
training
is
absolutely
necessary,*
identification of narcotics. And I think something
that should be included here, letting them know
what's available to them as far as other agencies,
the functions of other agencies, where they can go
for help, that they are not an island out there.
There are resources available to them, state-wide
and federal side also.

105
38.

If a basic detectiva course was offered, what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Respondent 021i
Well, I think, I have touched on it before, crime
scene, report writing, basic. Well those are two I
can think of off the top of my head real quick.
And, I've touched on that before.

38a. The interviewing?
Yeah.

Interviewing.

I think, now a days, something that every detective
should know about is the electronic devices and
means of communications.
We're talking about
computers.
We're talking about video equipment.
We're talking about your telephones, your radio
equipment. There is so much electronics. Right
now there are so many advancements in electronics,
in the electronic world.
There are so miany ways,
so many things that we can use it for. The people
that are making these decisions are going in a
different direction.
If they would invest a little time and effort and
look at some of the other benefits from some of
this electronic equipment that they're coming out
with. They've gone from a couple of years ago where
you have the eight-track cassettes. Now you got a
disk that you put in your computer and you have a
whole encyclopedia on a little disk. And I think
electronics is, right now, what should be looked
at.
38a. What other items, and you have already mentioned a
couple about communication skills?
Setting up a
course now, what would you like to see in a basic
course if you had to take it for detectives? For
training you? Or you were in charge of it. The
course. What would you put in there as a core that
you would want these guys to walk away with?
I would put in writing.
It would have to be like
a, I would call it, a composition course or
whatever.
But it would be on legal writing.
Writing
legal
documents
and explaining your
thoughts in legal terms. English courses of course
would be important.

106
38.

If a basic datactlva course was offered, what type
of curriculum would beat meet this need?
Respondent 021 (Continued)i
I think that there are basic rules of evidence that
have to be taught and retaught. Other than the
communications,
those are probably the more
important, in my opinion.
Respondent 024t
You would need a diversified curriculum.
But it
would certainly have to include classes in law.
Classes in report writing. As we said, classes in
investigative
techniques.
Classes
in
interrogation.
It may even be important to have classes in typing
or computers,
whatever your department is using.
But I suppose that you should have classes in
computer work so that you can access the LEIN
system.
Well,
I think,
interview and interrogation,
homicide investigation, crime scene.
Some of the
new things coming up are DNA. The capabilities of
DNA.
I think,
fire investigation is real
important, too.
Although we have a specialized
unit to investigate arson and fires,
I think it
would behoove a detective to learn the ins and outs
of fire investigations, too. I think that would be
real important. Drug investigations, I think that
everybody has had drug experience.
That changes
too.
It seems like every couple of years, a new
drug comes out on the market.
Now we're dealing
with CAT. And, we have put together a pretty good
video tape on CAT. This would be methamphetamine.
So we put a little thing together on met labs and
we're going to that. As they change, I think, they
should be changed. The training should be up-dated
to cover the new areas of legal and criminal
activity.

107

IMPLBMBNTIHfi; A BASIC PBTECTIVB COURSE

QUESTION 39:
Bow would you envision a training program for
dotactives be implemented throughout the state?
The Michigan Law Enforcement Officer's Training Council
(MLEOTC) received the greatest support from the respondents as
being the most effective organization to implement a basic
detective training course.

The MLEOTC received sixty-six

percent (66%) of the participant's responses as detailed in
Table 4.

They cited the fact that MLEOTC presently certifies

all Michigan law enforcement officers and all
training presented in Michigan.

in-service

They believed that it would

be a logical extension for MLEOTC to provide certification for
detective training.

However, they also believed that the

training should be conducted on a higher professional level
with the core curriculum taught by college professors and/or
very knowledgeable

instructors.

They

also believe

that

minimum standards should be established.
One of the major reasons for recommending the MLEOTC
regional facilities is that would cut down on the travel time.
In addition,

if

three

or

four

regional

facilities

established, courses could be coordinated by MLEOTC.

were

Courses

could be offered several times during the year, at different
facilities, to provide year-round coverage.

108

A centralized location such as, the MSP Training Academy,
was

selected by eighteen and half percent

respondents.

(18.5%)

of the

The centralized academy had some appeal because

it would ensure inter-department training for all departments
and bring the various backgrounds together from the different
departments.

The coordination of scheduling the classes would

be easier and the core curriculum and would be consistent for
all detectives.
The respondents also made the general comment that any
basic detective course should be offered a minimum of three to
four

times

a

respondents

year.

The

suggested

introduction,

length
varied

to a ten-week,

of

the

from

a

course

that

one-week,

in-depth training.

the

basic

The course

should also be mandatory and have minimum standards with a
core curriculum.

The class size should be limited to a small

number of detectives.

AH

detectives should be required to

attend as soon as nominated and/or promoted to detective.
respondent

felt

that

the Detroit

Police

Department

One
could

provide their own training in a regional facility shared with
other metropolitan area police agencies
page 138).

(Appendix B, Q-39,

109

1

TABLI 8
IKPLKKIMTIHai BASIC DKCTCTIVB COURSB

Small

Medium

Large

Total

MLEOTC/Region

7

5

5

17

63 .0%

Central/Region

3

2

0

5

18.5%

Central
Percentage

39.

__0
10

__3
9

8

_£
27

Percentage

18,5%
100%

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be implemented throughout the state?
Respondent 001:
Well, the state has a thing called the MLEOTC
(Michigan Law Enforcement Training Council) and
that's who certifies you as a police officer in the
state. All police officers have to take the test,
I think, except for some Detroit officers. I think
they have their own. I can envision a school where
all police officers, whether they are state, local
or whatever attend a detective academy.

39a. How long?
I think a minimum of ten weeks, probably.
I think
the screening processes should be more selective.
Sure, I made mention to another person who was
here. He was not the smartest person in the world.
He wasn't the most articulate, but I'll tell you
what, he probably was the best detective in
northern Michigan.
And for ten years,
everybody
would say it. He had an Associates Degree through
the Junior College and he also educated himself as
far as fingerprints, drugs, and stuff like that.

110

39.

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be implemented throughout the state?
Respondent 002t
Well, for the MSP we have our Michigan State Police
Academy right here in Lansing, MI, so its pretty
convenient.
And it probably should be.
If it's
not going to be inter-departmental, which is
difficult to coordinate I'm sure, then at least on
a departmental level. In my case, the state police,
it probably should be handled at the state police
training academy. It should be on a regular basis.
These schools should be available and pretty much
mandatory. When you reach this stage in your
career, you haven't had this training and you need
it. When it's available, you have to go.
Respondent 003 1
Boy that's a tough question. I would hope that the
training program would be initiated through either
a university or a community college.
That they
have a core group of people and that basic
standards would be set like they have for the basic
police academy. But these standard, you would have
to have to perform at a certain level. I think it
should be associate that way rather than in house.
I don't think in-house is going to get the job
done. And I think it should be in a setting that
is a school setting.
Rather than, someplace, you
know.
Respondent 004:
I think it would be done through the local police
academies. There ought to be a core curriculum set
up by MLEOTC.
It could be done by local police
academies, or done regionally.

39a. Michigan Law Enforcement Office Training Council.
Yeah.
39b. MLEOTC.

Ill

39.

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be implemented throughout the state?
Respondent 013t
Well, you mean from an instructor stand point or
from? I don't think that a video tape is going to
do it.
You can't video tape a seminar.
I think
you have to have
classroom seminars of crime
scenes. I think I'm going to leave you right there
for a second. My wife's cousin, first cousin, his
name is Bobby Blackburn, and he is from Milwaukee,
W I . He was the head of homicide up there. A
homicide team. But when he retired he went and put
on a homicide school. Each room he had a homicide
set up in. And you as a detective, would come in
and do that homicide scene. You would collect your
evidence.
You would do everything right there.
Hands-on.
That was good.
And then after there
would be a critique.
You would make your
presentation to the class. He would have a module
of the homicide. What better way could you do it?

39a. Oh, yeah, sounds great.
exercise?

So, more like a practical

That's right. I can sit here and tell you all sorts
of things in regards to blood or plasters, or the
ways they're going to move, or anything like that.
But you hit that crime scene.
And your mind is
going 150 miles an hour.
And your adrenaline is
pulled up.
And there isn't one of us who hasn't
done it. And you're sitting there, and you think
you've had a rush, but you haven't had such a rush
until you see what is in front of you. And you put
that in front of a junior detective and sit back
and let him go to work and critique him after he
gets done and where he made his mistakes.
He'll
never make those mistakes after that. Never.
(Inaudible).
Respondent 017 s
Regionally?
Respondent 018 1
I don't understand the question.

112

39.

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be Implemented throughout the state?
Respondent 018 (Continued)*

39a. We're talking about the whole state of Michigan
now.
How would you train all of the detectives in the
State of Michigan?
How would you envision that?
Should
they be taught by the Michigan State
Police? At the academy? Do they do it...?
It would be nice if they had one set format.
I
know it would be nice if they had one set format.
That would be wonderful if everyone could come
together,
at one location, have one set of
guidelines that would a apply...
39b. The same curriculum for all?
Yeah. School.
I think that would be wonderful.
Because
everyone is coming from
(inaudible)
different backgrounds and different cities.
The
problem in that is you gain the knowledge but maybe
only because they are different.
And the bad
aspect of that is that sometimes you clash. So, my
method is better and the other person says their
method is better, because they are not familiar
with each other.
39c. Have you found as a female detective, that they are
treating you any different or that it's tougher or
easier?
It's pretty tough for a female in this profession.
You have to, the guys, they have their (inaudible) .
They have their bonding. A female is different in
this profession. Because they will look at another
female and say, I don't want to talk to her now.
With the guys it's, yeah, come on let's do some
bonding.
The girls don't quite trust each other.
I found that necessary.
It's different.
I get
along with practically everyone. But, there are a
few people that I don't like and I like some others
more.
(Inaudible).
I don't know if it's because
they work so hard to
get where they are at and
(inaudible).

113
39.

How would you envision a training program for
datactivaa be implemented throughout the state?
Respondent 018 (Continued)t

39d. Is it more competition? Or is it that females are
more aggressive because they had to do more to get
where they are at, to strive to achieve their
goals?
I don't know if aggressive is the term.
They're
pretty aggressive.
But the men are pretty
aggressive, too.
(Inaudible).
39e. Well, then do you have anything, any suggestions
how the females, wanting to be detectives, y'know,
what would you suggest? What would you put in the
training program? How would you treat that?
Respondent 023i
See if I understand your question correctly.
39a. This would be
departments.

for

all

detectives,

in

all

Are you asking me should they be required to take a
course?
39b. Well, no. How would you establish it? Where would
it be taught?
How would you teach everybody?
Would they be required to come to the course?
I think that would be the problem with establishing
their own training. No, I take that back. I would
think that every department would have a uniform
set of rules that they would go by on instructions.
And teach all of the officers basically the same.
That way we can help one another. Where if you do
it that way, your department's way, and I do it
this way.
That's not going to get it.
If it
applies for one it should apply for the others,
because we're all doing the same work. So, I would
keep it uniform and I would make it so that
everyone would benefit from it.
39c. Would they be required to go to the course, or no?
Yes.
I would make it mandatory because you can't
get enough training. I don't care what it is.

114
39.

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be implemented throughout the state?
Respondent 018 (Continued)i

39d. How long of a course would you have for a basic?
There is only so much that you can teach. I would
have a two-week course. You're talking 80 hours of
investigative skills.

FINANCING; A BASIC DETECTIVE COURSE

QUESTION 40;
How would such a program to train detectives for
all enforcement agencies in the state be financed?
The question of financing was the most difficult area for
most

of

the

respondents.

As

detailed

in

Table

5,

approximately, forty- eight percent (48.2%) suggested that the
present Michigan 302 Funds be used to finance any program to
establish a basic detective course.

The funds are collected

primarily through the traffic court as part of the fines
imposed on all traffic citations.

Five dollars of each fine

is diverted to the 302 Funds.

The law specifically requires

that

for

these

funds

be

used

in-service

training

of

participating law enforcement agencies and their personnel.
The funds are distributed twice a year to
agencies.

participating

A 60 percent general-purpose grant is given to each

agency on a per officer, pro-rated basis in June of each year.
The remaining 40 percent is distributed in January of each

115
year on a need-basis type grant.

The use of the funds is

restricted to advanced in-service training of an agency's
police officers and or training equipment.

Only agencies

responsible for issuing motor vehicle traffic tickets are
permitted to participate
distributed
authority

through

to

enforcement

the MLEOTC which

establish
and

in the program.

and

set

in-service

has

standards

training

of

The

funds

are

been given

the

for

basic

Michigan

law
law

enforcement officers.
Other respondents were divided between federal and state
grants, local tuition, and/or matching grants between local,
state, and federal.

One suggested adding a $.50 increase to

ticket, or a dollar registration fee for a Michigan Driver's
License.

Only one respondent did not offer an answer.

Some detectives commented that the funding should be
legislated to ensure mandated annual funding of the program.
One noted that there was a hidden cost
having

such

a

program.

The

cost

of

to the failure of
providing

a

basic

detective training was cheaper in the long run because if a
criminal investigation was improperly conducted, the community
and the jurisdiction will spend more money trying to correct
the mistake than paying for the initial training (Appendix B,
Q-40, page 143}.

TABU 9

rnmicxMro
Small

- basic PBTBCTIVB COtlitSS

Medium

Large

Total

Percentage

Mich-302 Funds

5

6

2

13

46.2%

Federal

1

1

2

4

14.8%

State

3

3

11.1%

Local

1

1

2

7.4%

Matching

0

2

4

14.8%

1

3.7%

27

100.0%

No choice

n—

Total

0.

M

10

2
-------

9

_____

1
6

—

How would such a program to train detectives for
all enforcement agencies in the state be financed?
Respondent 001 t
I have no idea.
I think society is going to have
to.
We law enforcement officers are probably the
lowest paid public servants that we have. You take
utility workers, Michigan Consumers, anything,
they''re paid a lot more, especially up here. You
take a Farmington Hills patrol officer, he's paid
quite well. But, I think the public should have
to pay for what they get. Basically, in a lot of
areas the public is not paying for what they get.
Certainly, the officers aren't getting paid for
what they do in some areas.
I think, a police
officer, whether here or in Lansing, should be
equal to each other as for the benefits and certain
types of pay.
Basically, that is what the
sheriff's departments do.

40a. More like state civil service pay?
I thoroughly believe that's right.
If you are
hired as a civil servant, whether township officer
or a lieutenant in the sheriff's department, you
should get the same benefits as other persons.
I
really disagree with the fact that down state
officers work a lot harder.

1X7
40.

How would such a program to train da tact Ives Cor
all enforcement agencies In the state be financed?
Respondent 001 (Continued)t
I know
I have a cousin in the Lansing PD and a
nephew in the Lansing PD. They don't work harder.
Up here, we have to be more diversified.
But, a
regular officer has to be more diversified than any
police officer down there.
Before 1 was a
detective I would go from a barking dog to a
homicide. Their officers may do that, but then as
soon as he calls somebody else, or by the time he
gets there, somebody else is on the way.
But, in
our case, that officer will investigate because
there is no one else.
I think they are more
specialized down there. They can afford to be.

40b. On 40-60 programs?
We have 302 Funds.
The majority goes to Kirtland
Community College. They put on the training. A lot
of other agencies do that.
Kirtland basically
gives the seminar, hires the instructor.
That is kind of disheartening when you talk about
pay and things like that.
My nephew, when he
started with the Lansing PD, he started at $3,000
less than what I made with 15 years experience. A
year later, he was making $10,000 more than I did
as a 17 year Lieutenant.

Respondent 006:
Well, you know, it's sure out of my bailee wick,
here. I know years ago, and this got basterized
somewhat, but there was a portion of every traffic
ticket written in the state of Michigan was to go
for in-service training for police officers. And I
think that's still in effect. I forget what Act it
was, the number. And you know,
why not. Another
possible source of revenue would be that forfeiture
action within the state of Michigan.
Maybe a
percent or two, going into a training fund. Maybe
I better run for council with that line of
bullshit.

118

40.

How would such a program to train datactivas for
all anforcaaant agencies in tha stata ba financed?
Raspondant 007 *
A good question. I personally don't think, for
instance, the city police here have two detectives
and the county has one.
Other departments, of
course, have a lot more than that. But, there are
lot of bigger counties that when you talk about the
money involved, it does seem to me that it would be
too big of a burden for the counties to finance.

40a. Training?
... to send me to a school, or to a couple of
schools throughout the year is a minimal cost. Even
if they paid for everything. I don't see where the
municipality, or the county, or whatever, which the
officer comes from, is going to suffer too big of
an expense.
Seeing to it that a detective is
trained, or any other officers for that matter.
Maybe I'm naive, but I don't see that training is
a big cost of county money in any county of the
state. Maybe I'm wrong.
Respondent 008*
Right. (laughter). I think that some of it could
come out of the 302 Funds that departments are
given.
I think that each could give a percentage
to finance it and run a school once or twice a
year, and have it paid through the 302 funds.
40a. Are the 302 Funds the ones that are from traffic
tickets or something?
No.
I think 302 is a subsidy that the state gives
for on-going training, I believe.
That's what I
was lead to believe.
40b. How
does
your
department
handle,
fund your
training, when you say that you don't have a
problem going to schools and so forth?
302 Funds.

119
40.

How would such a program to train datactivas for
all anforcamant agencies in tha stata ba financed?
Respondent 008 (Continued)i

40c. So, they put in for a grant for it?
I believe, and it's my understanding, and I don't
get
into the administration aspect
of
our
department, but it was my understanding that they
are given so much money to use for on-going
training.
And if you don't use that money, you
lose it. Y'know what I mean?
Say you're given
$20,000 a year for on-going training, if you don't
use that $20,000 a year, that portion that you
don't use, you don't get the following year.
40d. Oh.
I believe that's the way it works, at least in our
department.
40e. So, if you use it you get more?
Right. You can put in, I don't know how much they
put in,
I don't know how much they get.
But, I
know a lot of our training comes out of the 302
funds.
Respondent 011i
I believe that there are monies out there now, that
are made through tickets citations.
I don't know
why they couldn't raise the revenue through
tickets. Maybe $.50 a ticket, I think that's what
they get now.
Respondent 012 1
40a. A percentage?
Or a certain percentage. I think it could be done
with fines and cost, with tickets and such.
The
police are so scrutinized by the public and media
anyway, especially in today's world. They want the
best, I guess we'll all have to pay for it, one way
or another. This is one way of doing it.

120

40.

How would such a program to train datactivas for
all anforcamant agencies in tha stata be finanead?
Raapondant 012 (Continued)x
I think most of our training is financed by the 302
funding that we have, grant money and partially
through the department.
They've got to have an
interest in spending the money on their people. I
don't think the department should bear the entire
cost.
I think there should be some grant money
available from the state or the feds.
Respondent 015t
I don't know,
Tuition.

ticket revenue.

Drug forfeiture.

Respondent 016:
Boyl
Even that surcharge on the ticket, I think
that all goes to training and stuff. If you don't
have enough money, you could always raise that a
couple of bucks.
Respondent 019 x
I think that it could be financed right through the
state.
Seeing that the state requires the
certification of police officers, I think that it
should also have certification for detectives.
Respondent 022:
I would say that the federal government has
responsibility to assist in that.

a

Respondent 025:
There are those funds available that are set aside
for law enforcement training. I can't think of the
fund that is available.
Other than that, I feel
that
the expense
could be handled by
the
departments that are sending people.
There are
funds out there and I can't think what they are.

121

40.

How would such a program to train datactivaa for
all enforcement agencies in the state be financed?
Respondent 025 (Continued)*

40a. The 302?
The 302, that's what I'm trying to say, yeah.
Yeah. The use of the 302 funds and then it comes
down to the individual departments.
Respondent 026t
(Laughter) Good question.
The number one issue
right now is money.
The departments are having a
pretty hard time putting officers on the road right
now and I think that training is taking a back
seat, at least the last couple of years.
Our
department is just starting to come forward with
some new training things.
He have a detective
convention that is usually scheduled once a year.
All detectives, all of the State Police detectives,
meet.
That was cancelled this year, or in 93,
because of budget constants.
It would be nice if
the federal government, if there was matching funds
out there.
Say, if the state or the local agency
is willing to put "x" amount of dollars for police
training, the feds would be willing to match it.
Respondent 027:
It's very difficult to get training funds, to get
any funds these days. The primary problem I see is
that agencies are worried about how are they going
to put officers on the road against training.
Well, I don't know that either. I'm not a finance
person. I'm not a budget-type person.

122

SUMMARY;
Briefly reviewing the findings presented in Chapter IV,
the

participants

clearly

demonstrate

that

they

strongly

believe there is a need to change the present system and
establish a Basic Detective Course.
"hodge-podge"

of

individual

two

The present system is a
to

three

day

in-service

courses that are open to both patrol officers and detectives
with no perquisites and/or minimum qualification level.

Due

to the short duration, these courses tend to be a lecture-type
method with no interaction or substantive practical exercises.
These courses do teach important subjects and methods to the
officers but are not targeted specifically to the detectives.
The

emphasis

is

on

training is mandated.

the

patrol

officer

whose

in-service

For those detectives fortunate enough

to be allowed to attend an in-service training course, they
are restricted and are only permitted to attend when their
availability coincides with the time the course is being
offered, and if their particular agency has funds available
to send them to the training.

The participants observed that

there is no systematic, planned, and/or organized method in
place to train detectives.

They further stated that there is

no mid-level or advanced detective training.

They believe

that all detectives could benefit from a Basic Detective
Course followed by sequential advanced courses.

They also

indicated that the course should be comprehensive and the
curriculum should concentrate on what detectives need to know

123
in order to perform their functions as detectives.

Practical

exercises should be utilized to demonstrate proper methods to
the

detectives

to

insure

training environment

that

and not

mistakes

are

in an actual

made

in

the

situation.

The

participants believe that MLEOTC should implement and fund the
detective

course

through

302

Funds

standards and certify the course.

as

well

as

set

the

The Basic Detective Course

should be compulsory for every detective.
The conclusion and discussion of these findings will be
presented

in

greater

detail

in

Chapter

V,

followed

by

recommendations, additional reflections, and implications for
further research.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
OVERVIEW:
In this chapter conclusions which are drawn and based on
the results of
offered.

the findings presented in Chapter

IV are

The conclusions will be presented in a succinct

numeric format, listed by the corresponding research question,
with

an

analysis.

addendum

of

brief

observations

supporting

the

The conclusions will be followed by a more detailed

discussion of the Primary and Secondary Research Questions.
The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a need
to

change

the

detective

training

and

establish

a

basic

detective course in Michigan based on the perceptions of 27
selected
Michigan.

criminal

investigative

Additionally,

this

detectives

throughout

study determined what

they

believed to be the critical subjects that need to be included
in a curriculum designed for a basic detective course and how
such a program could be implemented and financed.
A Recommendations section will follow the discussion of
the Primary and Secondary Research Questions.

Additional

Reflections subsection discusses supplementary information
that was collected but did not relate directly to the Primary
and Secondary Research Questions.

The participants

provided

additional observations and meaningful insights on a number of
different recurring themes relating to issues associated with
124

125
detectives'

functions and operations.

The last subsection

will be devoted to Implications for Future Research and will
contain

information

relating

to:

indexing

of

arrest

and

clearance rates, conviction rates, and the policy of "train
and transfer".

The study will conclude with a brief summary

of Chapter V.

CONCLPS IONS

1.

2.

There is a need to change the current training
procedures for detectives in Michigan and establish
a basic detective course in Michigan.
e

Presently there is no plan or system to
provide appropriate training to Michigan
detectives.

e

In-service training presently consists of
a number of unrelated 2-3 day seminar
courses
being
offered
with no
coordination as to prerequisites for
prior courses, progression of subject
matter, and/or experience level of the
attending officer.

•

An overall plan should be formulated by a
committee of currently assigned Michigan
detectives, with the cooperation of the
MLEOTC, to address the present in-service
training for detectives.

A basic detective course should be established by
the Michigan law enforcement system in Michigan.
e

A basic detective course should be
established and mandatory attendance
required for all detectives.
Newlyappointed detectives should be required
to attend the course within one year of
their assignment.

126

3.

•

A basic detective course should be
specifically related to how a detective
conducts
an
investigation
from
the
initial incident report to testifying in
court.

•

The course should be germane to basic
criminal
investigations
typically
conducted by detectives.

•

The duration of the basic detective
course should be a minimum of five to ten
weeks.

•

The basic detective course could be
broken down into a number of shorter
phases of two to three weeks in duration.

The curriculum for a basic detective course should
include courses similar to those offered by other
agency courses, a discussion of which is contained
later in this chapter. Emphasis should be placed on
the following subjects.
e

Emphasis
should
also be
placed
on
interviewing
and
interrogation
with
practical exercises using outside actors
playing the different parts and should be
video taped and critiqued jointly by
students and instructors.

e

Crime scenes should be
practical exercises.

•

Legal review of the fundamentals of law
and specifically to Michigan laws, with
the emphasis on the necessary elements
needed to establish a criminal conviction
in a court of law "beyond a reasonable
doubt".

•

Report
writing
which
stresses
the
importance of being able to articulate
and explain in writing how the evidence
and
witnesses
relate
to
particular
violations.

developed with

•

The basic
investigative
fundamentals
should
be
emphasized
covering
the
different
types
of
investigations
normally encountered by detectives.

•

Emphasis
should
be
placed
on
the
developing and gathering of information
and
evidence
used
in
a
criminal
investigation.

The implementing of a basic detective course should
be through the Michigan Law Enforcement Officer's
Training Council (MLEOTC).
e

MLEOTC presently has the authorization to
set
standards
and certify a basic
detective course.

e

The location of the basic detective
school should be centrally/regionally
located and staffed with a full-time
faculty.

e

MLEOTC has several
approved training
facilities,
including
colleges
and
universities, where a basic detective
course could be offered.

a

A basic detective
course should
offered at least four times a year.

•

be

The participants recommended that the
basic detective course should be taught
at the
university or college level by
qualified and knowledgeable instructors.
MLEOTC has several certified college
locations.
These types of locations
would assure that sufficient staff and/or
facilities could be maintained to insure
that stability and high standards of such
a program and curriculum are maintained.

128

5.

Tht funding for a basic detactive course should be
obtained through the present system utilizing
Michigan 302 Funds and controlled by the ML80TC.
e

Michigan 302 Funds have already been
earmarked for special purpose training,
such as, a basic detective course.

e

Additional
funding
may have
to be
obtained to acquire additional MLEOTC
staff and provide for part-time and/or
overtime pay for replacement officer's
salary to cover the man-hours lost by the
detective attending the course for an
extended period.

piscasaioN

PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
1.

Based
on the
perceptions
of selected
law
enforcement personnel, determine is there a need to
change current detective training practices?

2.

Based
on the
perceptions
enforcement personnel, does the
law enforcement system need to
detective course of instruction

of selected
law
State of Michigan
establish a basic
in Michigan?

PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The participants clearly stated that a need existed to
change

thecurrent detective training

in Michigan.

More

importantly, they unanimously agreed that a basic detective
course should be established in Michigan.
The

study was

detectives,

designed

from different

assuming that

the

selected

sized police departments,

with

129
different

backgrounds

and

experience

levels

would

have

differing insights as to what the training needs were as they
related specifically to detectives.

It was also anticipated

that those from large departments would have different needs
than

individuals

from

smaller

departments.

There

is

a

legendary mythical belief among law enforcement personnel that
the salty, old, meaner-than-a-junk- yard-dog detective would
be the last person to say that there was a need for additional
training.

In reality,

the older, more seasoned detectives

were some of the strongest proponents for the need to change
the present system and establish a basic detective course.
The like-mindedness of the detectives acknowledging that a
basic course was needed was a real surprise.

More surprising

was their unanimity despite their diverse backgrounds and
experiences.

Whether they were a generalist detective from a

one-man post or a specialist detective from Detroit's narcotic
or homicide, they were all convinced that a basic detective
course was needed in Michigan.

They were also united in their

belief that a more systematic approach was needed to provide
in-service training in an organized manner.
revealed

that

some

detectives

had

no

The participants
problem

obtaining

additional training while others have not gone to training in
five years or longer.

The Detroit Police Department is a

special case bordering on the unreal where their detectives
have not received any in-service training, with the exception
of firearms and special narcotics units,

for as long as 25

130

years.

All of the Detroit Police officers interviewed as part

of this study asserted that there was no substantial training
after the basic police academy.

Larry Nevers and Walter

Budzyn, both Detroit Police detectives with more than twenty
years of esqperience, were convicted in August 1993 of killing
Malice Green in Detroit.
news coverage.
by

The murder trial received national

But one of the underlying causes was disclosed

Larry Nevers

in an

interview

after he was

convicted.

Nevers asserted that he was a detective with the Detroit
Police Department for 25 years and never received any police
training after he graduated from the academy.

He suggested

that the Malice Green killing might not have occurred if he
had received additional in-service training especially in the
area

of

current

state-of-the-art

arrest

and

take-down

procedures.

SIGNIFICANCE OF JOB STRESS AND THE LAW:
The respondents unanimity speaks to a much larger problem
that

untrained detectives are confronted with every day.

problem is job stress.

The

They realize more than anyone the

tremendous pressure that they are under to accomplish the
sometimes

impossible

involving

serious

task

crimes

of
of

conducting
every

(Respondent Oil, page 80, Q-36ee).

kind

investigations
and

dominion

If they make a critical

mistake during the investigation of a serious crime, everyone
will know about it.

To a certain degree everyone is watching

131

the progress of their cases: the victims, the subject, their
commanding officer, the prosecutors,
fellow officers,
general public.

and many

times

the defense attorneys,

the news

media,

and the

Critical mistakes may prohibit a guilty party

from being charged and/or tried for the violation.

And, it is

especially true when it involves victim-type crimes, such as
murder,

rape,

assault,

and/or

child

sexual

abuse.

No

detective wants to wait for the perpetrator to commit a series
of crimes before they are brought to justice.

The detectives

are the ones who see the brutality and the damage inflicted on
innocent victims and their families. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), Institutional Research and Development
Unit,

has conducted a long-term analysis of the state and

local law enforcement training needs in the United States for
a number of years.

In 1985, surveys were sent to 2,693 law

enforcement agencies throughout the United States asking these
agencies to list the top training priorities for each agency.
The number one priority for training was Handling Personal
Stress.

The

second

top priority was

Maintaining

Physical

Fitness.173 Physical fitness is recognized as one of the best
methods available to reduce personal stress. The participants
were

asked

if physical

fitness

should

requirement for selection of a detective.

be

included

as

a

Most respondents

stated that it should not be a requirement.

The personal

appearance of a detective was an important consideration when

132

dealing with the public but they believed that this should be
personal matter (Appendix C, D & E, Q-34).
The review of the literature, as reflected in Chapter II,
revealed that our forefathers designed our government to be
governed by educated electors.

They made the judicial and law

enforcement systems difficult by placing safe guards such as
the

Bill

of

Rights

in

the

Constitution and

specifically

designed these rights to guarantee that police powers would
not be easily applied.

To err was to err in favor of the

citizen, not the government.

However, police officers and

especially detectives, witness the criminal element taking
advantage of any weakness in our judicial system by employing
technicalities and high-priced attorneys who might not be the
seekers of truth.
The importance of the Bill of Rights was demonstrated
recently with the live coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder
case and subsequent court proceedings.

For several weeks, all

of our daily news was filled with stories relating to the O.J.
Simpson case.

Several basic points became very vivid while

watching the defense prepare their case for trial during the
preliminary hearing phase.

First, detectives have to make

guick decisions on the scene which later

will be challenged.

Some critical decisions had to be made within a matter of
minutes.

The detectives had to decide, "do they go over the

wall at O.J. Simpson's house"?

Or, do they wait for four or

five hours until they have sufficient probable cause to get a

133
search warrant?

The detectives at the scene knew that they

had two murdered people, one of whom happened to be Simpson's
ex-wife.

They also had two of O.J. Simpson's children at the

home of the murder scene.

The detectives stated that they

knew that O.J. Simpson did not live far away from the murder
scene.

When the detectives arrived at Simpson's residence

they could not get anyone to respond to the bell at the gate.
They found a vehicle parked on the street with blood on the
door.
been

They now had a decision to make.
another victim

of

a

crime,

Simpson could have

or he

could have

been

seriously injured during the commission of the crime as the
perpetrator.

In either case, he could have been inside the

residence bleeding to death.

If the detectives failed to act

and Simpson was injured inside the house, they would have been
criticized and possibly brought up on charges of failing to
act.

More importantly, they did act, and from that point on,

every decision they made and everything they did during the
investigation came under the scrutiny of the courts by the
defense attorneys, who put the detectives' actions and motives
on

trial.

Every

questions.

action

was

being

second-guessed

with

Why did they go to O.J. Simpson's house in the

first place?

Why did they go over the wall?

search the outside of the house?

Why did they

Was it legal for them to

obtain permission of O.J. Simpson's daughter, who was living
at the residence, to conduct a search of the residence for
Simpson?

Did they conduct an indepth search, or

was it a

134
cursory type of search?

Why did they later obtain a court

ordered search warrant after they had already searched the
house?

Why did they use certain words and phrases in drafting

their affidavit for the search warrant?
to

five hours to get a search warrant?

Why did it take four
Defense attorneys

also requested the detectives' personnel files in an attempt
to discover if there was anything in their past performance
that they could use to discredit the detective's present
testimony.

The defense attorneys hired private investigators

to scrutinize every aspect of the investigation and discover
any weaknesses that could be exploited, including detectives'
personal lives.
It has also been shown that little has been done to
improve the general techniques used by detectives, especially
during the last 25 years since the Presidential Commission on
Law Enforcement in 1967.

While criminals use every legal and

illegal means at their disposal, detectives are losing ground
because either they were never taught the skills

or the

techniques have been changed since they were last trained or
taught.

Respondent 024 provided his personal philosophy of

crime and detective work:
Seriously, police work and investigations, is not
rocket science and it's not brain surgery.
You
don't have to be a whiz to be successful at basic
police work.
I doubt that basic police work has
changed over the centuries. Basic police work is
the same.
Crime is the same.
It's just,
scientific advancement may make the tools that are
used and how you accomplish the crime that has
changed.
Crime is based on some very basic
emotions and instincts, I believe, and solving them

135
can be done the same way.
So, I think, that some
basic things... I think that you can certainly
refine certain things to help you become a good
police officer and a good investigator.
I think
it's something that you can't be taught.
I do
think there are people who have an inbred skill at
it. But I do believe it is something that you can
learn.173

CURRENT-BASIC DETECTIVE COURSES;
Currently,

there are very few basic detective courses

offered in the United States.

The Michigan state Police

(MSP) , the Los Angeles Police Department, and the New York
City Police Department currently have basic detective courses
for

their detectives.

The MSP

has

an excellent

one-week

overview of the different detective

functions and tasks.

According

Det/Lt.

to

MSP,

Course

Director,

Palmer,

the

school's primary goal is to inform the detectives where they
can go to get help from different state and federal agencies
(Appendix

F). One

of

the

participants

(Respondent

012,

Appendix D, page 10) who attended this school explained that
the school had too much general information and not enough
specific

information

investigations.174

on

how

to

conduct

different

The MSP basic detective course curriculum

is designed to include mandatory subjects in the morning and
give students an choice in the afternoon sessions of selecting
two of the three different courses offered each day.

The

mandatory course includes: narcotics, 4th Amendment, criminal
profiling, legal aspects of interviewing and interrogation,
arson investigation, LEIN for field investigation, fingerprint

136
identification,

intelligence sub unit,

forensic pathology,

investigations

of

and

investigations.

The optional courses are offered each day in

violent

death,

child

abuse

the afternoon sessions and the students are allowed to choose
two of the three courses such as, auto theft, photography, and
major cases {Appendix F: attachments).
The MSP basic detective course is not designed to teach
detectives specific methods or develop investigative skills.
According to Det/Lt. Palmer, MSP, the primary objective is to
make detectives aware of some of the pitfalls in the more
serious investigations.

He believes that it is more important

to make the detectives aware of the various agencies that are
available and that might be able to help them while conducting
different investigations.

The basic detective course is just

one "core" course in the MSP basic detective training program.
A MSP newly promoted detective will be expected to take
several
promoted.

core

courses

within

the

first

year

after being

The other core courses are more specific in design.

The interviewing and interrogation course is a four-day course
devoted to teaching the detectives the various techniques that
can be used when interviewing a witness and/or suspect.
method of instruction is the lecture method.

The

There are no

practical exercises requiring that student participation be
incorporated into the core courses.

137
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), conducts a twoweek basic detective school which every detective of that
department Is required to attend within twelve months after
being appointed to the position of detective.
Gripe,

Director,

Detective

Training

Unit,

Det. Roger

(Appendix

G) ,

explained that the LAPD basic detective course curriculum
contains 35 different subjects which include, interviewing and
interrogation,

report

investigations.
a

24-hour

Specific

writing,

and

how

to

conduct

basic

LAPD's detectives are also required to attend

course

courses

in
are

review

of

investigative

also mandatory

procedures.

for detectives

being

assigned to specialized crime units such as homicide, auto
theft, sexual assault, and narcotics. In addition, detectives
are encouraged to attend a special school for interviewing and
interrogation.

However, the course is limited in number and

is only offered once a year.
Police

Officer

Giovanni

Porcelli,

Instructor/Course

Coordinator, Specialized Training Unit, New York City Police
Department (NYPD), (Appendix H) , explained that NYPD conducts
a mandatory, three-week, basic detective school.
is required for all NYPD detectives.

The course

The course is offered

five times a year and is limited to fifty detectives.

Newly

promoted detectives are required to attend the course within
the first year after being promoted.
contains
Cusanelli,

approximately

50

different

Executive

Office,

The course curriculum
subjects.

Detective

Bureau

Thomas
Training

138
Division,

stated

that

NYPD

has

three

separate

detective

bureaus, the Detective Bureau (DB), the Narcotic Bureau (NB) ,
and the Organized Crime Bureau (OCB) . The OCB is responsible
for gambling, vice, some narcotics, etc. Detectives assigned
to OCB are police officers on temporary assignment for two to
four years and are known as "White Shield".

When they are

promoted to full detective, "Gold Shield", they are assigned
to the DB and NB.

After their three-week basic course they

receive an additional one-week introduction detective course
at DB.

They receive additional instruction after they are

assigned to their specific unit (Appendix J ) .

CURRICULUM

SECONDARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The assumption was made that if the respondents believed
that a basic detective course needed to be established in
Michigan, then additional research questions would have to be
determined:

1.

Based upon
the perceptions of
selected law
enforcement personnel, if a basic detective course
is needed, what type of curriculum would best meet
this need?

139
DISCUSSION:
The participants offered eight main topics which they
believe

should be included in any basic detective course of

study which include:
scenes,

interviewing and interrogation,

communications,

report writing, basic investigator,

criminal law and courts,
The

one

consistent,

crime

street skills,

recurring

and people skills.

theme

revealed

by

the

participants and considered to be the most important skill to
be

acquired

by

a

detective

interviews and interrogations.

was

the

ability

to

conduct

Interviewing was judged to be

the number one function of a detective and was considered to
be his/her "bread and butter".

Steven G. Brandi (1991) found

that the most common activity performed by detectives working
burglary and robbery investigations was the interviewing of
victims and the second most common activity was interviewing
other witnesses and suspects.175 As stated earlier, the FBI's,
Institutional Research and Development Unit conducted a long­
term analysis of the state and local law enforcement training
needs in the United States. The survey discovered that the
third overall

priority listed by the 2,693 agencies was how

to conduct Interviews/Interrogations.176 The report disclosed
several other courses listed in the top 14 training priorities
which

apply

to

detectives.

These

include:

4)

Collect,

Maintain, and Preserve Evidence; 8) Investigate Conspiracies;
9)

Develop

Dwellings,

Sources
and

of

Information;

Transportation

10)

Search

Conveyance;

11)

Persons,
Search,

140
Photograph, and Diagram Crime Scenes; 12) Hostage Negotiator;
13) Testify in Criminal, Civil, and Administrative Cases; 14)
Write Crime/Incidence Reports.
common

to

all

specifically

police

directed

Several of these courses are

officers
at

while

detectives

others

and

were

more

investigators.177

Cohen and Chaiken (1987) related that studies have shown that
successful investigations are dependent on detectives' ability
to prepare legible,

concise,

accurate,

comprehensible,

and

complete reports.17®

IMPLEMENTATION

SECONDARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS

2.

Based on the perceptions of the selected law
enforcement personnel, how could a training program
be implemented throughout the state?

There

appeared

participants
Training

that

Council

to be
the

a

general

Michigan

(MLEOTC)

could

agreement

among

Law

Enforcement

and

should

be

the

Officers
given

the

responsibility for implementing a basic detective course in
Michigan.
MLEOTC's

governing

board

consists

of

three

representatives from the Michigan Sheriff's Association, three
representatives

from

the

Michigan

Chiefs

of

Police,

one

141
representative
representatives

from

the

from

Detroit

the

Police Department,

various

police

three

unions,

representative from the Attorney General's Office,

one

and one

representative from the Michigan State Police.
William Nash, Chief, Employment Standards Section, MSP
(MLEOTC)

and Raymond Beach,

(MLEOTC),

(Appendix

I),

are

Chief,
the

Field

directors

standards and procedures in Michigan.

Services,
for

MSP

MLEOTC's

Both Nash and Beach

agree that there is a need to establish a basic detective
course for Michigan detectives.

They explained that there

were no insurmountable obstacles in developing standards for
such a course but that the overriding problem and concern
would be the financing of such a program.
The present MLEOTC standards only apply to certifying
Michigan's basic police

officers.

The present

standards

require 472 hours of instruction in basic police procedures,
and an additional 80 hours of advanced police training to be
received within three years after completing the basic course.
MLEOTC receives its authority from Public Act 203, 1965,
as amended, to establish and set the standards for the basic
course requirements and also for all in-service training of
Michigan

law

enforcement

personnel.

The

law

further

authorizes MLEOTC to set categories or classifications of inservice training programs and minimum courses of study and
attendance requirements.

MLEOTC conducts ongoing evaluations

of training programs to assure a sustained level of quality

142
training.

MLEOTC's approved training schools are located at

five four-year colleges,

seven community colleges,

and six

regional police academies throughout the state of Michigan.
According to Nash and Beach, a special basic detective
course could be offered and certified by MLEOTC.

Presently,

MLEOTC

the

does

certify

special

courses

Investigator Course and Firearms

such

as,

Arson

Instructors Course.

The

basic police officer's course could serve as the foundation
for a basic detective course curriculum and could be esqpanded
in critical areas specifically needed for detectives.
and

Beach

also

explained

that

the

present

Nash

certification

program for recruit training was approved by the Training
Council

on

a

five-year voluntary basis until

agencies became comfortable with the program.
that

a

program

for

a

basic

detective

instituted utilizing a similar method.

all

of

the

They suggested

course

might

be

They reemphasized that

the major obstacle to such a program would be the added cost
related to paying for replacement officers while the detective
was in training for an extended period of time.

FINANCING

SECONDARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
3.

Based
on
the
perceptions
of
selected
law
enforcement personnel, how could a program to
provide training to all law enforcement departments
in the state be financed?

143
The MSP basic detective school is primarily financed by
Michigan's 302 Fund and administered by MLEOTC.

The Michigan

302 Fund appears to be the best method to finance a Michigan
basic detective course.
Mr. Nash
the

key

to

and Mr. Beach (Appendix I) , pointed out that

establishing

funding issue.

a

basic

detective

course

is

the

Some method of funding has to be devised to

pay the overtime pay for the officers who are filling in for
the detective who are attending the training.

Each department

has limited manpower and each officer's time is built into the
department's overall operational plan.
The funding for the basic courses is received from the
participating agencies.

MLEOTC and all in-service training

funding is derived from fines levied on traffic tickets.
funds

are

known

as

302

Funds.

The

funds

are

The

collected

primarily through the traffic courts as part of the fines
imposed on traffic citations.
diverted to the 302 Fund.

Five dollars of each fine is

The law specifically requires that

these funds be used for in-service training of participating
law enforcement agencies and their personnel.
responsible

Only agencies

for issuing motor vehicle traffic

tickets

are

permitted to participate.
Several suggestions were made by the respondents as to
how

revenues could be raised to pay for the additional cost

associated with providing

a basic detective

course.

The

additional cost is related to substitution or overtime pay for

a replacement officer while the detective is attending the
course.

One suggestion was to

ticket issued.

assess a $.50 fee per traffic

Another suggestion was to assess a one-dollar

fee for a Michigan Driver's License.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The

following

recommendations

are made

based

on

the

finding of this study:
1.

A Basic Detective Course should be established to
assist Michigan detectives.

2.

An advanced detective training program should be
an extension o£ the basic detective course. It
should be supplemented with a well-planned,
organized, incremental, and progressive inservice continuing education program.

3.

The courses should be mandated and the MLEOTC
should set the standards and certify all
detective training courses as part of an overall
detective comprehensive educational plan.

4.

A audit and review of the existing programs and
oversight authority should be implemented by the
MLEOTC Executive Board to determine if the
present method of providing in-service training
is being properly carried out by participating
agencies.

5.

The suggestions advocated and outlined in the
conclusion section should be incorporated into
any detective training program.

145

This researcher does believe that the participants have
shown that there is a genuine need for a Basic Detective
Course and it is possible to implement and finance this course
through existing MLEOTC procedures. It is intuitively obvious
that newly-assigned,

and/or temporarily-assigned detectives

would benefit the most from this training.

This researcher

also finds that the study is important because the detectives
interviewed not only believe that newly-assigned detectives
could benefit a Basic Detective Course but that all detectives
could benefit from this course of study.

Detectives are

being placed under tremendous pressure to perform a critical
role in our society.

Both the detectives and our society

incur serious consequences if detectives do not performed
their roles correctly.
attending

a

Basic

Detectives would benefit directly from

Detective

Course

training would be a natural extension.

from

which

advanced

The one unknown is

whether or not legislation would be necessary to resolve a pay
issue related to the salaries of substitute officers needed as
replacements

for the detectives who would attend a basic

detective course.

This issue could and should be addressed by

MLEOTC's executive board.

The above recommendations are based

on the findings that most of the participants believe that any
advanced detective training should be an extension of a basic
detective course with a well-planned, organized, incremental,
and progressive in-service for a continued education program
(Appendix B, Q-37, page 122).

The participants also pointed

146
out that detective course should be taught by experience and
knowledgeable instructors and not by someone who is just
putting in time or by someone who's only qualification is that
they are available.

The participants are not looking for an

introductory type course but an indepth course of study that
will teach them how to perform the functions of a detective.
Conducting an interview while investigating an auto accident
or issuing a citation to a motorist cannot be equated to
conducting interviews of witnesses, victims, and perpetrators
of serious crimes.

The word "serious" denotes the difference.

Mistakes made while enforcing minor violations can and are
usually overcome with little or no serious consequences.
a

major

investigation

the

detective

may

only

get

In
one

opportunity to conduct an interview with key witnesses and/or
suspects.

Ever effort

should be made

interviews properly the first time.

to conduct

these

Interviewing methods and

techniques is just one of the many detective functions that
have been developed and can be taught to assist detectives to
do it right the first time.

There is an axiom that states,

"You perform the way to train". The question has to be asked,
"why should the public and victims of crimes have to wait
several years for a detective to acquire the knowledge, when
a possible solution is presently available?"
recommended

that

the MLEOTC

should

get

It is also

involved

in the

oversight of the training presently being provided to Michigan
law enforcement agencies. The Detroit Police Department (DPD)

147
detectives interviewed asserted that no essential training has
been provided to DPD's detectives for over twenty years.
is unconscionable that DPD detectives

do not

It

receive any

training since they receive the largest amount of 302 Funds.

ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS

SUMMARY;
In this subsection a number of additional themes were
developed while gathering the

information

Primary and Secondary Research Questions.
conveyed

a

number

of

beneficial

related

to

the

The participants

insights

into

issues

concerning detectives' functions and operations that were not
directly related to the research questions.

This information

will be presented in this subsection and Implications for
Future Research.

COOPERATION WITH THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE:
The participants related that, overall, they did not have
a problem

submitting

cases

recommending prosecution.

to

their

prosecutor's

office

But each of the participants had

examples of individual problems that they had experienced with
their prosecutor's office.

Several mentioned that at the

prosecutor's level the cases and issues become political.

The

prosecutor's office is concerned with re-election and the

148
public

perception

of

certain

cases.

The

participants

expressed concerns with the method of plea bargaining.

One

detective arrested an individual for possession of a concealed
weapon.

When he appeared at court for the initial hearing the

prosecutor's office had reduced the charge to attempt to
possess a weapon.

Another participant expressed his belief

that in the large cities such as Detroit,

the prosecutor's

office is overwhelmed by the shear volume of cases to be
processed.

He explained that there are no advance meetings

with the assistant prosecutors to discuss the pending case.
The first time that they usually see the assistant prosecutor
is when they arrive at court for the bond or preliminary
hearing.

The participants complained that the prosecutor's

office wants to have several violations so that they can enter
into a plea bargain and be able to give something to the
defendant in exchange for his plea.

Another observation that

they made was that the assistant prosecutors assigned to the
various prosecutor's offices have their own preferences on
different types of violations that they like to prosecute.
The

investigator

determine

what

should
his/her

get
likes

to

know
and

each

dislikes

assistant
are.

and
Some

assistants are assigned as special prosecutors for special
cases like narcotics.

They also noted that most prosecutors

demand a higher quality of case reports then the detectives
would like to give {Appendix B, Q-31, page 87; Q-32, page 93) .

149

DETECTIVEfS FUNCTION:
The respondents also described the detective's function
as the person who takes the initial incident report of an
alleged crime, usually from the patrol officers, and follows
up on every available lead.

He/she conducts: searches of the

crime scenes, in-depth interviews of witnesses, and identifies
and

interrogates

pertinent

facts

possible

suspects.

in a chronological

They

arrange

the

order and reduce

and

describe the facts accurately in a written report.
makes

sure

that

the

evidence

and witnesses

He/she

support

the

allegations and makes a written and/or oral presentation to
the prosecutor. He/she processes the case through the court
system.

As one respondent stated,

"detectives' work isn't

worth anything if it doesn't go to court"

(Appendix B, Q-10,

page 4; & Q-12 pg 11 ).

GOOD DETECTIVES;
When asked to define a "good detective"

and what they

believed were the essential qualities exhibited by successful
detectives,
Several

the

respondents

offered

numerous

recurring themes were developed.

qualities.

The respondents

describe a "good detective" as a police officer who possesses
common

sense,

works

in

plain

clothes,

is

a

curious,

inquisitive person, has good written and oral communication
skills, is a good listener,

is skilled at interviewing and

interrogations, has good knowledge of the criminal law, is

150
highly self motivated, accepts responsibility, is an extremely
hard worker, recognizes what evidence is necessary to prove
the legal elements of a case, and is tenacious as a bulldog
when it comes to solving crimes

(Appendix B, Q-15 & Q-29,

pages 21 & 80, Q-13, page 13).

CAN ANYONE FUNCTION AS A DETECTIVE? ;
The

respondents

resounding "no".

answered

the

above

question with

a

They explained that anyone could be called

a detective but how successful he/she would be depends on the
individual's desire, knowledge, and expertise. They described
detectives as being individuals who possess the following
characteristics: patience, good interviewing skills, educated,
self

motivated,

self

starters,

working

with

minimum

supervision, assuming responsibility, having people skills,
and most importantly, one who has good communication skills,
both oral and written.

POLICE OFFICER'S FUNCTION:
The respondents were asked to describe the function of a
uniformed police officer.

They described the police officer's

function as being primarily one of community protection and
maintenance of law and order.
police

officer's

role

as

They also interpreted the

being

multi-faceted

responsibilities being added all the time.

with

new

The second primary

151
function

of

a police

public/community.

officer

is

one

of

service

to

the

Other themes that they described were of

deterrence and apprehending criminals, listening to people and
being held to a higher standard than the public (Appendix B,
Q-8, page 3).

FORMAL TRAINING:
Seventy percent (70%) of the detectives interviewed did
not receive any formal training when they were promoted to
detectives (Appendix B, Q-25, page 63).

They went directly

from the uniformed division into the detective bureaus.
received

11on- the -job”

considerably

(OJT)

from department

training.

The

to department.

appointed detectives had training officers

OJT

Some
varied

Some newly(detectives)

to

whom they could go.

For others, the OJT consisted of a couple

of days,

and

or hours

whatsoever.

still

others

received no

training

One of the major criticisms of the OJT method is

that if the training officer lacks

the experience and/or

knowledge, or has bad work habits, these traits will be passed
on to the new detective.

As described by Det/Lt. Palmer, MSP,

it took approximately 18 months before a newly transferred
patrol

officer was

able

to make

the transition

from the

uniformed division to become a productive member of the state
narcotics investigative units.

The amount of time was reduced

to six months when a basic training course was introduced.

152
Det/Lt. Palmer stated that law enforcement cannot afford 18
months

waiting

for

an

investigator

to

become

productive

(Appendix F).

TRANSITION PHASE;
The respondents were asked how long the transition period
was from the time that they were promoted to a detective until
they felt that they had obtained some "level of confidence"
where they knew what they were doing when they conducted an
investigation

(Appendix B, Q-27, page 73).

They related

that the normal period ranged from a minimum of six months to
two years (Appendix D, Q-41 to Q-45, pages 17-21),
One respondent, who received no training at all when he
became

a

detective,

recounted

that

he

walked

detective bureau and was handed a stack of cases.

into

the

His first

criminal investigation as a detective involved a child who was
sexually abused.

He later received specialized training in

Child Sexual Conduct (CSC) cases, but only after he complained
that he could not conduct any more CSC cases without the
training
further

(Appendix C,
explained

Q-ll,

that

the

page 5;
CSC

Q-25,

cases

page

were

10) .

the

investigations that any detective would encounter.

hardest
This fact

was reaffirmed by many of the other participants.

A child

cannot be interviewed in the same manner as an adult.
ramifications
monumental

to

both

proportions.

the

child

If a

and

social

the

family

worker

He

are

The
of

or a patrol

153
officer misinterprets what the child is trying to say it may
have disastrous effects on the child and the family.
Respondent

001

offered

the

following

observation

of

the

importance of interviewing children and young people:
Some people, I think, are good at certain things
and not good at others.
I found that a lot of
people and most police officers can ask the correct
questions at a major crime scene, like major fatal
accidents, or even a homicide in certain cases, but
when you start dealing with children on sexual
abuse, or anyone on sexual abuse, or criminal
sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation or abuse, it
takes a certain knack to talk to a younger person,
males and females, and most police officers can't
do that. And some persons just could not stand it
(Appendix B, Q-ll, page 5).
Most people think of family sexual abuse when they hear
of child sexual conduct cases.

A recently released study by

the United States Department of Justice revealed that one
fourth (1/4) of all female rape victims were under the age of
ten. Sixty-eight percent of the female rape victims were under
the age of eighteen. The report further states that 20 percent
of the
percent

females under
were

12 were

attacked by

raped by

relatives,

their fathers,

and

50

percent

46

were

assaulted by friends and acquaintances. Only four percent of
the children were attacked by a stranger.179

PROMOTION AND ASSIGNMENT TO DETECTIVE:
Questions 16 through 23 is a series of questions designed
to determine the methods and decision criteria used by the
various

law

enforcement

agencies

to

select

and

promote

154
officers

to

the

position

of

detective

and

investigator

(Appendix B, Q-16, page 24) . Most participants reported that
their individual agencies use a variation and/or combination
of

a

written

test,

oral

panel

interview,

and

officer's

evaluations to qualify officers for promotions to detective.
There are two generally assumed basic tenets associated
with the selection and promotion of most detectives.
the person has to be a sworn police officer.

First,

Secondly, the

officer considered for the promotion has to be a member of the
particular agency making the promotion.
promotion

or

assignment

to

Officers selected for

a detective

position

normally selected from outside of the agency.

are

not

If the agency

is a small department, ie. 50 officers or less, the selection
pool will be limited to the size of the organization.

If the

department is a large department other constraints may exist
in

accordance

contracts,

etc.

with

department

A

small

regulations

department

may

and/or
not

union

have

any

procedures except those established by the current chief.
Cohen and Chaiken

(1987) discussed the procedures for

selecting candidates for the position of detective:
Although procedures for identifying qualified
candidates to be hired as police officers are
gradually
becoming
increasingly
standardized
throughout the nation - virtually no meaningful
guidance is currently able to law enforcement
administration on how to select detectives who will
perform well.
For example, the Commission on
Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies has
formulated 940 standards of police organization and
management, but not one of them specifically
discusses how to identify qualified officers for
investigative assignments.180

155
The typical method described by the participants tends to
involve the successful passing of a written test, followed by
an oral

panel

interview and a review of

evaluations and service records.

the candidates'

The results of a written

test are used by the larger agencies to qualify a candidate
for both the position of detective and sergeant/supervisor.
After the candidate successfully passes the written test,
he/she is scheduled for an appearance before an oral interview
panel.

The oral interview panel may be an "inside or an

outside" panel.
house

An "inside panel" usually consists of in-

supervisory

department.

staff

officers

from

the

individual

An "outside panel" usually consists of panel

members from outside of the agency.

The members may be drawn

from other police agencies, or other municipal governmental
agencies,

such as, city management,

the Board of Water and

Light, representatives of the school district, etc. Candidates
who appears before the panel receives a grade which is added
to his/her written test score.
and

service

records

are

The candidate's evaluations

reviewed

and

additional

points

awarded.

Some departments also award several points

for

seniority.

All of the qualified candidates are then listed on

a qualifying roster and submitted to the Chief or Promotion
Board for actual selection (Appendix B, Q-16, page 24).
The above mentioned procedures are not standardized and
a wide variation may and does actually exist from agency to
agency.

The participants also mentioned other criteria that

156
were used by their parent agencies to select candidates.

Some

agencies use the number of arrests,

sick

traffic tickets,

leave and citations as determining factors of an officer's
qualifications and/or dependability.

When asked what they

believed was the most important factor in their individual
promotion to detective, most of the participants stated that
past work experience was considered one of the most important
aspects, especially temporary assignments as investigators to
specialized units, such as narcotics and vice (Appendix B, Q17, page 26; Q-18, page 31; Q-20, page 40) . Many participants
believed that affirmative action was also a consideration used
by their departments in making the determination for selection
of detectives.

None could confirm that affirmative action

criterion were actually used, but suspected that it played a
part in their department's selection process (Appendix B, Q21, page 44).

The Detroit Police Department's

(DPD) past

promotional policy had been based on a qualifying written test
that was used for the selection process for promotion to the
positions

of detectives

and

sergeants.

Assignments

were

arbitrarily selected by the administration with a certain
number of promoted officers going to the detective division
and others going to positions of sergeants in the uniformed
division.
court

The participants stated that the affirmative action

order,

issued years

ago

concerning

the promotional

practices of DPD with regards to minorities and females, was
to be rescinded.

The new promotional policy was to promote

157
the most qualified person with the highest written test scores
first, regardless of race or sex.

At the time this research

information was being gathered the promotional policy was that
any officer could be promoted as long as they passed the
written test with a minimum score of 70.

Any officer could be

promoted regardless of his/ her position on the official
roster.

An officer could be ranked 500 and be promoted before

the officer listed as number-one with the highest written test
score.

These promotions were known as "charter promotions"

whereby the mayor could promote any officer whom he determined
was needed in a specific job or duty.

OPD had also done away

with the official title and rank of detective and replaced it
with that of investigator.

An officer did not have to be

promoted to the rank of investigator to be assigned to that
position.

The participants also described the selection

process whereby promotions were based on a quota of, one*white
officer, one black officer, one white female, and one black
female officer
noted

(Appendix B, Q-20, page 44) .

that the described quota method above

It should be
is what

the

participant perceived to be the method that was used by DPD.
Cohen and Chaiken

(1987)

found that one of the most

successful predictor of investigative skills is the Civil
Service Exam Verbal Ability.
The exams are designed to measure the cognitive
abilities of the capacity to know, perceive, and
think. These traits lead in turn, to creativity,
abstract reasoning, memory, and intelligence, all

158
of which are considered vital for recreating crimes
scenes, pursuing crime leads, and organizing crime
information logically and clearly.1*1
One criticism raised by several of the participants was
that the written test only shows that a person is a good exam
taker,

but may not be indicative of how good a detective

he/she would make.
And just because you took an exam and were a good
exam taker, doesn't necessarily mean that you're a
good police officer. You may know how to study for
an exam but couldn't find a bleeding elephant in a
snow storm (Appendix B, Q-21, page 45).
The participants also explained that the best uniformed
police officers do not necessarily make the best detectives.
They explained that when an officer is in uniform he/she has
the visible authority of the police when asking questions
and/or seeking help from citizens.
other hand,

The detective,

on the

is working in plain clothes and has to sell

him/herself to the public before they will obtain cooperation.
Some detectives never make the mental transition from uniform
to plain clothes and continue to wear their authoritative
badge on their chest when dealing with the public.

IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

OVERVIEW;
In this subsection there are a number of questions and
issues that have been raised which would lend themselves to

159
areas where research is lacking.
this

study

as

possible

areas

Three themes identified in
for

further

research

are:

indexing of arrest and clearance rates; conviction rates as
apposed to arrest rates to determine how effective the police
officers and/or detectives are in solving crimes;

and the

policy of temporary assignments known as "train and transfer"
and their impact on society.

INDEXING ARREST AND CLEARANCE:
One

of

the underlying

themes

developed

is

that

the

functions of a detective are not the same as those of a patrol
officer.

The patrol officer who normally arrives first at the

scene of the crime or incident plays a vital role in securing
the scene and interviewing witnesses before they have a chance
to be disbursed.

Many times the patrol officers are able to

obtain the identity of a potential suspect while at the scene.
This is considered to be a critical element in determining
whether a case is initiated and subsequently successfully
prosecuted.
main

The definition of when a case is solved is the

question.

The

Rand

Study

conducted

by

Peter

W.

Greenwood, et.al. (1975) defined that a case is solved at the
point when the police identify the suspect, whether or not the
case needed additional work to establish the facts to prove
guilt in a court of law.182 The RAND Study conducted by Jan
Chaiken, Peter Greenwood, and Joan Petersilia (1976) claimed
that

the main

job of

an

investigator

is

to

"locate

the

160
perpetrator,

take him into custody, and assemble the facts

needed to present charges in court.1,183 They also stated that
investigators were only responsible for solving 2.7 percent of
all serious crimes and that the remaining 97.3 percent of
"cleared

crimes"

investigators do.184

will

be

cleared

no

matter

what

the

Paradoxically, they later explained that

the most important activity of an investigator is the postarrest investigation.185
John Eck (1983) found:
...that cases most likely to be solved were those
in which substantial information was provided by
the
patrol
officer
who
had
conducted the
preliminary investigation.188
An arrest can be made on "probable cause" that a crime
has been committed and the person arrested is suspected of
committing the crime.
trial

it

presented

requires
to

show

To obtain a conviction in a criminal

that

clear and convincing evidence be

"beyond

a

reasonable

doubt"

that

the

accused/suspect committed the crime. It is a long way from
identifying a potential suspect to proving in a court of law
that this person is in fact the one who committed the crime
"beyond a reasonable doubt". Most experienced prosecutors in
Michigan are not going to issue an arrest warrant unless they
are convinced that the investigator has sufficient evidence to
prove his/her case in a court of law (Appendix C, 6c & 6d,
page 3) . Chaiken, et.al., (1976) defined serious crimes to be
homicides, rape, assaults with great bodily injury, robbery,
or first-degree burglary.

Chaiken further explained that in

161
order to conduct investigations of serious crimes a more
intensive effort is necessary and investigators need to be
better trained:
These crimes warrant special investigative efforts
that could be best provided by major offenses
units, manned by investigators who are well-trained
and
experienced
in
examining
crime
scenes,
interpreting physical evidence, and interrogating
hostile
suspects
and
fearful
witnesses...investigative positions that require
special skills and training.187
All of the detectives who participated in this study were
involved in conducting investigations of crimes, characterized
by the Chaiken

(1976)

study as being serious crimes,

even

though they may not have been assigned to a specialized
investigative unit.

For the participating detectives, whether

they were assigned to small or large agencies, the bottom line
was not whether an arrest was made, but whether a conviction
of the guilty individual was obtained in a court of law.
The participating detectives defined the function of a
patrol

officer as an officer who protects the community,

prevents crime, and maintains a level of communication with
the people he/she serves, as "community policing" implies.
He/she make the arrest of a suspect at the scene of a crime
based on "probable cause" that there is reasonable grounds for
presuming that a crime has been committed,

and that the

suspect is the person responsible for committing the crime.188
However,

as

previously

cited,

Chaiken,

et.al.

(1976)

explained, the most important activity of an investigator is
the post-arrest investigation.189

162

CONVICTION RATE;
Manning writes that the crime indexes are used by the
policy as a "symbolic barometer of their effectiveness".190
One

of

the major points

of

confusion

in the

literature

relating to criminal investigations is the determination as to
when is a case/crime is considered solved.

The underlying

problem is determining how efficient the investigator is.
This is usually measured by determining how much time was
devoted by

the

detective

to

solving

the

case.

If

the

definition is, as suggested by Peter Greenwood et.al.,(1975),
that a case is "solved" when the police know the identity of
the perpetrator (s), the amount of time expended on a case will
be minimal.191 It also gives credence to the argument that
detectives are not really necessary because many times patrol
officers obtain the name of possible suspects at the scene of
a crime.

The participating detectives define a case as being

solved when a determination is made in a court of law as to
the guilt or innocence of a perpetrator.

A case is closed

when there are no more leads to follow, but it is not solved.
The participants explained that one of the qualities that
separates a "good detective" from an ordinary detective is
his/her tenacity and the trait of always looking for another
door to open in order to solve a case.

However,

if the

definition for solving a case is the ability to identify a
possible perpetrator, then the contention can be made that
permanent detectives are not necessary and the burden is

163
shifted

to

the

prosecutor

to

determine

conviction of the possible perpetrator.

how

to

obtain

a

Most prosecutors are

under-staffed and over burdened with pending prosecutions.
Prosecutors are not investigators.

They review the facts and

evidence to determine if a prosecution can be sustained in a
court of law.

If they determine that there is insufficient

evidence to sustain a conviction the case will be returned to
the police for further investigation, or it remains suspended
in a pending status until it dies from a statutory problem or
disinterest.
measurement

An interesting area to investigate would be the
of conviction rates of police officers and/or

detectives to determine how

effectively

they are enforcing

the laws.

TRAIN AND TRANSFER;
The

participants

further

explained

that

all

persons

presently holding positions of detective do not possess all of
the skills needed to do their job.
this

is

due

primarily

to

(Appendix B, Q-23, page 50).

the

They believe however, that
lack

of

specific

training

The participant noted that the

present trend is to assign an officer to temporary positions
of detectives for a period of three years or less.

These

positions are referred to as "train and transfer" positions.
They further explained that what is needed is consistency and
stability.

When an

investigator

is transferred out of a

detective's position that he/she has held for three years, all

164

of the experience and knowledge he/she has acquired is lost
because this type of knowledge is not utilized in the patrol
division.

When the detective is replaced with a new officer

the learning process starts all over again (Appendix B, Q-23,
page

50) .

Cohen and Chaiken

(1987)

stated

that

in most

agencies it is unlikely that a detective will be transferred
back

to

patrol

However,

once

he

has

been

promoted

to

detective.

there is the opposite extreme where officers

never promoted to detectives,
permanent.

are

and/or assignments are never

One department that they had studied had a rigid

three year maximum tour even for supervisors.193
advantage

of

having

officers

rotated

into

The claimed

the

detective

bureaus is that more officers get an opportunity to obtain the
experience and exposure to more in-depth investigations.

But,

the disadvantage as expressed by the participants far out­
weigh

the

limited

advantages.

As

demonstrated

by

the

participants in this study one of their major concerns is the
lack

of

training

detectives

receive.

In

addition,

the

"transition phase" as described by the participants covers a
period of

six months

to two years.

Det/Lt.

Palmer also

described the transition phase of narcotic officers to be a
minimum of 18 months.193 The temporarily-assigned detective is
at a distinct disadvantage for several reasons.
is limited or no training provided.
in

the

department

sufficient

utilizing

in-depth knowledge

Secondly, all detectives

temporary
and

First, there

the OJT

positions
training

lack
if

it

165

exists, may be compared to the metaphor of the "blind leading
the blind".

Thirdly,

it

is suspected that many of the

officers will lack the motivation to fully immerse themselves
in learning all of the complicated and advanced techniques of
detective's work because they know that they will
be transferred back to patrol.

eventually

Respondent 025 provided some

insight into the transition period when he was asked about the
transition from the uniformed division:
Well, I'd say, three or four months in narcotics
before I became comfortable under that particular
area. When I went to the AG office, the Attorney
General's Office, it was a whole different type of
work and probably was six months to a year. Then
when I came out here, it was a completely different
type of work.
Even to this day, I still go on
scenes where I don't feel comfortable.
And I
think, that's good though.
You get to the point
where you think, yeah, this is a suicide and
there's no problem.
But there's a lot of things
that I don't feel comfortable with. It's probably
not what you're looking at though.
For me
personally, because of my assignment to the Lansing
Post, as a detective sergeant coming out of
intelligence, it was probably a couple years before
I started having a little bit of confidence, enough
confidence where I felt comfortable (Appendix E, Q43) .
The temporary investigator is only beginning to acquire
the basic knowledge after three years and usually does not
become proficient and/or effective as an investigator in such
a short period of time, especially involving investigations of
the more serious types of criminal investigations.194

166

SUMMARY:
In conclusion, the following findings and recommendations
are summarized:
1.

A Basic Detective Course should be
established with a mandatory requirement
for
all
Michigan
detectives
and/or
investigators.

2.

An overall plan should be formulated with
emphasis
being
placed
on
advanced
detective educational programs with a
progressive
curriculum.
The
advanced
certification
could
be
obtained
by
attending an advanced detective course
and/or by an equivalent series of courses
that detectives can build upon.

3.

The basic detective course should be a
comprehensive course of study relating to
how
successful
investigations
are
actually conducted.
Emphasis should be
placed on interviewing and interrogation,
crime
scenes,
law,
report
writing,
synthesizing evidence and witnesses with
specific violations, and developing and
gathering information and evidence used
in criminal investigations.

4.

MLEOTC
should
be
responsible
for
implementing and setting the standards
and certifying all courses.
Courses
should be offered through one or more of
the
existing
MLEOTC
accredited
facilities.

5.

The courses should be funded through
existing 302 Funds which are currently
available.

6.

Advanced detective courses and in-service
courses should be planned and organized
as a normal extension of the Basic
Detective Course and be mandated for
detectives
at
periodic
intervals
throughout their careers.

7.

MLEOTC
should
have
the
oversight
authority to set the standards and
certify
all
detective
training
for
Michigan law enforcement agencies.

To

a

certain

extent,

this

study

corroborated

Brian

Frost's (1982) study in which he determined that 12 percent of
the 10,200 police officers that he studied were responsible
for

over

half

of

all

convictions

jurisdictions included in the study.

in

seven

different

More astonishing was the

fact that 22 percent of the officers did not have one single
arrest that resulted in a conviction.
asked,

The question has been

"Do we need more police officers?"

Bob Trojanowicz,

Michigan State University, stated that police.bodies, in and
of themselves, do not solve the problem or prevent crime.195
The question should be asked,
doing

that

officers,

the

are

other

not

88

"what are the 1,224 officers

percent,

doing?"

Perhaps

approximately
there

are

9,000

innate

and

instinctive abilities that some detectives and police officers
have

that

cannot

be

taught

to

everyone.

However,

this

researcher believes that there are methods and techniques that
can

be

taught

and

used

to

raise

competency level of all detectives.

the

effectiveness

and

Instead of additional

police bodies, maybe our society would be better served with
more efficiently trained officers, especially detectives.

ENDNOTES

1.

Burns, James M. & Pelt as on, Jack W., Government by the
People. Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,
1957, page 200.

2.

Sniffln, Michael J.,
"Prison Numbers Triple
'80", Associated Press. Lansing State
Journal. June 2, 1994, page Al.

3.

Radelet, Louis A . , The Police and the Community. Glencoe
Press, Encino, CA, 1977, page 7.

4.

Manning, Peter, "The
Police Mandate, Strategies and
Appearance",
Policing: A View from the Street,
(ed) Manning & Van Maanen, Goodyear Publishing Co.,
Santa Monica, CA, (1978) pages 8, 12-13.

5.

Ibid., page 13.

6.

Chaiken, Jan M., The Criminal Investigation Process
Volume II; Survey of Municipal & Countv Police
Department. National Institute of Law Enforcement &
Criminal Justice, Department of Justice, Rand Corp.
Santa Monica, CA (R-1777-D0J) October 1975, page 34.

7.

Wilson, James Q, "Dilemmas of Police Administration",
Policing: A View from the Street, ed. Peter K.
Manning & John Van Maanen, Goodyear Publishing Co.,
Inc., Santa Monica, CA 1978, page 69.

8.

Stewart, James K., Research Program Plan. U.S. Department
of Justice, National Institute of Justice,
Washington D .C ., NCJ-012667, November 1986, page 29.

9.

Ibid., page 29.

10.

Greenwood, Peter W. and Petersilia, Joan, The Criminal
Investigation Process Volume I: Summary and Policy
Implications. National Institute of Law Enforcement
and Criminal Justice, Department of Justice, Rand
Corp. Santa Monica, CA, (R-1776-D0J), October 1975.

11.

Flanagan, Timonthy J. & McGuire, Kathleen, eds.
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1991. U.S.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,
Washington D.C., USGPO, 1992, page 595.

168

Since

169
12 .

Stewart, op. cit. page IV.

13.

Flanagan & McGuire, op. cit. page 473.

14.

Radelet, op.cit. page 7.

15.

Reid, Sue Titus, Crime and Criminology. Holt, Rinehart
and Winston, New York, N.Y., 1979, pages 411-413.

16.

Manning, op. cit., page 13.

17.

Heinz, Anne M., The Political Contest for the Changing
Content of Criminal Law, (ed) Erike S. Fairchild and
Vincent J. Webb, The Politics of Crime and Criminal
Justice. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA 1985,
pages 77-95.

18.

Guyot, Dorothy. Political Interference Versus Political
Accountability in Municipal Politics, (ed) Fairchild
and Webb, The Politics of Crime and Criminal
Justice, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA 1985,
pages 120-143.

19.

Freeman, Eric, "Police: Michigan Lags Behind In Total
Number of Officers", Detroit News. Detroit, MI,
July 6, 1993.

20.

Ibid., page 2B.

21.

Snell, Tracy L., Correctional Populations in the United
States" 1991. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S.
Department of Justice, Washington D.C., NCJ-142729,
August 1993, page 12.

22

. Wilson, James Q., "The Police and Crime", (ed) Peter K.
Manning and John Van Maanen, Policing a View from
the Street. Goodyear Publishing Co., Santa Monica,
CA 1978, page 202-203.

23.

Ibid., page 204.

24.

Ibid., page 212.

25.

Greenwood, Peter, Chaiken, Jan M., Petersilia, Joan,
Prusoff, Linda, Castro, Bob, Kellen, Konrad &
Wildhorn, Sorrel, Criminal Investigation Process
Volume III: Observation and Analysis. National
Institute of Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice,
Department of Justice, Rand Corp. Santa Monica, CA
(R-1778-D0J) October 1975 page 65.

170
26.

Wilson, op. cit., page 213.

27.

Dye, Daniel, A., The Impact of Differential Training on
Rural Law Enforcement Officers, University of
Georgia, diss, Ph.d., 1982, page 12.

28.

Chaiken, op.cit., page 17.

29.

Ackerman, Thomas H. and Johnson, Brian R., The
Selection and Training of Municipal Police
Detectives in the United States. Presented at
the Academy of Criminal Justice Science, March
1991.

30.

Ape, Albert A. and Jurkanin, Thomas J., Police Officers
Standards and Training Commission; Three Decades of
Growth. The Police Chief, November 1990,
pages 27-30.

31.

Ackerman, et.al., op.cit., page 19.

32.

Yablonsky, Lewis, Criminology. Crime and Criminality.
Harper and Row, NY, 1990, page 331.

33 .

Ibid., pages 336-337.

34.

Ibid., pages 336-337.

35.

Rangem, Peter R. & Wilkin, Gordon, "The Drug Money Hunt",
U.S. News & World Report. August 21, 1989,
pages 22-25.

36.

Van Maanen, John, Observations on the Making of
Policemen, (ed) Peter K. Manning & John Van Maanen,
Policing; A View from the Street. Goodyear
Publishing Co. Inc., Santa Monica, CA, 1978,
page 305.

37.

Walker, Sam, Paths to Police Reform: Reflection on 25
Years of Change.(ed) Dennis J. Kenny, Police &
Policing Contemporary Issues. Praeger, NY, 1989,
pages 274-280.

38.

Chaiken, Jan M. Greenwood, Petersilia, Joan, op.cit.,
page 15.

39.

Palmer, Andy, Det/Lt, Michigan State Police, Interview,
dated February 14, 1994, (Appendix F).

40.

Ibid., Appendix F .

171
41.

Walker, op.cit., page 280.

42.

Gates, Daryl F. & Gripes, Roger L. II, "Detective
Training: A Supervisory Responsibility", The Police
Chief, November 1990, pages 33-35.

43.

Jurkanin, Thomas J., An Assessment of the Relationship
Between
Police
Officers
Biographical
Characteristic Prior Education, Training
and Work Experience and Their Attained
Levels
of
Job
Knowledge,
Southern
Illinois University, 1984, Diss, Ph.D.,
Page 158.

44.

Manning, op.cit., page 13.

45.

Walker, op.cit., page 274.

46.

Meadows, Robert, A Study of the Perception of Law
Enforcement Administration and Criminal Justice
Educators Towards Needed Skills Competencies in
Entry Level Police Training Curriculum, Claremont,
1986, Diss. Ph.D., page 10.

47.

Radelet, op.cit., page 424.

48.

Ibid., pages 6 & 12.

49.

Breci, Michael G., "Higher Education for Law
Enforcement", FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, January
1994, page 2.

50.

Weisberg, Jacob, "The Mafia and the Melting Pot", The
New Republic, October 12, 1987, pages 33-39. Beaty,
Jonathan and Hornik, Richard, "A Torrent of Dirty
Dollars", Time, December 18, 1989, pages 50-56.

51.

Radelet, op.cit., page 33-35.

52 .

Radelet, op.cit., page 44.

53.

Ibid., page 32.

54.

Manning and Van Maanen, op.cit., page 1.

55.

Greenwood, et.al., op.cit., page 104.

56.

Reid, op.cit., page 320.

57.

Ibid., page 321.

172

58.

Ibid., page 12.

59.

Ibid., page 12.

60.

Ibid., page 13.

61.

Ibid., page 12.

62.

Sellers, Charles & May, Henry, A Synopsis of American
History. University of California at Berkley, Rand
McNally & Co., Chicago, IL, 1963, pages 20, 28-29.

63.

Reid, op.cit., page 256.

64.

Sellers, op.cit., page 46.

65.

Sellers, op.cit., page 56.

66 .

Burns, o p .cit., page 38.

67.

Popkin, Richard & Stroll, Avrura, Philosophy Made
Simple. University of California, Santa Diego,
CA, Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, N.Y.,
1956, page 57.

68.

Burns, op.cit., page 39.

69.

Guralnik, David B. (ed) Webster's. New World Dictionary.
Simon and Schuster, Cleveland, OH, 1984, page 947.

70.

Ibid., page 41.

71.

Webster, New World Dictionary, page 817.

72 .

Sellers, op.cit., page 256.

73 .

Ibid., page 256.

74.

Manning, op.cit., page 2.

75.

Radelet, op.cit., page 33.

76.

Bopp,

77 .

Black, Donald J., The Mobilization of Law, (ed) Peter
K. Manning and John Van Maanen, Policing: A View
from the Street. Goodyear Publishing Co., Santa
Monica, CA, 1978, pages 167-168.

William & Schultz, Donald, A Short Story
American Law Enforcement. Charles C. Thomas
Publishers, Springfield, IL 1972, page 38.

of

173

78.

Bums, op.cit., page 49.

79.

Burger, Warren E., "On the Constitution", Lansing
State Journal. Lansing, MI, March 1987.

80.

Burns, op.cit., page 40.

81.

Burger, op.cit., October 18, 1987.

82.

Burns, op.cit., page 217.

83.

Chaiken, Jan M. Greenwood, Peter W. & Petersilia, Joan,
The Criminal Investigation Process: Summary Report.
Rand Corp., Santa Monica, CA (P-5628-1) , June 1976.

84.

Brandle, Steven, op.cit., page 19.

85.

Radelet, op.cit., page 12.

8 6.

Ibid., page 65.

87.

Bums, op.cit., page 217.

88.

Chevigny, Paul, Police Power; Police Abuses in New York
City. Pantheon Books, NY, page 167.

89.

Bitter, Egon, The Functions of the Police in Modern
Society.(ed) Peter K. Manning & John Van Maanen,
Policing: A View from the Street, Goodyear
Publishing Co., Inc., Santa Monica, CA, 1978,
page 45.

90.

Ibid., page 45.

91.

Leger, Robert G. and Stratton, John R., The Sociology of
Corrections. John Wiley & Sons, NY, 1977,
page 407.

92.

Greenwood, Peter W., et.al., The Criminal Investigation
Process
Volume
III:
Observation__ &
Analysis. Rand, Santa Monica, CA, October
1979, pages 104-123.

93.

Manning, op.cit., page 13.

94.

Rubenstein, Johnathan, Private Information: City Police.
Farrar, Strans and Giroux, New York, NY,
1973, page 200-217.

95.

Leger, op.cit., page 408.

174

96.

Webster, John A., "Police Task and Time Study", Journal
of Criminal Law. Criminology and Police Science 61,
1, 1970, pages 94-100.

97.

Ibid., page 95.

98.

Manning, op.cit., page 27.

99.

Wilson, James Q, The Police and Crime, (ed) Manning & Van
Maanen, op. cit., Supra Note 1, page 212.

100. Christensen,
Ronald,
Projected Percentage g£ U.S.
Population with Criminal Arrest and CohvictiPh
Records. President's Commission and Law Enforcement
and Administration of Justice, U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington D .C ., 1967 (Appendix J,
page 220).
101. Ibid., page 227.
102. White, Peter, "An Ancient Indian Herb Turns Deadly Coca",
National Geographic. January 1989, Vol. 175,
N o .1, page 11.
103. Rangem, Peter R. & Witkin, Gordon, "The Drug Money Hunt",
U.S. News & World Report. August 21, 1989,
pages 22-25.
104. Wilson, James Q. & DiJulio, John J. Jr., "Crackdown", The
New Republic. July 10, 1989, pages 21-25.
105. Sentencing
Commission Guidelines,
U.S.
Government
Printing Office, Washington D .C ., November 1, 1990,
page 1.9.
106. Ibid., page 1.9.
107. Ibid., page 1.9.
108. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Correctional Populations in
the United States. 1991, U.S. Department of
Justice, August 1993, pages 5-6 and 52.
109. Martinson, Robert, What Works? Questions and Answers
About Prison Reform, ed Leger & Stratton, The
sociology of Corrections, John Wiley & Sons, NY,
1977, pages 497-523.
110. Criminal Investigation: History 1919-1987, Department of
Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Washington D.C.,
December 1987, Doc. No. 7233, page 7.

175

Ill. Ibid., page 147.
112 . Morris, Norval, The Future of Imprisonment Toward a

Punitive Philosophy, (ed) Leger & Stratton, op.
cit., Supra Note 1, pages 541-557.
113. Jurkanin, op.cit., page 19.
114. Meadows, Robert, A Study of the Perception of Law
Enforcement Administration and Criminal Justice
Educators Towards Needed Skills Competencies in
Entry Level Police Training Curriculum, Claremont,
1986, Diss. Ph.D., page 35.
115. Jurkanin, op.cit., page 35.
116. Dye, Daniel A., The Import of Differential Training on
Rural Law Enforcement Officers, University of
Georgia, Athen, GA, 1982, Diss. Ph.D., page 6.
117. Ibid., page 6.
118. Jurkanin, op.cit., page 24.
119. Ibid., pages 28-29.
120 . Meadows, o p .cit., page 34.
121 . Breci, op.cit., page 3.
122 . Dye, op.cit., page 2.

123. Thorwald, Jurgen, The Century of the Detective. Harcourt
Brace & World, NY, 1964, pages 1-4.
124. Ibid., page 4.
125. Ibid., page 5.
126. Dilworth, Donald C., "Silent Witness: The Emergency of
Scientific Criminal Investigation", International
Association of Chief of Police. Gaitherburg, MD,
1977, page 3.
127. Dye, op.cit., page 8.
128. Sutherland, Erwin, H., Principle of Criminology: Police
Systems. Indiana University, J.B. Leippinott Co.,
1939, page 251.
129. Dye, op.cit., page 7.

176

130. Ibid., page 12.
131. Ackerman, op.cit. page 3.
132. Ibid., page 3.
133. Manning, op.cit., page 13.
134. Ibid., lpage 13.
135. Ackerman, op.cit., page 6.
136. Ibid., page 9.
137. Larsen, Janet K. & Luthans, Fred, The Managerial
Communications
Characteristics
aofi
Contacts. University of South Dakota and
University of Nebraska, International
Communication Association, May 1986,
page 6.
138. Bolonga, Jack 6. & Lindquist, Robert J., Fraud Auditing
& Forensic Accounting. John Wiley & Sons, NY, 1987,
page 32.
139. Van Maanen, op.cit., page 305.
140. Ibid., page 305.
141. Jurkanin, op.cit., page 43.
142. Ibid., page 51.
143. Ibid., page 45.
144. Ibid., page 52.
145. Gates & Gripes, op.cit., pages 33-35.
146. Ackerman, op.cit., page 19.
147. Jurkanin, op.cit., page 45.
148. Wilson, op.cit., page 210.
149. Frost, Brian, et.al., Arrest Convictabilitv as a Measure
of
Police Performance. Bernard Cohen and Jan
Chaiken, Investigators Who Perform Well, National
Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice,
Washington D.C., (J-LEAA-011-81), 1987, page 30.

177

150. Radelet, Louis, op.cit, page 93.
151. Palmer, Andy,
1994.

Det/Lt,

op.cit.

Interview:

February 14,

152. Van Maanen, John, Observations on the Making of
Policemen, (ed) Manning & Van Maanen, op.cit.,
page 292.
153. Van Maanen, op.cit., page 293.
154. Feldman, Harvey W., et. al., Angel Dust: An Ethnographic
Study of PCP Users. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA,
1979, page 212.
155. Dorr-Bremme, Donald W., Ethnology & Evaluation^ The
Goodness of Fit. National Institute of Education:
Center for the Study of Evaluation, California
University, Los Angeles, CA, 1983, page 6.
156. Ibid., page 6.
157 . Ibid., page 16.
158 . Ibid., pages 6-39.
159. Ibid., pages 38-39.
160. Andereck, Mary E., Ethnic Awareness and the School: An
Ethnographic Study. Sage Publications, London, 1992,
page 46.
161. Suggs, Robert C., and Marshall, Donald S., (eds) Human
Sexual Behavior: Variation__In_the_Ethnographic
Spectrum. Basic Book Inc., New York, 1971, Appendix
11, page 272.
162. Cusick, Philip A., The Egalitarian Ideal and the American
High School. Longman, New York, 1983, page 132.
163 . Ibid., page 135.
164. Spradley, James P., Participant Observations. Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1980,
pages, 128-129.
165. Cusick, op. cit., page 134.
166. Cusick, op.cit., page 131-134.
167. Ibid., page 134.

178

168. Ibid., page 134.
169. Best,

John W., Research in Education. Prentice-Hall,
inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1977,
Pages 182-183.

170.

Cusick, op.cit., page 132.

171.

Greenwood, Peter W., The Rand Criminal
Investigation
Studv: Its Findings and Impacts to Date, Rand
Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, 1979, page l.

172. State and Local Law Enforcement Training Needs in the
United States. (Vol II) , Institutional Reseearch and
Development Unit, Training Division, Federal Bureau
of Investigation, Department of Justice, Washington
D.C., September 1986, page 44.
173. Interview of Respondent 024, Appendix E, page 14.
174. Interview of Respondent 012, Appendix D, page 10.
175.

Brandi, Steven, G.,
The Outcomes and Processes of
Detective Decision Making in Burglary and Robbery
Investigations, Michigan State University, East
Lansing, MI, Diss, 1991, page 103 & 113.

176. State and Local Law Enforcement Training Needs in the
United States. (Vol II) , Institutional Reseearch and
Development Unit, Training Division, Federal Bureau
of Investigation, Department of Justice, Washington
D.C., September 1986, page 44.
177. Ibid., page 44.
178. Cohen, Bernard and Chaiken, Jan, Investigators Who_____
Perform Well. National Institute of Justice, U.S.
Department of Justice, September 1987, page 15.
179. Greenwood, Peter, et.al.,
page 65.

(1975-Vol III) op.cit.,

180. Chaiken, Jan, Greenwood, Peter, and Petersilia, Joan, op.
cit., RAND Study, 1976, page 7.
181. Ibid., page 7.
182. Ibid., page 33.

179
183

Eck, John, Solving Crimes: The Investigation of Burglary
& Robbery. PERF, Washington D.C., Bernard Cohen &
Jan Chaiken,
Investigators Who Perform Well.
National institute of Justice, U.S. Department of
Justice, Washington D.C., (J-LEAA-011-81), 1987,
page 31.

184. Ibid., page 38.
185. Brandi, Steven 6., The Outcomes and Processes of
Detective Making in Burglary and Robbery
Investigation, Michigan State University,
Ph.D. diss., pages 103 & 113.
186. Chaiken, et.al.,

1991,

(1976), op.cit., page 33.

187. "Study: Rape of Girls Common."Washington Post. State
Journal, Lansing, MI June 23, 1994, page 3A.
188. Cohen & Chaiken, op.cit., page 2.
189. Hancock, Barry W. and McClung, Curtis,"Abstract-Cognitive
Abilities in Police Selection and Organization,"
Journal of Police Science and Administration. Vol.
12, No. 1, 1984, pages 99-104; Dorfman, Dolores, and
Zeins, Wallace W., "Selection and Training of
Undercover Personnel," Law and Order. Vol. 31, No 9,
September, 1983, pages 53-57; Cohen, Bernard, and
Chaiken, Jan M., op.cit., page 17.
190. Cohen and Chaiken, op.cit., page 9.
191. Palmer, op.cit., Appendix F.
192. Ibid., page 9.
193 . Radelet, op.cit., page 463.
194. Greenwood, et.al.,

(1975), op.cit., page 65.

195. Freeman, op.cit., July 6, 1993

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Time, December 18, 1989.
White, Peter, "An Ancient Indian Herb Turns Deadly Coca",
National Geographic, January 1989.
Wilson, James Q. and DiJulio, John J. Jr., "Crackdown", The
New Republic. July 10, 1989.
Wilson, James Q., "The Police and Crime", (ed) Peter K.
Manning and John Van Maanen, Policing a View from the
Street, Goodyear Publishing Co., Santa Monica, CA 1978.
Yablonsky, Lewis, Criminology. Crime and Criminality.
Harper and Row, NY, 1990.

APPENDIX A

186

QUESTIONNAIRE!
IN RE i

DETECTIVE TRAINING FOR THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
LAN ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

CODE:
DATE i
TIME i
PLACE*
ADVICE *
WAVIER*
DEPARTMENT*
NUMBER OF OFFICERS*
BIOGRAPHICAL
DOB*
POB *
Marital Status*
Prior Marriages*
Children:
EDUCATION
High School*
Junior College*
Technical School*
College*
Graduate Course*

187

Militaryt
Polica Academiesi
WORK EXPERIENCE
1.

Present

2.

Prior Police Experience

3.

Military Experience

4.

Other Work Experience

DETECTIVE EXPERIENCE
INSTRUCTOR EXPERIENCE
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1.

Total Number of Years of Police Experience?

2.

Number of Years as a Detective?

3.

Experience as a Police Instructor?

4.

Do you think that your civilian education
in becoming a police officer? Detective?

assisted you

5.

Do you think that your prior work experience
assisted you or helped prepare you for your work as
a police officer? Detective?

6.

As an experienced detective for a number of years# have
you developed or formulated# a personal philosophy as
it relates to the American criminal justice system?

188

7.

Why did you want to become a detective?

8.

What do you consider
police officer?

9.

Open

10.

What do you
detective?

11.

Can anyone perform the function of a detective?

12.

Is the term investigator and detective synonymous?

13.

How would you define a detective?

14.

What basic qualifications should a detective
possess?

15.

How do good detectives differ from the ordinary
detective?

16.

How is an officer promoted, or assigned, to a
detective position within your department?

17.

What is the criteria used by your department in selecting
an officer for promotion to detective?

18.

How did you receive your promotion to detective?

19.

What do you believe were the major factors contributing
to your promotion to detective?

20.

Is there any distinctions made for rating females
and/or other minority candidates for promotions to
detectives?

21.

In your opinion, are the best persons usually selected
for the position of detective?

consider

to be

the main

function of a

to be

the main

function of

a

189

22.

Hava you had an opportunity to work with other detectives
from your own agencies and/or other agencies?

23.

Do you believe that the detectives assigned to the
various detective functions, such as, B/8's, robberies,
etc., presently possess all of the skills needed to be
good or qualified detective?

24.

As an experienced police officer and detective, are you
satisfied with the training that you received from your
agency?

25.

Did you receive any specific
promoted to detective?

26.

Could improvements be made to the
received by detectives in Michigan?

27.

What are some of the essential skills or training that
a detective should receive?

28.

Do you believe that other law enforcement agencies
that you are familiar with receive the same level of
training for their detectives as your department?

29.

What do you believe are the essential qualities
exhibited by a successful detectives?

30.

Are you satisfied with the quality of your departments
investigative reports?

31.

Are you satisfied with the prosecution case acceptance
level from the local or state's prosecutors office that
you have to work with?

32.

Have you or your agency had difficulties presenting
cases for acceptance to your prosecutor's office.

training when you were

present

training

190

33.

Do you know of other agencies that appear to
better training programs for their detectives or
investigators?

have

34.

Should physical fitness be included in the criteria for
selection of detectives?

35.

Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?

36.

Do you think that there is an need for a basic
detective Course in Michigan?

37.

Do you believe that Michigan detectives could benefit
from an advance detective course?

38.

If a basic detective course was offered, what type
of curricula would best meet this need?

39.

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be implemented throughout the state?

40.

How would such a program to train detectives for all
enforcement agencies in the state be financed?

41.

Is there anything else that I should have asked you that
I didn't ask you?

APPENDIX B

191

APPBMDXX B
CONSOLIDATION 07 EXCERPT ANSWERS

Due to the voluminous amount of data contained
in Appendix B it is exorbitantly cost
prohibitive to publish this information. This
information will be provided upon request at a
nominal charge for copying and mailing.
Please, send all request to:

PATRICK P. HEALEY
4440 Eastway Dr.
Okemos, MI 48864

APPENDIX C

192

QUESTIONNAIRE
IN RE:

DETECTIVE TRAINING FOR THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
LAN ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

CODE:

005

DATE:

11-23-93

TIME:

1600

PLACE:

East Lansing Police Department

ADVICE:

Yes

WAVIER:

Yes

DEPARTMENT:

East Lansing Police Department

NUMBER OF OFFICERS!

56

BIOGRAPHICAL
DOB:

07-25-60

POB:

Kalamazoo, MI

Marital Status:

Yes

Prior Marriages:

None

Children:

1

EDUCATION
High School:

Comstock High School

Junior College:
College

Kalamazoo Community

Technical School;

None

193

College:

Western Michigan University,
AA/CJ

Graduate Course:

None

Military:

None

Police Academies:

Kalamazoo Valley Community
College

WORK EXPERIENCE
1.

Present
Police Officer with East Lansing for eight years.

2.

Prior Police Experience
Coldwater Police Department - 1 year
Lawton Police Department - 1 year
Mattawan Police Department - part time

3.

Military Experience
None

4.

Other Work Experience
A mechanic for a Chevrolet dealer in Plainwell, MI -1

year
Security guard in a mall - 3 years
DETECTIVK EXPERIENCE
Assigned to the East Lansing Police Department,
Detective Bureau in March 1988, for three years.
After that assignment went back to road patrol and
recently was reassigned back to the DB for a month
to help the detectives catch up on cases.
INSTRUCTOR EXPERIENCE
None
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1.

Total Number of Years of Police Experience?
10 years

194

2.

Number of Years as a Detective?
8 years

3.

Experience as a Police Instructor?
None

4.

Do you think that your civilian education assisted
you in. becoming a police officer? Detective?
Oh, yes. Yes.

4a.

Why is that?
Well of course I'll have to talk about the CJ
classes,
I took, mainly. Basically, it just gave
me a general idea as to what the job was about.
And there was some practical work too, as far as
crime scene investigation, that sort of thing.

5.

Do you think that your prior work experience
assisted you or helped prepare you for your work
as a police officer? Detective?
Yeah. My work as a mall security guard. I got
involved in arrests, and assisting the sheriff's
department in that particular area, different
problems that occurred in the mall there.

6.

As an experienced detective for a number of years,
have you developed or formulated, a personal
philosophy as it relates to the American criminal
justice system?
Yeah, I'll say I have.

6a.

What is it?
Well, unfortunately for the amount of work that
goes into solving cases, very little is done, as
far as the criminal is concerned.

6b.

You mean, as far as punishment?
The punishment, yeah. The rehabilitation is almost
non-existent.

195

6c.

Can you expand on that?
favor.

I take it you are not in

Hell, yeah, to bring it back even further.
I know
of particular cases that we work. Quite often, in
order to even get a warrant for someone, you have
to basically bring your report down to the
prosecutor's office with you to have the case
proven. Of course the warrant is supposed to be
issued with probable cause. Basically, if you can
bring a case down there that can't be proven
beyond a reasonable doubt, at the time you request
the warrant, nine out of ten times, you're not
going to get the warrant.
6d.

So you have to make your case to the prosecutor
first?
Right. And of course there are exceptions to that
rule. Especially, if it is a high publicity case.
But for the most part, in order to close a case
without getting a warrant you have to have it
proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Which is what
you are supposed to do in court of course. But it
seems that we have to do that before we even get a
warrant for a person.

7.

Why did you want to become a detective?
Well basically, when I got into law enforcement,
it's one of those things that I always wanted to
do. That was my one goal that I had set.

8.

What do you consider to be the main function of a
police officer?
Basically, to assist the citizen with what kind of
problem, that they might have. Not necessarily
criminal but different problems arise that we can
assist them in. And if we can assist them we try
to.

8a.

More of community policing?
Yeah.

9.

Open

It's community oriented I suspect.

196

10.

What do you consider to ba the main function of a
detective?
The detectives, here at least, investigate crimes.
Doing the follow up work on criminal reports which
have already been taken by a road officer.

11.

Can anyone perform the function of a detective?
I wouldn't say anyone, no.

11a. Could you expand on that?
Well you have to be pretty good at communication
skills. I think, that you have to able to talk to
different people in different situations. In sexual
assault cases, which, of course, you're dealing with
high emotions, quite often. And you have to be able to
deal with that. If you're not able to deal with it,
you're not going to be able to work the case
effectively.
lib. You also get involved with children's sexual abuse
cases?
Yes. Yeah.
11c. Are they different?
Oh, oh yeah. Well, pretty much every case is
different. You know, some kids will be able to
come in here, five years old, and be able tell you
all about a sexual abuse type case. And it's not
a problem for them. Others, it's very difficult
for them and you have to get the information. You
have to know how to get it out. Well, one of the
things I used to do was I had a little toy
basketball net that I had in my office. And with
little boys, especially, we have them shoot
baskets for awhile before.
(Telephone
interruption).
lid. You were saying that you would have them shoot
baskets before?
Yeah, that's one thing I did.
breaker for some kids because
didn't want to talk about the
have to build up rapport with
always a good one.

It was a good ice
they just plain
incident. And you
them. And that was

197

lie. Well, anything else as to why anyone cannot
perform as a detective? You remarked about having
communication skills and other skills?
Of course, you have to have basic writing skills.
You have to write a lot of reports. Probably,
ninety percent of it though, is communication
skills.
12.

Is the tern investigator and detective synonymous?
I would think so. Yeah, from our stand point,
yeah. In fact we were called investigators, at one
point. They did away with that.

12a. Well can you describe how you're set up here?
Your system is set up?
The detective bureau here?
12b. Becoming a detective?
Well, what we have here is, you have to have four
years on the department and you put in a letter
for it. It's reviewed by the Chief and the
detective bureau lieutenant and the Deputy Chief.
Usually, you have an interview with the Chief and
the Deputy Chief. And then he picks one of the
individuals who put a letter in for the particular
spot. And, it's a three year rotating basis.
When I first came to the detective bureau, I
actually put in for what was called the special
emphasis team. Which was kind of like an
undercover. They did drugs and stuff like that.
That was three officers and a sergeant. However,
due to cut backs, that got split up. And so it
went. To get into that team, you only had to have
two years in. At that particular time, I think I
had three, so they just incorporated me into the
detective bureau, at that time.
12c. Did you actually go into the drugs and special
emphasis unit?
It worked out for about two months and then the
team split up because of the budget cuts or
whatever. So they did away with that team.

198

13.

How would you do fine a datactlva?
Detective?

13a. What is a detective to you?
Someone who investigates a crime. Boy, sometimes
they're not crimes.
Investigates an incident to
an end, till there are no further leads or the
incident is solved.
14.

What basic qualifications should a detective possess?
They should have basic police skills, understand
how the road patrol works, how complaints are
taken. Some criminal, or some crime scene
investigation background, is always important. Of
course, good communication skills. A lot of it is
learning different agencies which are able to
assist you in your investigation. Like the State
Police, who help us with their APIS. Different
types of labs. The guy who investigates fraud, of
course, knows every banker in town. It's very
important for you to build those contacts that can
help you out working those cases.

15.

How do good detectives differ from the ordinary
detective?
I think, the good detectives just basically care a
lot more. Here, there are the ones that are
willing to work a little bit harder on a case. To
some, it may not appear like that at first.
There's a lead to work on, they might just close
it out. Where a better detective will take a
little bit deeper look at it. Maybe check a
little bit harder, and see if there is something
to work on.

16.

How is an officer promoted, or assigned, to a
detective position within your department?
You just apply for it. And you get picked by the Chief.

199

17.

What criteria is usad by your department in
selecting an officer for promotion to detective?
Well, you have to have four years with the
department as an officer. They look for people
who have put in for seminars, such as crime scene
investigations, interviewing and interrogation,
report writing that sort of thing. People who may
have made an effort to build their skills. Which
would be accepted as a detective.

17a. Are these seminars that you are talking about
taken prior to becoming a detective?
Sure.
17b. Would you have time off to attend these or would
you have to do it on your own?
No, you're paid. What they do is, these seminars
come up quite often here in this area, because of
the Lansing Community College puts a lot of them
on. Michigan State University puts on a lot of
seminars. They post them and anybody in the
department can sign up for them. And then it's up
to the training officer to decide who can and
can't go.
17c. Any other criteria that they use for what they are
looking for?
Other than, obviously, who's performed well as an
officer.
18.

How did you receive your promotion to detective?
Is it a promotion going to detective?
It is not a promotion. It's a lateral transfer.

19.

What do you believe were the major factors
contributing to your promotion to detective?
Well I had, as I mentioned before, put in for a
lot of schools, which would assist me in being a
detective. Also, like I said before, I didn't
actually put in for detective. I actually put in
for the other slot which I got and I just fell
into the detective slot. But I think, even to get

200
into that first spot, mainly* I worked hard as an
officer. I was a hard worker. And I did go to
schools, which I thought would assist me as a
detective. And, I think, they reward you somewhat
for being a hard worker also.
20.

Is any distinction mada for rating famalas and/or
other minority candidates for promotions to
detectives?
No.

21.

In your opinion, are the best persons usually
selected for the position of detective?
Yeah, for the most part. I've seen cases where
some people can be a real hard worker on the road
and they do a good job on the road. But the
particular skills that are needed back here in the
detective bureau, such as report writing, they
might lack it a little bit and it hurts them.
It's actually hurt them to come back to detective
bureau.

21a. It hurt them as far as their careers?
Yeah, I would say so. They did shine so well as a
officer, road officer, but they didn't acquire the
skills, as a detective. And so, they weren't
looked at as being that great of an officer any
more.
22.

Have you had an opportunity to work with other
detectives from your own agency and/or other
agencies?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

22a. Around the area?
Yeah.
23.

Do you believe that the detectives assigned to the
various detective functions, such as, B/E's,
robberies, etc., presently possess all of the

201
skills needed to be a good or qualified detective?

Well, I know, at with least us, you don't get any
specific training in any particular, any type of
crime. When you come back here you're assigned to
work a particular, certain crime. Just recently,
they bring people back, maybe two weeks prior to
their being an actual investigator. Up until
then, basically, you came back here and you were
given a stack of reports. So go to work.
23a. So one day you're a patrol officer and the next
you're detective?
Yep.
24.

As an experienced police officer and detective,
are you satisfied with the training that you
received from your agency?
I originally wasn't, especially, in my particular
assignment.
I was assigned to work sexual
assaults and also handled protective services
referrals from social
services, which include, of course, your child
sexual assaults, child neglect, that type of
thing. And I didn't have any training. And so I
complained and they ended up sending me to school.

25.

Did you receive any specific training when you
were selected or promoted to detective?
Yeah. Then I was sent to some different schools
and sexual assault and child abuse, that type of
thing.

25a. This is, like you said though, this is after you
complained?
Right.
25b. Maybe, you made an argument why you should get the
training?
Right. Yeah.
25c. Where did you go to school for it?

202
For the, for this type of training? Well,
actually I went a few different places. I had
some with the Michigan State Police. Some of it
was put on by the Michigan Sheriff's Association.
That was in St. Clair, where I had that training.
I had some here at LCC.
25d. How long?
Couple of them were like a week long type course.
And I went to couple others that were just a
couple of days.
26.

Could improvements be made to the present training
received by detectives in Michigan?
Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely. At one time, I
believe, somebody, I'm not sure who it was, put
on a basic detective school. I think it might
have been the Michigan State Police. Then, I
think, a detective over at Michigan State
University might have belonged to that. But I
don't think that anyone from our department went.
And of course, if you're sent to training, you're
taking out of the job. So, it's a vicious circle
here.

27.

What are some of the essential skills or training
that a detective should receive?
Well, it depends. I suppose they could get more
specific, depending on what type of crimes you're
going to be working on. I know a lot of the guys
that work the property crimes and the robbery and
that sort of stuff, informants,
stuff a lot, which
from what I've been able to see are a real pain
in the neck. And fortunately, in my particular
field I don't work with them. But that's one
thing. Dealing with those types of people. Of
course, interviewing and interrogation, crime
scene work. Even if you're not actually the crime
scene technician, you have to know, what's been
collected and know what can be done with it.
What's going to happen to it and how you can use
it. And report writing would help quite a bit.

203
28.

Do you b t l i m that othar law aaforcanant aganelaa
that you ara familiar with racaiva tha same laval
of training for thalr datactivaa as your
department?
Yeah, from what I can see.
anyway.

29.

As far as I know

What do you baliava ara tha asaantial qualities
exhibited by a successful detective?
I would say for the most part, it is
personalities. They are more driven, I guess you
would say. They're just harder workers. Some work
until there is just absolutely, no more they can
do with it or they solve the case. Rather than
setting it aside and waiting until the person who
made the report quits bothering them anymore.

30.

Ara you satisfiad with tha quality of your
department's investigative reports?
For the most part. Of course, some people are
better report writers than others.

30a. You mentioned report writing. Does your
department, do you get an additional, does
everybody, the police officers, do you get special
classes in report writing?
Or is it strictly for the road?
No. They have report writing seminars that come
open quite often. And of course you can sign up
for them and a lot of times they just try to run,
even if you don't sign up, they'll try to run
people through those.
30b. Just a vast group?
Yeah.
31.

Are you satisfiad with tha prosecution case
acceptance laval from tha local or state
prosecutors office that you have to work with?
For the most part, no.

204

31a. That was what you were talking about before.
Yeah.
31b. You have to go down and prove your case.
Of course, I might be a little spoiled because I
work down at Branch County. That's where Coldwater
is at, very rural and very conservative and their
case load is smaller. So they were willing to
work a little more. Of course, there wasn't
nearly as much plea bargaining, that sort of stuff
going on.
31c. And here?
They take a look at them. And if the case is
solved when you hand it to them, they'll run it on
through the process. But if it's not, forget
about it.
32.

Have you or your agency had difficulties
presenting cases for acceptance to your
prosecutor's office.
Most of us who have been back here for awhile, of
course there are a lot of Assistant Prosecutors.

32a. Right.
Usually, you get somebody you know down there.
And you work with them for the most part. What
they do each day, they assign prosecutors to
screen cases. And then sometimes, if you have
somebody in custody, you have to go down there and
see. However, sometimes, it's a toss of the coin,
because, you don't know who you're going to get.
Sometimes, as soon as you see who is screening the
cases, you know whether you're going to get your
warrant or not, especially at night. In the
field, I had one person there that I worked with
almost exclusively.
32b. They specialize.
Yeah.
32c. And a lot of them don't like those type of cases?
Yeah.

205

33.

Do you know of other agencies that appear to have
better training programs for their detective# or
inve# tigator■?
Well LPD detectives all seem to have, that's the
Lansing Police Department. I think they have more
of a field training type thing. When they get in,
they're not just handed cases and say go to work.
They work with somebody for awhile, before they
actually go on their own. And I think, they also
have a program where, I'm not sure if it's when
you're a rookie, you go back there for six months,
or something. Just so you know what's going o n .

33a. Like a transfer type deal?
Basically, for them it's kind of a just a training
type thing. They're just helpers. They don't
actually investigate cases. But it gives them a
little insight as to how they actually work.
33b.

Type of work?
Yeah, yeah.

34.

Should physical fitness be included in the
criteria for selection of detectives?
Well, my personal opinion is that physical fitness
should be an included criteria for everything.
It's real important to be in somewhat good shape.

35.

Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?
Yes.

36.

Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Yeah. I believe that someone has one going. I'm
pretty sure it's the Michigan State Police. I
remember seeing an advertisement years ago, and
I've not seen it since.

36a. Do you think that everyone would benefit from it?
Oh, yeah.

206

37.

Do you believe that Michigan detectives could
benefit from an advanced detective course?
I think that it should be more specialized though,
as to whatever you're going to be working at.
Where the other one could be a lot more general.

38.

If a basic detective course was offered, what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Well, I guess it would depend on what type of
detective you are looking to educate. Some
departments...

38a. I'm talking about basic.
Yeah, okay. Just a general training for
everything. Once again, you have to get into the
report writing, the interviewing and
interrogation. I do a lot of that. Crime scene
understanding, even if it's not to the point of
being a crime scene technician. But understanding
what is collected at a crime scene, what can be
done with it. That type of thing. And did I say
report writing. If I didn't, I'll beat that one
to death.
38b. Well if it's that important.
It is.
else.

39.

It's very important.

Let's see, what

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be implemented throughout the state?
Well, I would think that you would have some sort
of seminar type program, similar to the ones they
have here at Michigan State or Lansing Community
Credit Union, Lansing Community College. And a
two week course or whatever. Eight hour type
days, in which different people who have expertise
in different types of things, teach each aspect of
the course.

207

39a. Do you think that two weeks would be enough?

For a basic? I would think two weeks would be
enough, probably.
I would think so. Of course I
might change my mind later.
39b. What I was thinking, you mentioned report writing,
interviewing, would you have enough time for
everything that y o u ...?
Yeah, I would think so. What I' m looking at in a
report writing school is one or two days long and
you do that in there and the interviewing and
interrogation, one or two days, Your photography
and all that sort of stuff can be clustered into
the crime scene stuff. And of course, crime
scene.
I went to a crime scene investigator's
school which was a two week course, just on that
stuff. But that has stuff that would really be
necessary, like collecting evidence at an accident
scene, that sort of stuff. Of course, some people
might have detectives actually working accident
scenes, I don't know.
I think, that would be
pretty uncommon, though.
40.

How would such a program to train detectives for
all enforcement agencies in the state be financed?
Oh boy, I think you would do it through MLEOTC.
And I know they get money. However, they fund
their other courses mainly through grants and, of
course, there is a fee, usually from the
department that sends an officer through the
school, usually not that much.

41.

Is there anything that I have not asked you or
anything that you might want to comment on?
No, other than I think it's a good idea, that they
have some sort of training. Even more than a
training course, because just like the police
academy, you can only learn so much in the
classroom. But, it's basically a field type
training program. We have a field type training
program for our road officers before they go out

208

on the road.

42.

Is there anything else that I should have asked
you concerning detective training that I neglected
to ask you?
No.
What I'll do is I'll leave you my card and if you
think about something in the next couple of days,
or something.
I'll give you a call back.
I know
it's tough catching you without you having a
chance to think about it.
The interview was terminated.

APPENDIX D

209

QUESTIONNAIRE
IN. RE*

DETECTIVE TRAINING POR THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
LAN ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

CODE:

012

DATE:

12-09-93

TIME:

10:45 a.m.

PLACE:

Ingham County Sheriff's Dept.

ADVICE:

Yes

WAVIER:

Yes

DEPARTMENT:

Ingham County Sheriff's Dept.

NUMBER OF OFFICERS:

175

BIOGRAPHICAL
DOB:

05-06-61

POB:

Los Angeles, CA

Marital Status:

Yes

Prior Marriages:

No

Children:

2

EDUCATION
High School:

Dansville High School

Junior College:
Adm

Lansing Community College AA/Pre/Pol

Technical School:

None

College:

Ferris State University, BS/CJ 1982

Graduate Course:

None

210
Military:

No

Police Academies:

Ferris State University

WORK EXPERIENCE
1.

Present
Detective Ingham County Sheriff's Department - 4 years

2.

Prior Police Experience
Delhi Township Police Department - 6 Years

3.

Military Experience
None

4.

Other Work Experience
Ingham County Jail Correction Officer - 6 Months
Reserve Police Officer, Mason, MI while in college
for two years.

DETECTIVE EXPERIENCE
Ingham County Sheriff's Department
INSTRUCTOR EXPERIENCE
Fire Arms Instructor
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Some of these questions may not apply to you
because they are sort of general for the whole
population.
If we are going through and you think
of something that you want to add, or think is
pertinent, or you want to ask, or you think that I
should have asked, as a follow-up or something like
that, just jump right in and tell me then.
Don't
wait until the end because what I have found is
people will forget by the time we get to the end of
it. Y'know, they'll say, "gee, I had a point” .

211
1.

Total Number of Years of Police Experience?
10 1/2

2.

Number of Years as a Detective?
4 Years

3.

Experience as a Police Instructor?
Fire Arms Instructor

4.

Do you think that your civilian education assisted you
in becoming a police officer? Detective?
Yes.

4a.

You have already mentioned Ferris State.
When you look at the time frame of law enforcement.
You remember back In 1983, there was a lot of lay­
offs and things.
And that helped me get In the
door.
Having an education.
It wasn't like years
ago, where they hire you and put you through an
academy.
I thought It was a prerequisite to even
get hired.

5.

Do you think that your prior work experience
assisted you or helped prepare you for your work as
a police officer? Detective?
NO.

6.

As an experienced detective for a number of years
have you developed or formulated a personal
philosophy as it relates to the American criminal
justice system? It's kind of tough, I know. What
is your personal philosophy of the American
Criminal Justice System?
I think the Criminal Justice System, the word
system, is not a very good word to describe it. I
don't think it's very systematic at all.

6a.

How would you?
I think it's three distinct areas that don't work
as a system.
I don't think that they work as a
system very well to be honest with you.

212
6b.

What are they?

and

I don't think that the law enforcement and the judicial
the corrections departments work very well together.

6c.

So, where do you think is the main,
problem that they don't work together?

or

is the

I think that there is a real problem because I
think that law enforcement is doing their job.
We're arresting the people and we're putting them
in jail.
We're trying to.
And then the court
system claims that they don't have any place to put
them.
And the corrections people feel that the
court system, in some instances, are sentencing
people to too long of sentences, because they don't
have the room.
And law enforcement is upset
because the judicial system isn't sentencing people
long enough.
And they're giving them all these
alternatives sentences.
I think there is a lot of
friction between all three groups.
A lot of
frustration and a lot friction. I think the system
is not real smooth.
7.

Why did you want to become a detective?
I look at it as advancement in the department.
I
looked at being more involved in more serious crime
or more priority type crime versus writing tickets
and making drunk driving arrest.
Being able to
follow through with a case versus just taking the
report and passing it on.
I had an interest in
getting involved in in-depth investigations. Being
able to do a variety of things versus being limited
to the follow up like they do on patrol. It was
also considered a promotion in the department.
I
thought that it would be helpful on the career path
and
to be quite blunt and honest, when Delhi
Township
was
taken
over
by
the
Sheriff's
Department, we all applied for three positions,
deputy, detective and sergeant.
And I scored
number one on both the sergeant and detective list
and when they offered me a job, this is the one
they offered.
I kinda got a promotion out of the
deal.

213

8.

What do you consider to be the main function of a
police officer?
To respond to any and all emergency dispatched. To
act according to the situation, whether it's to
protect a person, or to investigate, or report a
crime. To be very thorough in getting information
and compiling information.
Report writing and to
continue the follow up and all the way through the
court procedures.

9.

Open

10.

What do you consider to be the main function of a
detective?
Maybe I'm confusing the issues.
I thought you...
Probably not. The main function of a detective in
our department is simply to react to complaints
that
are
generated,
that
are made
to
the
department. We simply do follow up investigations
and do interviews and interrogations and seek
warrants. I think a detective should be doing some
proactive work. I think we should be out trying to
initiate new complaints.
I would like to see a
little more surveillance.
Just a little more
proactive than reactive.
Generally,
in our
department we are more reactive in nature. We
respond to the pieces that are assigned to u s . We
go out and do follow up. We investigate them. We
do our interviews and our interrogations. We don't
do a lot of crime scene investigations.
Patrol
does that for the most part.
My feeling of
detective work is that there should be some
proactive. We should be going out and seeking out
informants,
seeking out new sources of crime
activities, in addition to just investigating of
complaints that patrol takes.

11.

Can anyone perform the function of a detective?
N o . Absolutely not.

11a. Why not?
I think that detectives have to have extremely good
communications skills.
I think a background in

214

psychology is helpful. I think that you've got to
have a desire to stick with a case. You've got to
be very self motivated to go out and dig.
You've
got to be willing to do a lot of paper work, a lot
of reports.
And I think you've got to have some
abilities when it comes to interviewing and
interrogation.
You've got to have some skills.
You've got to be more than just a reactionary. You
have to go and have some self thinking. You've got
to have some planning, some organization skills.
But, I think the number one skill that a detectives
has got to have is communications.
If you can't
sit down and talk to people and sort out who's
telling you the truth and who's not telling you the
truth.
If you can't read verbal and nonverbal
behavior.
If you're not able to plan which people
you need to talk to first, which order you need to
talk to them. A lot of organizational skills, and
a lot of communication skills.
12.

Is the term investigator and detective synonymous?
I don't think so, because I think a patrol officer
can be an investigator.
I think, that a detective
should be involved also.
Like I said earlier,
going out and detecting crime.
Going out and
getting involved in some proactive work.
Whether
it's setting, y'know, generating informants and
obtaining
intelligence
for
other
crimes
and
starting investigations that didn't exist. I think
that's what really separates a detective from an
investigator.

13.

How would you define a detective?
Boy, an experienced police officer with skills in
interviewing and interrogating, with very good
knowledge of the criminal law and procedure, the
ability to
process crime scenes and should have
the ability to evaluate and act on intelligence
information. And be able to develop informants and
generate new cases. That's basically what I think
a detective should be able to do.

14.

What basic
possess?

qualifications

should

a

detective

I think you need to show a record of high
productivity in patrol.
Do you mean to be
considered to become a detective or are you looking
at education?

215

14a. Whatever you think they should possess to do the
job.
I think they should have a minimum of an Associates
Degree. I think they should have a training in
interviewing and interrogation and demonstrate the
ability to do that. They need good communication
skills,
and a lot of self motivation. That goes
along with productivity. If you're considering to
promote somebody, I think you really got to look at
what they do on the street as a police officer.
Basic qualifications, I think he should have five
years of police experience. I think five years of
police experience is necessary.
15.

How do good detectives differ from the ordinary
detective?
I guess that goes back to what I was talking about
earlier. You can have people who just investigate
what they are assigned, and basically will try to
close out cases. Or, you can have investigators
that will dig, and they will find a way to make the
case. They are very self motivated. They are not
satisfied with a dead end.
They try to find
solutions to come up with a witness or the evidence
to make the case.
And like I said earlier,
I
think what separates a good detective from an
ordinary detective is someone who can go out and
generate his own work,
generate intelligence
information for the future and initiate new cases.
I also think being able to balance your case load
is
important.
Good
relationship with
the
prosecutor's office makes the difference between
the exceptional and the ordinary.

16.

How is an officer promoted, or assigned,
detective position within your department?

to a

There is a written test and an oral board. And the
candidates are selected from the top 60 percent of
the people who pass the written test and the oral
board. You have to have, I believe, three years of
experience to take the written test. Two or three,
I'm not sure.

216
17.

What criteria la used by your department in
selecting an officer for promotion to detective?
So you need three years?
I
think you
need
three
years, that's my
understanding.
It's been four years like I said
since I've taken it.
You're asking me, for our
department, what criteria is used. Yeah, I haven't
been involved in selecting detectives, but my
understanding, from my oral board is that they look
at your patrol
record,
they
look at your
evaluations. They also look at your communication
skills and your knowledge of criminal law and
procedure.

18.

How did you receive your promotion to detective?
I scored number one on the written
apparently passed the oral board.

test

and

18a. You were saying something about Delhi was taken
over by (Ingham County Sheriff's Department)?
And at that time there were a lot of movements
within the department and we at Delhi had three
people assigned to the detective bureau. One was
a lieutenant, one sergeant and one was a deputy
assigned in there and none of those people were
detectives when the switch was made.
And there
were some other positions that were jockeyed
around. So, as it turned out there were two or
three detective positions available, and I got one
of them.
19.

What do you believe were the major factors
contributing to your promotion to detective?
My past work record. I was considered the highest
self initiated patrol officer at Delhi Township. I
generated more officer complaints than any other
patrolman there.
I think, at that time, my
bachelor's degree made a difference.
They
considered that I had a background in psychology,
sort of a minor in psychology, and my communication
skills and the oral board. I was told that it made
a difference.

217

20.

Is any distinction mada for rating females and/or
other minority candidates for promotions
to
detectives?
Yes there is.

20a. What is that?
My understanding is that in this department they
are making an effort to promote minorities,
including females, to both sergeants and detective
positions. The administration has made that very
clear. It's hard for me to say this on a detective
question because we haven't promoted any since us.
Gary Barnyard, is the only one. But recently, we
had a sergeant that was promoted with only four
years experience and no college degree.
And she
was promoted over me and another officer and I had
ten years in at the time and a bachelor degree and
the rank of detective. She had the rank of deputy.
So I know that is a criteria in the department.
20b. She only had four years?
Yeah.
No bachelors and she was a deputy.
But
that's really referring to the sergeant's. I guess
I would have to go to the general overall promotion
policy in the last...
20c. Is to bring them up?
Yeah.
21.

They've made that very clear.

In your opinion, are the best persons
selected for the position of detective?

usually

Well, like I have said, there hasn't been any
promotions.
There has been one promotion since
I've been in here, so it's hard for me to evaluate
that.
21a. One promotion in the last four years?
Right.

To detective, yeah.

218

21b. Well, concerning the people that you have here, or
in your association with other detectives, other
departments, do you think that the best people are
being selected for these positions?
The only experience I can go on is what I have
here. And, when I look at the selections that were
made, I would have to answer no. I'm being totally
honest with you now. I have to answer no. I can
think of one in particular that was an appointment
made for another reason.
21c. Well is that, recent? Well, you said that you were
the only one in the last years, but is this going
back a number of years?
No.
No,
promoted.

this

is

going back

to when

we

were

2Id. Okay.
22.

Eave you had an opportunity to work with other
detectives from your own agency and/or other
agencies?
Yes.

22a. What were some of those?
I've worked with Lansing detectives.
I've worked
with the State Police detectives,
Livingston
County.
Just recently I've worked with some
Detroit
area,
Wayne
PD,
Tri-County ‘Metro
Narcotics, FBI, DEA.
23.

Do you believe that
various detective
robberies, etc.,
skills needed to be
Yes.

the detectives assigned to the
functions,
such as, B/E's,
presently possess all of the
a good or qualified detective?

219

24.

As on experienced police officer and detective, are
you satisfied with the training that you received
from your agency?
Yes I am.
They are making efforts to send us to
the training that we need.
I wish that I would
have had more of the interrogation/interview
training right when I was first assigned in here.
You come in and you're kinda relying on the
experience that you had in patrol. And, since I've
gone to some of these other schools, I guess I wish
I could have had that right at the beginning.
I
think that's real important.
I don't think that
you can get too much of that. You pick up more and
more. Even if it's a different style you can kinda
pick and choose which parts.

24a. That you liked?
Yeah.

Recently, I went through the Reid technique.

24b. Oh, you went through it?
I liked that.
It's, I've been using it. You got
to really work at it. It's going to take me a long
time to get really, really good at it, but I like
it. I think it's going to work.
25.

Did you receive any specific training when you were
promoted to detective?
Yes. I went through the basic detective school at
MSP. I've been to a lot of training, surveillance
school, narcotic school, auto thief.

25a. This all right
detective?

after

you

became,

promoted

to

You mean initially right after I got promoted or
within the first couple of years?
25b. Well within ...
The basic detective school I went to.

220

26.

Could lnprovuatnti bo made to the proaont training
received by detectives in Michigan?
I think so.

27.

What aro some of the essential skills or training
that a detective should receive?
I think and this may not come across right, but I
think that report writing skills should be up
graded.
I think you should know as a detective
that you've got to provide a lot more information
in the best report writing style that you can. The
big difference is between taking a patrol report
and the compiling an investigative report as a
detective.
The interviewing and interrogating
skills, you need'a lot of schooling in that. Crime
scene processing, y'know, we don't do a lot of it,
surveillance, narcotics, handling informants.

28.

Do you believe that other law enforcement agencies
that you are familiar with receive the same level
of
training
for
their
detectives
as
your
department?
I would say that in the smaller departments that
the people who act as investigators may not be
detectives. But, they are considered, by their
departments as their version of a uniformed
detective. I don't think they receive nearly as
much training as we have.
The Lansing Police
Department is well trained.
The Michigan State
Police, I think, is well trained.
When I start
looking at the departments that we support in
Ingham County, such as Mason and Leslie, where they
have officers that are designated as investigators,
I don't think they get the training.

29.

What do you believe are the essential qualities
exhibited by a successful detective?
Patience. Determination. Highly self motivated.
Organized. At times aggressive. Talking about
qualities, you're talking more like...

29a. No. Patience, determination, self motivation.
...personality characteristics things like that.

221

30.

Are you satisfied with the quality
department's investigative reports?

of

your

Are you talking about reports that come from patrol
or the ones we turn out?
30a. Both.
I am not satisfied with ones we receive from
patrol.
I
have found that there is a lot of
important information that is not included and then
they will come up to us later and say, "oh, and I
got this, this and another thing".
I am very
satisfied with the reports that I do.
Sometimes
I've been told that maybe they are a little lengthy
but when I go to trial six months later, I have all
the details I need to testify to.
31.

Are you satisfied with the prosecution case
acceptance
level
from the
local
or
state's
prosecutors office that you have to work with?
Yes.

31a. Will they accept the case or will
warrant for you?

they issue a

Generally, yes.
At times, I think, they're a
little more interested in what they call the
"platter jobs" where everything is all laid out and
we can take it in and somebody is going to plea to
it.
I do get frustrated at times, when you got a
good circumstantial case where you feel that there
is enough probable cause to prove it and they'll
say they don't want to do it. There has been those
cases, but that's an exception. That's not general
or not usual.
32.

Have you or your agency had difficulties presenting
cases for acceptance to your prosecutor's office.
Yes, there have been times.
They seem to want to
have
100 percent. They seem to want to enter,
issue warrants, not on probable cause or whether or
not the case could reasonably be tried by a jury,
but more on a 100 percent conviction rate. We see
that sometimes. That's frustrating sometimes.

222

33.

Do you know of other agencies that appear to have
better training programs for their detectives or
inves tigators ?
I don't know of any agency that has specific
training program for detectives.
Our agency
doesn't have a specific program.
It's all through
the training division.

33a. On this one, what I'm asking is generally for all
of your training.
I think MSP has a pretty good program.
That is
the only one in the area that I can think of that
would be superior to the training that we get.
34.

Should physical fitness be included in the criteria
for selection of detectives?
For the type of work we do I would have to say no.
As it relates to appearance, I think it's helpful
for the detective to appear to have good physical
appearance.
I think it makes a difference.
I
guess other than physical appearance.

35.

Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?
Well, there is always room for improvement.
I
think that everyone in here should go through the
Reid Interrogation School.
Yeah, I think that
everyone should go through the interrogation
school.
And, I think that there should be more
firearms training for detectives.
I think that
when you get into the detective bureaus sometimes
your gun becomes like a ton, you've got to put it
in your pocket.
You have to have it with you.
There tends to be some lackness in street survival
stuff.
You get in here and some people tend to
think they're not really a cop any more. But all of
a sudden you're in a bad situation and you don't
have street sense any more.
So, I think that
detectives should be included in up-date tactical
training and street type survival training.

223

36.

Do you think that thara ia an naad for a basic
detective coursa in Michigan?
Yeah, I do. I remember when I was promoted, it was
like I'm a detective, now what. Y'know, what made
me a detective? I was just a patrolman and now I'm
a detective.
What is it that I'm supposed to do
better now as a detective than I did on patrol.

36a. What did they do when you...?
Well, when I first got in here the lieutenant was
real good for trying to schedule me for as many
different training seminars that I could go to.
But, it takes a lot of time to go through these
training seminars.
But, on the other hand, if
there was a month long training session where these
people could come in and teach you narcotics. You
could spent three or four days on interviewing and
interrogating.
You could spent days talking to
experienced detectives that can tell you what to
expect when you're trying working informants and
how to judge their creditability and reliability
and how to handle them. If you did that right from
the beginning I think that you could get started a
little easier.
I think it's a real good idea.
36b. So, your lieutenant recognized that you needed...?
Oh, yeah.
36c.

...so he scheduled you right away?
But with these training dates, some of
them might be six months in the future. I went to
homicide investigation and that was a year later or
whatever.
It's not any fault of our training
program.
I mean, you can only go to what's
available and how much money they have at the time.
And there was a basic detective school over at MSP,
but I don't think that was in-depth enough.
That
was jammed at you real quick.
Not a lot of time.
I think if it could be ...

36d. Was it all detective training or was it ...?
I didn't think so. I thought a lot of it was crime
scene processing.
A lot of information as to
what's
available
through MSP,
through
their
different areas.
All of it was kind of a lot of
information to digest that quickly. It was one of
those things, you got this thick book full of

224
information and you came back and put it on your
shelve.
And you waited to go to the schools that
were focused on those individual issues.
If there
was a program of duration...
36e. A more expanded?
...yeah, where you could actually, you know, for
the next three or four days you're going to working
on narcotics, and that's it. You're going to learn
everything that you can learn in that time frame on
narcotics.
That would be good.
Then you would
have the interrogation skills and the informants
and surveillance. That would be kind of nice.
37.

Do you believe that Michigan detectives
benefit from an advanced detective course?

could

Yeah.
I'm one, I'm a firm believe that you can't
get too much training.
Anyone who says that they
know it all, well. An advanced detective course I
think would be good because you could get into the
advanced interrogation skills. You could get into
your homicide investigations, you can learn a lot
from people that have been through it.
37a. Do you think that some of the old time detectives
might have that attitude, though?
Oh, yes. Very much so.
37b. They already know it all?
Very much so. You see that. I went to one school,
have you ever heard of LSI?
37c. Yes.
Scientific
Content Analysis
(SCAN),
It's
an
interrogation school.
We brought that back.
Tom
Wright and I went to it. And we got hooted on and
howled on and it was ridiculous. You take them in
and (bang on the table) you get that confession out
of
them.
There, I see resistance to new
techniques.
But then in other areas, I think
that...
37e. They look forward to it?
Yeah. Yeah.

225
38.

If a basic datactiva coursa was offarad, what type
of curriculum would bast meet this naad?
I think that it's got to be comprehensive.
It's
got to cover several different areas. But, it has
to be long enough in duration
so that you canget
into each area, instead of glossing over
it.
Otherwise, to me it's too much information in too
short of a period of time.
I
think at least four
to six weeks, if not longer.
And then it should
cover all the areas that I've talked about.
All
the way from crime scene to interviewing and
interrogating to narcotics, auto thief, burglary, I
mean just each section.
I think if you can bring
experts in on each section to tell you how to build
a case and how to do different interviews for
different cases would be really good.

.39.

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be implemented throughout the state?
I think that the Michigan State Police has an
excellent facility to do that or the regional
police academies could do it.
But I don't think
that it should be a recruit type school. It should
be on a professional level, obviously.
Other
options would be large departments that have the
facilities, that are able to do it.
I think the
class size should be limited.
So that there is
enough attention.
I think that 30 to 50 students
is more than enough.

39a. That's quite a few.
Yeah, I'm saying that if you go beyond that 30, or
beyond that 50 students, I don't think that you get
the anything out of it.
It would be nice if the
class size, ideally, I think the class size should
be 10 to 15.
39b. What you're saying it's more like MSU...
Well, that basic detective school that I went to,
there was a lot of people at that school.

226
39c. Oh, really.

Yeah,
There was at least, I think, there was at
least 50 there.
It's kinda, each person comes in
and you listen to them talk and it's kinda
difficult.
40.

How would such a program to train detectives for
all enforcement agencies in the state be financed?
I think most of our training is financed by the 302
funding that we have, grant money and partially
through the department.
They've got to have an
interest in spending the money on their people.
I
don't think the department should bear the entire
cost.
I think there should be some grant money
available from the state or the feds.

41.

Is there anything that I should have asked you that
I haven't asked you?
Is this the end of the interview?

41a. Close.
(Laughter) Well I didn't really get into earlier on
the first couple of questions, I was answering them
yes and no.
At the very beginning when you were
talking about what qualifies people to be a
detective or other detectives. Personally, I think
that education makes a difference. I think you'll
find that people who have some education are better
able to relate with members of the community.
I
think that a background of psychology, is
advantageous.
At least having some psychology
classes, I think it really helps you understand
different people. Why they do the things that they
do.
I just don't think that I answered that very
thoroughly at the beginning.
But I think that I
guess...
41b. That would be the one, what would make a better
detective than the ordinary ones.
I think so.
A better candidate and a
candidate when you're promoting somebody.

better

227
42.

How long were you on after you got promoted to
detective? How long was it before you really felt
like you were comfortable? You knew what you were
doing?
That you felt,, that you could go out and handle it?
By myself without?

42a. Yeah.
Oh, I would say that it was probably, I think you
go from one level to another.
You know, after
about six months in here I felt like I could go out
and do this. And then you come across a situation,
oh, boy, this is difficult. I have go back in and
ask for help. But I think that after two years I
felt like I've been through enough of the different
training programs and had worked enough cases where
I felt pretty good. Certainly, I could work alone
a lot sooner than that but when you talk about when
you really feel like now you're a real detective.
If you get a couple of years under you, you feel
like you're on your way.
You've seen enough.
You've done enough interviews and interrogations
that you really feel comfortable of knowing when
someone is lying to you. Where you need to go next
in your investigation. Instead of scratching your
head about who do I call in first out of this group
of people.
Where do I start with this.
Now, as
soon as you get your case in and you look it over
and you can see this is where I need to start. This
is where I want to be at the end. This is what I
need to do to get there. I think that after about
two years I really felt confident.
43.

Is there anything else now that you think that we
should have gotten into that we didn' t?
Well, I think that in some departments there is no
advantage in becoming a detective.
That in some
departments they are making it investigators. So,
what you end up getting is and this is one thing
they would like to do here, we've been told, they
would like to have some positions in here like
that. You lose pay and your overtime is gone. You
lose your holiday pay.
You don't get holiday pay
because you're working week days and you have these
holidays off.
So financially, when other people
that I would consider to be qualified to be a
detective, they say I can't afford to take the pay
cut. Even though it's a promotion and the base pay
is higher, it's not high enough to...

228
43a. To cover their overtime.
...no.
Not to cover their overtime
or
holiday pay. They're working 12 hour days.

their

43b. Is that like, what do they call it, transfer and.
There is
a term I heard for
that, to transfer
somebody
in just for, they're
saying to give him
experience, but then they move him back out.
Yeah. A lot of departments are doing it.
It's a
temporary assignment as investigators. And I think
what happens when that goes on, East Lansing for
example.You're in there for two years.
Now they
get in there and they just start to develop some
informants.
They just start really getting a
handle, like I talked about in that second year.
Somewhere in there you really start feeling good.
You start to feel like this is what I do.
You
don't have the traffic ticket mentality where you
write the ticket and you don't have to deal with
them any more. You start thinking in the future.
Maybe I'll treat this individual suspect fairly
different, a little differently because I know in
the future if I need some information from him, I
know that I can get it.
Just when you start
developing your technique and your contacts with
all of the other detectives, you're back in patrol.
You know.
I think it's a flaw in the system.
I
don't like the way that's happening, I don't like
that.
43c. So you think that you need a consist, long term?
I think you need to be in there for awhile.
44.

How long do you think that it takes to really
become, what you considered to be in your mind, a
good detective?
You know, the ones that you look up to?
Well, that really varies from person to person.
But, I think that if you're going to have temporary
assignments as detectives, you should have at least
five years in there. Otherwise, in the first year
you're learning so much. You're going through all
this training, you're developing.
In your second
year, you're really making some progress. By the
time you finish your second year, you're really
into it and bam, you're back on the road. Or maybe

229

even in a three year assignment, well now you got
maybe a year and half where you're really
productive. And then you get all that training, it
will make you a better patrol officer but on the
other hand, where does all the intelligence go.
Where's
all
the
contacts?
Where's
all
the
informants?
All the training that you have
received and all the specialized areas, and you go
back to going out and taking name and what was
stolen.
All that expertise is gone.
It's gone
back to patrol. Now, in our department, everybody
that has any, if you get promoted in here and you
don't plan on staying here your whole career,
you're going to get all this training and expertise
and you're going to feel really good. But what are
you trying to do? You would like to make sergeant
because for your family you like the extra $6,500
pay raise. So now you take your detective that you
have invested all
of your time and money and
training on. And he's got all of this experience
now where he can go out to a shooting scene or any
major crime scene,
and take over and work it and
have very little supervision,
because there is
very little supervision in here. Then what happens
is they want to get promoted to sergeant and you
lose all that.
45.

What do you have to do, go back to sergeant?
Yeah, you're going back to patrol as a sergeant.
There is one detective sergeant position in here.
And the primary reason that people would want that
sergeant's position in this department, is the pay.

45a. Right.
There is such a pay disparity.
I don't know, I
don't know if it exists.
I know that it doesn't
exist in the State Police because all of their
detectives are detective sergeants and I think
that's appropriate.
I really think even if you
don't have the supervisory responsibility, you're
working the majop cases, the high profile cases for
your department.
45a. So you should have some incentives to keep the
guys?
Yeah.

230
45b. Bring in and keep them.

Keep them in there if their experience is good. If
you're a sergeant, detective sergeant, and maybe
you're not so hot at DB, then they can move you out
of here and put somebody in here that is very
motivated and isn't burned out. See, you have that
lateral ability. I don't know if that's related to
what you're studying. But, if you're going to
invest this much training in somebody in DB, if
you're going to put him through all this schooling,
only for a temporary assignment for two to three
years, or only till he gets promoted to sergeant
where he can make more money, then what's the
point?
If you're trying to develop career
detectives, then I think that's outstanding.
But
there are some people who will come in here and
because of the hours and because of the type work
they are doing, they will never want to leave.
46.

What's your hours primarily?
We work days.

We're working...

46a. Eight to four thirty, or five?
We're working eight to six.

We got 10 hours.

46b. What about overtime?
Very little.
That's why they have us on days.
They don't want to pay us, they don't want to pay
any court time. They're very strict on overtime.
So, for a young aggressive officer that comes in
here they tell you this is a good career move.
Well now I like it. The longer you're in here, the
more you like it. The more you get acclimated to
this type of work, I think. You don't have to deal
with the slobbering drunks, y'know.
You get to
deal with the bad guys. You get to deal with the
big cases. You get to go out. And it's fun. It's
challenging and it's fun. The longer I'm here the
less I really like to go back to patrol.
But
that's where the advancement is. That's where the
pay is. You got to think of your family.
So I'm
thinking, if I get promoted out of here, all that
education and expertise, when I go to patrol as a
patrol sergeant, that's lost. You know, they have
talked about it in our department. The Sheriff

231

would like to see it be like MSP, that our
detective sergeant position be permanent because
then I would never leave.
46c. Well, is he promoting that then?
wants?

That's what he

He hasn't promoted it. He's in favor of it. But,
I guess my point would be that if you're going to
spend all this time, the basic detective school,
y'know, getting in it.
I think that's real
necessary.
I think you got to have it even if
you're only in here for two years.
I think the
turn around would be well worth it. I think it
would get you to that point where you feel
comfortable a lot sooner. If you're spreading this
training out over, say it takes two years to get to
auto thief school, to get to homicide school, to
get to the various interview and interrogation
schools, you're getting it at different times.
Where if you can get a nice block of it right there
at the beginning to get you going and supplement it
with the other training programs. I think that.
47.

Any other items?
Well I hope that I helped.

48.

The thing that I was going to tell you is that I'm
going to give you my card.
Okay.
So if you do
think of something, because a lot of times you will
think of things after I leave.
Yeah.
Some of the questions kinda threw me a
little.
Well I'll terminate it now.

APPENDIX E

232

QUESTIONNAIRE
IN RE i

DETECTIVE TRAINING FOR THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
LAN ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

CODE:

025

DATE:

02-02-94

TIME:

11:15 a.m.

PLACE:

Michigan State Police
Post 11

ADVICE:

Yes

WAVIER:

Yes

DEPARTMENT:

Michigan State Police

NUMBER OF OFFICERS:

2100

BIOGRAPHICAL
DOB:

03-29-49

POB:

Lansing, Michigan

Marital Status:

Yes

Prior Marriages:

No

Children:

3

EDUCATION
High School:

Grand Ledge High School

Junior College:

Lansing Community College
AA/LEA 1971

Technical School:

None

233

College:

University of New Mexico - 2 years
Michigan State University

Graduate Course:

None

Military:

None

Police Academies:

Michigan State Police Academy

WORK EXPERIENCE
1.

Present
Detective Sergeant
since 1985.

2.

assigned to

the Lansing Post

Prior Police Experience
None

3.

Military Experience
None

4.

Other Work Experience
Fischer Body, Lansing and summer jobs.

DETECTIVE EXPERIENCE
Trooper detective for three years as an undercover
officer in narcotics.
Five years assigned to the
Attorney General's office as a detective sergeant.
Worked primarily white collar crime but also death
investigations.
Eight years assigned to the
Lansing Post.
INSTRUCTOR EXPERIENCE
Two years at Lansing Community College, Criminal
Justice. The course is criminal investigations.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1.

Total Number of Years of Police Experience?
23 years

234

2.

Number of Years as a Detective?
16 years

3.

Experience as a Police Instructor?
2 years

4.

Do you think that your civilian education assisted
you in becoming a police officer? Detective?
Quite frankly, no.

4a.

And why do you say that?
Well I only had two or three courses in criminal
justice,
juvenile
delinquency
and
police
administration.
And there isn't anything in my
college curriculum that helped prepare me for the
job that I'm doing now, other than learning how to
develop good habits. Study habits and work habits.
But, certainly, I didn't have any law courses.
When I started the police academy, I didn't know
the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor.
I couldn't give you a definition of the two.
No
knowledge like that. Looking back, if I think of a
couple of my English classes, accounting, maybe
that's
helped
me
in
some
areas
of
my
investigations. But really very small. Yeah.

5.

Do you think that your prior work experience
assisted you or helped prepare you for your work as
a police officer? Detective?
I would say that I didn't learn any educational
skills, but certainly it broadened the horizon.
Not ordinarily being exposed to it, but working on
the line at a factory, you encounter all kinds of
people.

6.

As an experienced detective for a number of years,
have you developed or formulated, a personal
philosophy as it relates to the American criminal
justice system?
I probably don't have a lot of those. I just look
at when you get to the whole big picture. In my
role, I have a very defined role, and that is to

235

collect
the
evidence
and prepare
the
best
prosecutable cases possible. And other than that,
no I don't have role in the system. I've certainly
developed, like you probably have opinions.
6a.

Hell, what is your opinion, that's what I asked?
The system is not working, the way it's set up
right now. It has greatly to do with the fact that
two things that I've seen that should really be
corrected. Suspects should not be allowed to hide
behind attorneys and not give statements, like they
can now. The whole idea of the system should be to
find the person who perpetrated the crime and
punishment him for it. The system shouldn't be set
up to protect the people who perpetrated the crime.
And I see it as a major flaw in the system right
now.
What I'm saying to you, people should be
compelled to give statements to the police if the
police can demonstrate that they have knowledge or
involvement in a crime.
I'm not saying that they
should have rights. But certainly have an attorney
present to make sure that the statements are
accurately taken. And the police are not punishing
the individual.
That's my personal opinion.
People should not be allowed to hide behind
attorneys.
The whole idea is to find out who
perpetrated the crimes and punish the proper
people. But it's not set up like that right now.

6b.

What is the second item?
The second item has to do with the correction side
of it.
We have to make prison a non pleasant
place. The way it is set up right now, prison is
not an unpleasant place to be.
Maybe it is for
some people, like you or I it would be.
But for
some people it's better conditions than what they
would normally be exposed to.
And it's not
considered a tremendous hardship to go back to
prison.
Until the day comes that it should be
something to discourage you. When you can go to
prison and get three meals and play all the
basketball you want in the world.
And get into
weight training and play card games all day long,
and with no responsibilities, other than have a
good time.
Something is wrong.
And my personal
feeling is that they have too much play time, too
many freedoms.
Hell, they've got prisons in our
unit. What they got, right up here in Ionia,

236

prisons with nice gymnasiums,
tennis courts,
baseball fields, movie theaters. I have a problem
with that. There is not very much there to
discourage a prisoner to not want to go back.
7.

Why did you want to become a detective?
I'm trying to think what it was initially. I guess
the thing that interested me about police work
after I got into it was these high profile crimes.
Y'know, the criminal. I was more interested in the
criminal than traffic and I wanted to be involved.
I wanted to be the guy who ramrods.
Y'know, get
myself into ramroding some of these high profile
crimes.
Not because of the viability aspect but
just because of the interest.
And, I felt that
after I was in this department a few years, I could
do it better than what I see a lot of guys who were
doing it.
It's just my nitch.
To me, it is the
more challenging part of police work.
It is more
challenging than anything else.

8.

What do you consider to be the main function of a
police officer?
To provide that security to the public.
That
security, that someone is there to protect them.
To give the public confidence that they can move
around and feel that they don't have to lock
themselves in the house. Obviously, we're not doing
such a good job.
But I think, that is the role,
the main role, of the police officers.

9.

Open

10.

What do you consider to be the main function of a
detective?
The main function of a detective is to put together
the best investigation that one can to insure the
proper prosecution.

11.

Can anyone perform the function of a detective?
No.

237
11a. Why do you say that?

Because most of my job that is going to be done,
all of the different things that I have to do seem
to center around one thing.
If one does not have
the capabilities to communicate with people, good
people skills, communication skills, your job as a
detective is going to be a lot tougher.
And it
seems to me that people who are successful at doing
the work that I do are the ones who have these
communication skills. Those ones that can convince
people to give them the information that the
detective desires.
And can use the psychology
aspect, a salesmen aspect, and use the acting
aspect.
Y'know, convert all of these skills and
get the information that they have, or that they
need.
That's the most important thing about my
job.
As you well know, there's a certain amount
that is something that can't be taught very easily.
Something that's got to be kind of a natural thing.
In my opinion, there's a lot of people who have the
job that I do, that don't have those skills if they
need to get that information. And there are a lot
of people in some departments with different jobs
that have those skills that I would like to see in
detective work. But, anyone just can't come in the
door. If you don't have the ability to communicate
and the other people skills, you're not going to be
nearly as effective as you can be.
12.

Is the term investigator and detective synonymous?
Yes.

13.

Bow would you define a detective?
One who conducts interviews, collects evidence and
prepares criminal investigations for prosecution.

14.

What basic qualifications should a detective possess?
People skills.

14a. Which includes what you were talking about?
Communications.

238
1 4 b . Communications.

Knowledge.
That would include knowledge of
criminal
law.
Knowledge
of
crime
scenes.
Processing.
A wealth of contacts.
Knowing where
to get the information that you need.
Not
necessary knowing all of the information that I'm
going to need, but knowing that the Pat (Last Name)
of this world exist and what they are capable of
doing for me. Knowing that the detective that was
just in here exists and what he's capable of, how
he's capable of helping me.
Y'know, we all have
contacts.
And to know where to go to get the
information.
I'm sure there is something else. And I teach this
in my class and I even covered this last night.
I
don't know how to put it in one little paragraph.
But basically,
I tell the students, the more you
can expand your horizons, the better police officer
you're going to be. And by expanding your horizons
and knowing a little about the particular ethnic
groups.
If you have hobbies, you have several
interests.
If you are educated in several
different areas. The more that you can expand your
horizons the better chance you have to find neutral
ground when you encounter someone that you need the
information from. You know, if I got a background
in
raising grapes and I'm with an immigrant
worker, now I can sit down and talk to this person,
about,"hey, I used to work in the vineyard. I used
to take all those pots out there and stick them
under the plants. Do you still do that"? You see
what I mean, the more you expand your horizons and
have an understanding of the people, and different
jobs, the better chance you have of finding neutral
ground with the people that you deal with.
Once
you get on that neutral ground you got a chance to
get that information. See I don't know how you can
(inaudible).
14c. Establish rapport?
Establish rapport.
Have
it
expanding your
knowledge and understanding of ethnic backgrounds,
different
careers,
jobs
out
there,
history,
anything. And I told them, too many people get too
focused. Y'know, I like to work out at the gym and
I want to do police work. And I know police work
and I like to go to the gym.
I like to go to the
bar. I like to go to the ball game. Don't limit

239

yourself to such a small horizon. The more
information and more knowledge that you can
develop.
15.

How do good detectives differ from the ordinary
detective?
Good detectives throw ego into a closet and lock it
up. The average detectives think that they know it
all and they don't need to learn and they aren't
going to be nearly as effective.

16.

How is an officer promoted, or assigned,
detective position within your department?

to a

As a trooper we write the sergeant examination.
And that examination is scored from two different
angles, the same examination.
You will receive a
score as a uniformed sergeant and you will receive
a score from that examination as a detective
sergeant.
And your name goes on two different
lists.
Obviously, the questions on the exam are
weighted.
You know, one way or the other. And so
you have two lists that you are put on, that you
receive scores on, and they are broken down into
bands. Each one is listed first band, second band
and third band. And when we have openings come up,
the new way of doing it now is, the management will
approach people that are in the top band. Whatever
band they happen to be in. And ask them if anybody
has an interest in this position.
Anyone who is
interested may apply for it.
And you will be
interviewed or you're selected.
16a. How long is the score good for?
Till they write the next exam.
16b. Is there a standard of one year, two years?
No it's not. I think that it's about two to three
years.
16c. Do- you also have oral boards that you have to go
through?
Or is it strictly the exam?
To get into the detective level, it is strictly the
examination.
But that's not to say that if a job
opened up and several people are competing for it,

240

they may ask for interviews.
It kind of varies.
But there really is not any consistency.
We have
jobs open up and they know this person wants it.
And this is who the people in that particular area
want and they grab him.
Others, maybe 15 people
will submit for a job.
They'll look at the 15
people and maybe select seven or eight, or three,
and have them come in.
They'll do an interview
with them and then select the person.
17.

What criteria is used by your departsient in
selecting an officer for promotion to detective?
I think that you just answered it. Yeah, I did. I
don't think there really is a set criteria.
I
think they like to evaluate the candidates, and put
the proper candidates in the right positions. But
it doesn't go like that.
Sometimes there is no
rhyme or reason how people wind up in our
department.
We've had people, like I can lateral
into uniform rank if I wish to and vice-versa. And
sometimes, in an attempt to escape moving one
person and the expense that goes along when they're
replacing one another, the meals, hotels and
lodging, for putting up one person.
Sometimes
they'll take someone that doesn't really fit the
position at the same work site and move them in.

17a. This is so that they don't have to pay?
Yeah.
18.

How did you receive your promotion to detective?
Well, I wrote the first test that I became eligible
to write. And I was in the first band in both the
uniformed sergeant list and detective sergeant
list. I turned down a uniformed promotion because
I wanted to get into the detective area, and
because they knew me in intelligence where I did my
narcotics work. They promoted me right into a our
narcotics. Well, not right into. Actually, I left
intelligence. In our narcotics we're in it for no
longer than three years and then they move you out.
And I was out about six months, when this position
came open in narcotics. Well, I think it came open
in intelligence, the group at the Attorney

241

General's Office,
and so I got my promotion that
way. I was not interviewed for it. They called me
up and asked me if I wanted to go.
19.

What do you believe were the major factors
contributing to your promotion to detective?
The major factor, well, the people who eventually
promoted me into a detective sergeant position, had
an opportunity to watch me in narcotics for two to
three years, as a trooper detective. And so they
got to know me. I think it's because of the way I
presented myself, and my work ethics.

20.

Is any distinction made for rating females and/or
other minority candidates
for promotions
to
detectives?
Do you mean, are they give advantages?
I think
they are.
I mean, I think that the department
wants to show a well balanced department.
There
are minorities in all positions of the department.
So, I think there have been occasions, in my humble
opinion, where blacks have been promoted to
detective sergeant positions.
Not necessarily
because they were the best candidate for it, but we
wanted to show that we had representation of both
sexes and all races in the ranks. On the other
hand, I know that we had white males promoted to
the detective sergeant positions that had no
business becoming a detective sergeant.
So, it
isn't strictly a quota thing.
I know that the
department wants to show that we have
105 post
detectives and you don't want to have 105 white
male post detectives.
We have blacks.
We have
some women.

21.

In your opinion, are the best persons
selected for the position of detective?

usually

NO.

2la. And that's what you were saying?
Yeah. But, I think that they do want to show that
they have a diversity of post detectives, through
the post detectives. And sometimes that means that
the unqualified person gets the job. But, like

242

I said, we've got white males that ended up as a
lateral transfer from
uniformed sergeant to
detective that were promoted.
And I have known
some of these people that don't have clue.
They
never did an outstanding job as a trooper in
criminal investigations.
Their people skills are
lacking and there is no way they should be a
detective.
22.

Have you had an opportunity to work with other
detectives from your own agency and/or other
agencies?
Yes.

22a. What were some of them?
Who were?
22b. Some. Yeah.

The agencies.

I got tied up.
You name it.
All three counties
right here.
I bet you that I've worked with
detectives
from probably 15 to 20 sheriff's
departments, who I jointly worked some cases with.
And, many police departments.
I bet you I could
tell you, if I had to write a list down, including
federal agencies,
40 different agencies,
that
sometime or another in the last, since 1980.
I've
worked cases with.
23.

Do you believe that the detectives assigned to the
various detective functions,
such as,
B/E's,
robberies, etc., presently possess all of the
skills needed to be a good or qualified detective?
That's a hard one for me to answer, we don't have a
robbery, burglary, homicide division.
We're the
"jack of all trades".
What you see here at this
post whatever comes down, we do have specialized
units, like narcotics, auto theft, organized crime.
And I have to go back to the previous answer, my
opinion of what people should possess before they
take this job. The skill issue is not necessarily
the opinion of the people that promote them. I
can't emphasis enough the skills in communications,
and throwing away the ego. Not only in our

243

department but I see the Bame thing in other
departments.
And the good detectives all seem to
have the same feeling about it.
24.

As an experienced police officer and detective, are
you satisfied with the training that you received
from your agency?
I am happy.
Yes, I am happy with one exception.
I'm very
happy with
the
training that
our
department provides.

24a. What is the one exception?
The one exception, I'm getting into the file to see
here.
I suggested to the Director here, a few
years ago, that they should get all of us post
detectives together for a three day seminar on an
annual basis.
And I suggested to the Director
different topics that should be covered. Because,
like all agencies, we've been exposed to some
training that is really not applicable to what we
do.
Let's look at some areas that we should be
looking a t .
And one of the things that I
suggested
is
let's
bring
into
the
seminar,
detectives from our own agencies or other agencies
that have been involved in a high profile case, or
whatever.
What I was looking for when I suggested it in this
letter was, at the time one our detectives out of
the Yipsilanti Post, was involved in that deal
where I think, some Escorse Police Officers were
killed responding to a hotel burglary. The family
was held and that type of thing. And he ran a task
force down there. Skip (Last Name) that's the type
of thing where you bring Skip in to u s .
For an
hour, an hour and half, two hours. And let us know
the pit falls that he ran into.
Dealing with the
media, the other departments, getting the tip
center set-up.
Maybe it took a long time.
Those
are the kinds of things that are going to be real
beneficial to us. We had another case, to use an
example, where our detective found out that we had
access to aerial photography through satellites
going over.
Give us exposure to that type of
thing. And it's doesn't have to be our department.
Bring in somebody, though, that has handled a
unique case and sit down and bounce it off to us.

244
Because that's what I find myself benefiting from.
I hear this guy tell me about this and this and
that. And it helps me prepare for the same type of
thing.
So the training that they did provide us,
it did get us together for three years in a row on
annual basis, for three days. Then the funds.dried
up.
They had to rob Peter to pay Paul to put in
the driving track over here. So they had to rob our
training money to do that, I'm told.
So they did
have a school but they haven't had a school since.
So, from that stand point, I say a school where all
of us get together. That to me is important, and
I'm sure that you understand that.
I mean,
sometimes the factor of camaraderie or getting to
meet people that you talk to on the phone. You
know how important that is. When I call them up in
Marquette now and talk to somebody that I met with,
you can get a lot more done that way.
24a. The networking?
Yeah. That's
Right.
25.

one

word

that

fits

well

for

it.

Did you receive any specific training when you were
promoted to detective?
Yes.

25a. And what was that?
It was called basic detective school.
25b. And how long was that?
I think it was a week.
25c. Did you find that beneficial?
Yes.
26.

Could improvements be made to the present training
received by detectives in Michigan?
Yes.

245
27.

What are soma of the essential skills or training
that a detective should receive?
Well, going hand in hand with what I just told you,
I think that cases with an unusual twist or high
profile cases are very good training for other
detectives to find out how this went together.
Because, we are all in situation where we can be
exposed to it someday.
You don't do the typical
burglary or CSC cases and not deal with them. The
next thing, you got two police officers down or a
real high profile like IGA, or like the Bennigan's
homicide out here a few years ago, where two people
got killed. And it's like pandemonium. It's nice
that I know what to do and I feel comfortable with
it. But before that happened I wouldn't have felt
comfortable with coming in. Okay, this is what I
do, I call CID and get the tips that are going.
And I get it going.
That kind of thing we need
more of. And one other type of training that they
have given us which I really think is great is the
REID'S Interrogation School.
That is great
training. And I think everyone that I have talked
to has said that was one of the best training.
That should be for sure.
And our department is
getting everyone through that, the REID School.

28.

Do you believe that other law enforcement agencies
that you are familiar with receive the same level
of
training
for
their
detectives
as
your
department?
No.

29.

What do you believe are the essential qualities
exhibited by a successful detective?
Going back to knowledge, people skills, and what
would be a good way to phrase it, throw away the
ego, minimize your ego.

30.

Are you satisfied with the quality
department's investigative reports?

of

your

No, I have to say no, but I may be expecting too
much.
I do overall.
I've had an opportunity to
review reports from many departments. Overall from
what I see, generally speaking, troopers make
better report writers than the average officers and

246

deputies from other departments.
I don't think
that
it
isemphasized nearly enough in the
department. The quality of report writing should be
higher.
And our department has taken steps to do
so.
I think it's safe to say that I don't think
you will find that any detective that is worth his
hoot, is ever going to say that he is qualified.
Yeah, I'm satisfied with the quality of reports
that my officers do.
31.

Are you satisfied with the prosecution case
acceptance level from the local or state's
prosecutors office that you have to work with?
Yeah, I'm satisfied with that.
Y'know, Pat, it
goes on the individual basis.
If we have 16, 18
troopers that work the road, we have four or five
that are absolutely crummy report writers, four or
five that are that acceptable and four or five that
are outstanding. And so, our department I can say
stacks up with other agencies. And I think, on the
same par with them. So I would have to say I am.
I may be contradictory when I say, I'm not
satisfied with the quality that they are doing, but
comparatively speaking the prosecutors accept our
trooper reports on the same parity as other
departments.

32.

Have you or your agency had difficulties presenting
cases for acceptance to your prosecutor's office.
No. Again there are exceptions to that.
We have
some troopers, like I said, that are not very good
at it. But I know the three detectives that work
in this office never had a problem with it.

33.

Do you know of other agencies that appear to have
better training programs for their detectives or
investigators?
No. I guess the problem is I can't think of them
right off hand.
It's just something that I don't
get much exposure to. I think that Lansing and the
counties that we deal with right around here, the
detectives and I don't know, what the federal
agencies really do, what kind of training they have
and get exposed to.
Other than that I know that
our training just supersedes any training of any

247
other detective working the city or county level in
this area who I deal with the most. I don't think
the emphasis is on training in the county and city
departments as much as it is in ours.
34.

Should physical fitness be included in the criteria
for selection of detectives?
Yes, hut there shouldn't be anyone held to
extremes, I don't think. Certainly, appearance is
important. And obviously a frail, sickly looking
person or a grotesquely overweight person, is
going, it's one more hurdle that person has to
overcome to be respected. It's needed.

35.

Do you think there is a need to change the current
detective training practices?
Mot
overhaul,
but
there
should
be
some
modifications.
Sounds like an answer like a
politician. Like I said there's a lot that is very
good. But I think they could modify some of it.

36.

Do you think that there is a need for a basic
detective course in Michigan?
Yes.

36a. Why for the basic?
The basic provides a rookie detective a good basic
school with a good understanding of what our job
encompasses as well as where to go to get the
information that you need.
That should be
incorporated into a basic school. You should be
aware of what the capabilities of our intelligence
in the State Police has that they can draw upon.
We should be aware of the Pats (Last Name) of this
world, the Dennies (Last Name) of this world and
the computer networks of this world. All of this
stuff that they have available to them. All that
information is good exposure. And there are a lot
of departments, if you go to the middle or smaller
departments, that are very focused or narrow minded
and not aware of all of the capabilities that they
have available to them out there.
And if every
officer who becomes a detective and gets a week of

248
basic school is exposed to these types of things, I
think it's well worth the time. Obviously, after
you're on the job awhile and you have a better
understanding of the job, the advanced school. It
may be a refresher to some people in some areas.
And then in other areas it can open up new avenues
of information.
It's so changing.
The rules of
evidence in court, you know, is changing from day
to day.
New laws are coming into play.
New
technology is coming into play.
So, I'm all for
it.
I don't think that you can get too much
training. Certainly, I wouldn't say that a week of
training a month is needed.
37.

Do you believe that Michigan detectives
benefit from an advanced detective course?

could

Yes.
38.

If a basic detective course was offered, what type
of curriculum would best meet this need?
Two things would be the most basic.
Number one,
first hand knowledge of personal experience. And
this is why I say bring in detectives who have been
involved in situations and explain how they went
about setting up an investigation.
The second
thing would be to expose these detectives to all of
the legal avenues out there that they can go to get
information that they may not have been aware of.
I mean, a whole week could be exposed to that.
What are capabilities the Pat (Last Name) of this
world have and what does it take to get information
from the social service computer system. What can
the Secretary of State's computer system provide
you. This type of information. Where to go to get
the information that you need. There are a lot of
detectives out there, the detective that just left
the office here,
sometimes we chat and there
things that he doesn't know. Where to go to get the
information.
I just encountered something the
other day after 22 years on this job. A month ago
I learned, for the first time, that the FBI has the
capabilities in their lab to examine the lead
content of a shell in a specific ammunition box and
compare it to the content of an unknown shell and
determine if it was made in the same batch of lead.
In other words they give you a high probability
that it came from the same box of ammunition.

249
I didn't know that this capability existed.
So
here I got 22 years on the job and I learned that
for the first time.
There are a lot of things
where I know where to go to get the information
that I need, that I know the guy in the next office
doesn't know.
Or even the guy in the next chair.
So, more exposure for beginning and advanced
detectives have. That type of information.
38a. How about specific courses like this REID?
REID? Absolutely.
38b. Any others like that?

Any specific topics?

I'm just drawing a blank right now.
I've had a SCAN,
which is a one week or least a four day course, and their
advanced SCAN which is a three day.
That is a tough
course.
And it's good exposure to be aware that it's
there.
And it's something that detectives should be
exposed to. Not everybody is going to take it and use
it.
But for those that do and become good at it, it's
very helpful. SCAN and REID are the things that cross my
mind now.
38c. You mentioned crime scenes?
Yeah. Crime scene processing, now to some agencies
may be a good school for them. But, quite frankly,
in my department,
when you get promoted to
detective
we
should
already
have
a
good
understanding on how to process a crime scene. You
don't have to be an expert at it but certainly know
or have a good understanding of it already.
38d. I was thinking of all detectives?
All detectives, well.
38e. Going from uniform to detective?
I guess, I'm...
38f. What would you like to see? If you were putting it
together, what would you like to see?
Regarding crime scene processing?

250
38g. No.
Por detectives?
If you were setting up a
basic course.
It doesn't have to be a week.
As
long as you want.
I would say.
A school patterned after the REID.
Training patterned after the REID'S Interrogation.
Certainly, the first hand knowledge of bringing in
the detectives that have been involved in cases.
Explain to them how you get around some of the
pitfalls you're going to encounter. And the third
thing, did I cover communication? Communications
and people skills situation. Then, there are other
areas that you can get into.
You might want to
have an hour branched off into the gypsies.
38h. Specific?
Yeah, specific.
There are the motorcycle gangs.
This is the area of the state that we know they
frequent. They have camps, they have houses, this
is what our intelligence tells us how they operate.
You can really get done in an hour in auto theft.
Hey, if your department is experiencing some stolen
cars think of this. Have your officer find out from
every person who has their car stolen, if within
the last month it's been into a repair shop.
Has
it been in having a stereo being put in. We have
found, and I learned when I was in narcotics
running with bikers that they were running a nice
scam where people were leaving their cars at shops.
Some of these bikers had their friends that worked
there, just take the keys and go out and have a set
made. Grab the information off the registration in
the glove box.
Wait 30 day and go steal the car.
I mean, I never would have thought when I was a
trooper to ask the people if they had their car in
a shop in the last 30 or 40 days. Just passing on
information like that.
39.

How would you envision a training program for
detectives be implemented throughout the state?
I guess, if money was no problem, it would be nice
to put these schools at different geographic
locations.
I personally like the idea of when I
get with other State Police detectives, run a
school with 100 people, three days, four days, five
days whatever it is, with the people in my
department so I get to know them first.
I feel
like I would like to have this training like this

251
yearly training with our own department.
But
thinking as departments is a whole issue. They
should have the opportunity to expose their people
to some type of training.
40.

Bow would such a program to train detectives for
all enforcement agencies in the state be financed?
There are those funds available that are set aside
for law enforcement training. I can't think of the
fund that is available.
Other than that, I fell
that
the
expense
could be
handled by
the
departments that are sending people.
There are
funds out there and I can't think what they are.

40a. The 302?
The 302, that's what I'm trying to say, yeah.
Yeah. The use of the 302 funds and then it comes
down to the individual departments.
41.

Is there anything else that I should have asked you
that I didn't ask you?
I can't think of any right now.
training?

42.

Regarding the

When you first became a detective/ bow long did it
take you to be up and running and comfortable after
you were promoted?
The truth of the matter, I'm still not comfortable.

43.

How about when you went into narcotic?
that transition from uniform?

You made

Well, I'd say, three or four months in narcotics
before I became comfortable under that particular
area.
When I went to the AG office, the Attorney
General's Office, it was a whole different type of
work and probably was six months to a year.
Then
when I came out here, it was a completely different
type of work.
Even to this day, I still go on
scenes where I don't feel comfortable.
And I
think, that's good though.
You get to the point
where you think, yeah, this is a suicide and
there's no problem. But there's a lot of things

252
that I don't feel comfortable with. It's probably
not what you're looking at though.
For me
personally, because of my assignment to the Lansing
Post,
as a detective sergeant coming out of
intelligence, it was probably a couple years before
I started having a little bit of confidence, enough
confident where I felt comfortable.
44.

You know the thing that you are hitting on is that
there is a transition period between...
Right.
... and what I was getting at is that there is a
transition period from uniformed to detective.
Okay.

45.

Was it a big
uniformed to?

leap,

a

quantum

leap

to go

from

It wasn't for me.
The quantum leap I was
experiencing, if I were doing the job now would be
going back to the uniformed.
That's what I hear
from most detectives when they make the transition
from detective back to the uniformed,
as a
uniformed sergeant, or he gets promoted to a
uniformed lieutenant.
That to me is a bigger
transition.
We are used to walking around and people are not
paying particular attention to u s .
Going into
restaurants, bowling allies,
into the federal
building where nobody would give you the time of
day.
All of sudden you're wearing a uniform or
driving down the road in uniform, everybody's got
their attention on you. And from what I understand
the mere fact that you're going from comfortable
clothes to uniform clothes you're generally the
center of attention.
Wherever you are and that
kind of thing.
The job responsibilities are so different.
Going
from paper pushing, bean counting and that type of
thing there's no pressure. Not nearly the pressure
as if you are truly a detective and you are up and
running and involved in major cases.

253
I'm glad that this potted into my mind here.
We
had people leave the detective ranks and go into
uniformed sergeant ranks, lateral. When you finish
your uniformed sergeant job at midnight or 4 PM
you're done.
You go home and you start a new day
the next day. There is not the ongoing cases there
to deal with.
You just start a new day the next
day.
When you are doing this job (detective) , if you are
truly involved with the job, and you try to do the
best job, this is a 24 hour a day job.
It's 24
hours a day.
I mean, if you got any major cases
going. This case that I took this call on, it's
mind boggling. And I find that so much of my time
at night was donated to thinking about this case.
Making plans, taking work home, I would never do if
I was a uniformed sergeant.
So when you leave this, when you make it from
uniform to detective, it's a gradual transition.
After doing this job awhile and then you make the
transition back to uniform, it's like the world is
off your shoulders.
45a. Any other things?
I'11 probably get back to you and give you some
time to think about it, because I know I'm sort of
catching you cold.
I sure have talked a lot.
I'll terminate the interview.

APPENDIX F

254

MEMORANDUM OF INTERVIEW

IN RE:

Basic Detective Training for Michigan
Law Enforcement

DATE:

February 14, 1994

TIME:

2:00 p.m.

PLACE:

Michigan State Police
221 W. Lake Lansing Road
Suite 102, Asher Crt.
East Lansing, MI 48823

PRESENT:

ANDY PALMER, Detective/Lieutenant
PATRICK P. HEALEY

SUBJECT:

MSP Detective Training Program

DET/LT ANDY PALMER is the Commander, Training Unit, Michigan
State Police (MSP), Investigative Services.
He has been a
member of the MSP for 23 years and has been a detective for 19
of those years.
He served approximately three years on the
Road Patrol, four years as a Post Detective, six years as an
Undercover Narcotics Detective, two years as a Supervising
Detective and four years in his current position.
He is
responsible for all of the training for MSP Detective and
Investigative personnel.
DET/LT PALMER started a training program for his narcotic
undercover officers on his own in 1985 or 1986. The narcotic
units established across Michigan are normally based on a
joint task force concept.
MSP provides the supervising
officers and the participating local police units provide the
personnel who are assigned on a three year temporary basis.
After completing three years the local officers are replaced
with a newly-assigned officer from the parent organization.
DET/LT PALMER recognized that it was taking one to two years
for a newly-assigned officer to began performing at peak
proficiency.
He introduced a training program to get the
newly-assigned officers performing more quickly and believed
that they have now reduced the time to six months before an
officer is at peak proficiency. After demonstrating that the
training could increase the proficiency and decrease the
necessary time before an officer became productive, the
training was expanded to all Michigan joint narcotic units.

255
After assuming command for all training of Detectives and
Investigators, DET/LT PALMER applied the same knowledge
learned from his narcotic training programs.
He also
incorporated several existing programs into a detective
training program.
MSP offers a 40 hour, Basic Detective Course, once a year at
the MSP Training Academy. The course is opened to outside
police agencies. The class size is not limited and may have
between 93 to 105 or more officers attending. MSP policy is
to assure that all newly-promoted MSP detectives attend this
course within their first year. All other MSP Detectives are
rotated through the training program as soon as possible. The
basic detective school is followed up with several required
"core" courses which are also provided once a year. The core
courses consist of the REID Interviewing & Interrogation (4
days); LSI/SCAN Scientific Analysis Course (4 days); Raid
Entry (3 days); and the Management Supervisor Development (5
days). In addition MSP is trying to add the Homicide Course
(3 days) to the core courses.
All MSP Detectives will be
required to attend the basic and core courses. Newly assigned
detectives will be required to attend these courses within
their first year after being promoted.
The basic detective course curriculum consists of ten basic
subjects
that include:
Narcotics;
4th Amendment/Search
Warrants; Criminal Profiling; Legal Aspect of Interviewing and
Interrogation;
Arson
Investigation;
Law
Enforcement
Intelligence Network
(LEIN); Fingerprint
Identification
(FIST); Intelligence; Forensic Pathology/ Investigation of
Violent Death; and Child Abuse Investigations.
The basic
subjects are scheduled each morning.
Each afternoon the
students are given the option of selecting two of three
independent subjects that are offered as electives.
The
elective subjects include: Auto Theft; 35mm Camera; Documents;
Crime
Scene;
Technical
Service/Surveillance;
Handling
Informants; and Blood Serology & Trace Evidence.
DET/LT PALMER believes that detective training should be
mandated by the Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Training
Council (MLEOTC) in order for it to be effective.
Presently, MSP is able to provide their training through 302
Funds.
The
302 Funds are legislatively mandated
and
distributed to all Michigan State Law Enforcement agencies who
have the authority to regulate traffic.
The funds are
obtained by a percentage of every traffic ticket fine being
allocated to the 302 fund.
The funds are distributed as an
equal share based on a percentage of the number of police
officers assigned to a department.
The larger departments
receive a larger share. Sixty percent of the department's

256
allocated share is distributed in September of each year.
These funds are discretionary funds and it is up to the
department to decide how the funds are to be spent on
training.
In January of each year, the remaining forty
percent is released in the form of specific grants on a need
basis to individual departments.
DET/LT PALMER believes that if a basic detective training
program was established there should be one central training
facility.
The 302 Funds could be paid directly to the
facility and the various departments would be given credits at
the training facility.
The credits would be based on the
equal share percentages paid to each department.
A centralized facility is necessary to ensure the standards
are met and all detectives are receiving the same information
and quality of training.

Patrick P. Healey

APPENDIX G

257

MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE INTERVIEW

IN RE:

Basic Detective Course

DATE:

May 24, 1993

PARTY:

DET. ROGER GRIPE
Detective Training Unit
Investigative Analysis
Los Angeles Police Department
(212) 485-2676
Patrick P . Healey

SUBJECT:

LAPD Basic Detective Course

DET. Gripe was informed that I was attending Michigan State
University graduate program and wanted to obtain some
information on LAPD's Detective Training Course. Det. Gripe
provided the following information.
All newly-promoted detectives are required to attend the Basic
Detective Course within 12 months of being promoted to the
position of detective. The Basic Detective Course is a twoweek (80 hour) course which covers 35 different topics. Some
of the subjects include: Interviewing and Interrogation (12
hours)/ Interviewing Witnesses (2 hours); and Report Writing
(7 hours) . Det. Gripe stated that he would send me a copy of
the course schedule which would include all of the courses
offered (See Attachment) . The course is designed to be an
introduction type course to the investigative process and how
to handle different criminal investigations.
After the
detectives have attended the Basic Detective Course he/she
must complete an additional 24 hours of in-service training on
the investigation process and making them aware of possible
mistakes that could be made while conducting these types of
investigations.

258
The Detective also receives specific training from the
individual unit to which they are assigned.
The Detective
Training Unit also provides other courses which are mandatory
for certain specialized detectives. Homicide detectives are
required to attend a 40 hour course on how to conduct the
basic type of homicide investigation. Other courses offered
include:
Sexual Assaults;
Auto Theft;
Interviewing &
Interrogation; and Detective Supervisor School.

Patrick P . Healey

APPENDIX H

259

MEMORANDUM OF INTERVIEW

IN RE:

Basic Detective Training Course

DATE:

May 15, 1993

PARTY:

Giovanni Porcelli, Police Officer
Instruetor/Course Coordinator
Criminal Investigation Course
Specialized Training Unit
Police Academy City of New York
(212) 477-9280
Patrick P. Healey

SUBJECT: New York City Police Department
Criminal Investigation Course
Basic Detective Course

(NYPD)

Police Officer Porcelli is an instructor and course
coordinator for the NYPD Basic Criminal Investigation Course.
He explained that he had worked a number of years in narcotics
before his assignment to the Police Academy. Porcelli stated
that NYPD has approximately 31,000 police officers. He
believes that NYPD has approximately 2,000 officers assigned
as regular detectives.
The Criminal Investigation Course is a basic detective
training course which is offered five times a year.
The
course is a three-week mandatory course for all newlyappointed detectives. The class size is limited to 50 to 60
students.
The detectives are required to attend the course
within the first year of their promotion to detective. The
course is generally an overview of approximately 50 subjects
(See Attachment). The course format is guest speakers who
usually lecture for one to two hours. The detectives are to
receive further specialized training when they report to their
assigned division, such as, the Detective Bureau or the
Narcotics Bureau.
The Criminal Investigation Course is scheduled to increase the
number of courses offered per year to seven and increase the
class size to 75. The reason for the increase was to retrain
current detectives because it was found that detectives were
having difficulty transferring from one investigative unit to

260
another. Some detectives did not have basic investigative
skills.
There are three separate detective bureaus within
NYPD. The Organized Crime Bureau (OCB) handles the lower level
type crimes of vice, gambling, auto theft, street level
narcotics, etc. and is staffed with detectives who are on
temporary assignments as investigators. These positions are
filled with police officers who are assigned on a temporary
basis for a period of two to four years.
After their
assignments to OCB many of the officers are promoted and
transferred overto the regular Detective Bureau and/or the
Narcotics Bureau.
In the Narcotics Bureau the basic case is
a buy/bust type
case.
The detectives assigned to
the
Narcotics Bureau have to be retrained when they transfer to
the general Detective Bureau because they lack the basic
detective skills associated with other types of criminal
investigations where they do not have an informant giving them
the basic probable cause. Narcotic type investigations are not
necessarily easy cases to investigate but are different than
the other criminal type investigations. Narcotic type cases
tend to have informants who are involved in the criminal
activities or are knowledgeable about the activity and are
able to provide probable cause and/or significant leads for
the investigators.
Other criminal investigations do not
normally
have
the
cooperation
of
co-defendants
or
knowledgeable
individuals
to
assist
them
in
their
investigations and have to rely on basic investigative
techniques.
The Police Academy has no authority over the Detective and
Narcotics Bureaus and cannot direct what courses should be
taught to the detectives assigned to these bureaus. After the
detectives attend the Criminal Investigation Course they
receive specific training by the bureaus.

Patrick P . Healey

APPENDIX I

261

M E M O R A N D U M OF INTERVIEW

IN RE:

MICHIGAN BASIC DETECTIVE SCHOOL

DATE:

March 24, 1994

PLACE:

Michigan Law Enforcement Officer's Training Council (MLEOTC)
Michigan State Police Training Academy
7426 North Canal Road
Lansing, Mi 48913

PRESENT:
Police

WILLIAM NASH, Chief, Employment Standard Section, Michigan State
RAYMOND BEACH, ‘Chief, Field Services, Michigan State Police
PATRICK P. HEALEY

SUBJECT:

MLEOTC Standard and Procedures

MR. NASH and MR. BEACH were informed that I was conducting a study based on the
perceptions of selected Michigan Detectives to determine if there is a need to establish
a basic detective course in Michigan.
MR. NASH and MR. BEACH both agreed that they believed that there was a need for
a basic detective course for Michigan detectives. The major problem would be the
financing of such a program. MLEOTC has not developed any standards relating to the
training of detectives. The present MLEOTC standards only apply to certifying Michigan
basic police officers. The present standards require 472 hours of instruction in basic
police procedures, and an additional 80 hours of advanced police training is to be received
within three years after completing the basic course.
MLEOTC receives its authority from Public Act 203, 1965, as amended, to establish and
set standards for the basic course requirements and also for all in-service training of
Michigan law enforcement personnel. The law further authorizes MLEOTC to set
categories or classifications of in-service training programs and minimum courses of study
and attendance requirements. MLEOTC conducts on-going evaluations of training
programs to assure a sustained level of quality training. MLEOTC approved training
schools are located at five separate four year colleges, seven community colleges and six
regional police academies throughout the state of Michigan.

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MLEOTCs governing board consists of three representatives from the Michigan Sheriffs
Association, three representatives from the Michigan Chiefs of Police, one representative
from Detroit Police Department, three representatives from the various police unions, one
representative from the Attorney General's Office and one representative from the
Michigan State Police.
The funding for the basic course is received from the participating agencies. MLEOTC
and all in-service training funding is derived from civil traffic tickets. The funds are
known as 302 Funds. The funds are collected primarily through the traffic courts as part
of the fines imposed on traffic citations. Five dollars of each fine is diverted to the 302
Fund. The law specifically requires that these funds be used for in-service training of
participating law enforcement agencies and their personnel. Only agencies responsible
for issuing motor vehicle traffic tickets are permitted to participate.
MR. NASH and MR. BEACH pointed out that the key to establishing a basic detective
course is the funding issue. Some method of funding has to be devised to pay for
overtime pay for officers who will have to mate up for the officer's time who is in
training. Each department has limited manpower and each officer's time is built into the
department's overall operational plan.
A special basic detective course might be certified by MLEOTC. Presently MLEOTC
does certify special courses such as the Arson Investigator Course and Firearms
Instructors. The basic police officer's course could serve as the foundation for a basic
detective course and expand on the critical areas needed specifically for detectives.

PATRICK P. HEALEY

APPENDIX J

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MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE INTERVIEW

IN RE:

BASIC DETECTIVE COURSE

DATE:

September 16, 1994

PARTY:

DET. THOMAS CUSANELLI
Executive Officer
Detective Bureau Training Division
New York City Police Department (NYPD)
(212) 374-5549
Patrick P. Healey

SUBJECT:

NYPD Detective Training

Det. Cusanelli stated that the NYPD has three separate
detective bureaus, Detective Bureau (DB), Narcotics Bureau
(NB) , and the Organized Crime Bureau (OCB) .
NYPD has
approximately
31,000
police
officers
and
there
are
approximately 5,000 detectives assigned to the three different
bureaus. The OCB is responsible for the investigation of the
lower level criminal investigations relating to vice,
gambling, narcotics, etc. The investigators assigned to OCB
are police officers assigned to the division for temporary
assignments of two to four years.
These detectives are
normally referred to as "white shield" detectives because they
have not been promoted to the rank of detective. After their
initial assignments, members of the OCB, "white shield"
detectives are promoted to the rank of detective and receive
their gold badges.
All detectives have to attend a three-week basic detective
course at the Police Academy. After the detective is assigned
to the Detective Bureau they receive a one-week introduction
course to the DB which is conducted by the DB Training
Division.
Det. Cusanelli stated that he believes that a
similar type course is conducted by the NB for newly-assigned
detectives to that bureau also. DB detectives also receive a
mandatory two-day in-service, semi-annually. The individual
detectives are selected to work in divisions within the DB
that include:
Homicide;
Precinct detectives,
who are
considered to be more of a generalist detective; District

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Attorney Squad; Department of Investigation/Corruption;
Central Investigation Resource & Development; Major Crimes,Career Criminal Unit; Arson & Bomb; Joint Bank Robbery Task
Force; Missing Person; Special Fraud; and Terrorist; just to
name of few.
The subjects selected for in-service training are usually
determined after the Chief of Detectives and other command
officers decide what strategy the department will emphasize
during the coming year. The most recent class related to the
Chief's emphasis on getting guns off of the street.
The
training division developed the specific subjects to be
taught, such as laws related to firearms, searches and
seizures, different investigative techniques, etc. The classes
usually have detectives with a mix of experience levels from
new detectives to guys with 25 years experience.

Patrick P . Healey