Interplay between the Intelligence Analyst and the Criminal Investigator
As the role and importance of the intelligence analyst increase, in a certain sense, there is a synergy and a merging of roles between the investigator and the analyst. In a perfect police department, the investigator and analyst would think along the same lines as both work in tandem to investigate a crime. While the detective is on the scene in the beginning and has access to his or her direct sources of information, the intelligence analyst is away from the actual crime scene but can access numerous sources of intelligence while taking new data fed to him or her by the investigator and helping to connect the dots between a crime and a criminal offender.
The investigator feeds information that he gathers in the field to the analyst, who can use previously collected and warehoused intelligence to, in turn, send data back to the investigator to help move the investigation in appropriate directions.
The interplay between the intelligence analyst and the investigator may start even before the detective arrives on the scene. A skilled intelligence analyst will begin accumulating information valuable to the detective early in the process. For example, if the crime is the armed robbery of a convenience store, the analyst can determine quickly a number of pieces of information for the investigator:
- • The name of the convenience store
- • The owners of the store
- • Whether there have been previous robberies at this store
- • The outcomes of previously reported crimes at the store
- • Whether suspects were identified in previously reported crimes at the store and whether arrests were made
- • The names of previous suspects or arrestees
- • The addresses of those previous suspects or arrestees
By arriving at the scene with this kind of intelligence, the investigator can interview victims and witnesses with a more informed perspective and ask more probing questions. But from that point on, the investigator can provide feedback to the analyst and can ask more pointed questions of the analyst. For instance, the investigator may want to know
- • What other robberies have occurred in the area recently?
- • Is there a pattern to the robberies over the past few months or longer?
- • What weapons were used in other robberies in the vicinity?
- • Who were the suspects in those recent robberies?
- • What are the residence addresses of all previous suspects in local robberies?
- • Do any of those suspects have a record of robbery arrests or convictions?
- • Which known criminals live in the vicinity of this and previous robberies?
- • What photographs are available of previous suspects?
- • Do these photographs resemble the description of the perpetrator(s) in this current robbery?
By obtaining answers to these kinds of questions, the investigator can determine the next steps in the investigation. He may determine that interviews should be conducted of previous suspects of local robberies to check on alibis and movements around the time of the latest crime. In addition, he may decide to solicit information from other police officers who work in the vicinity of the robbery or from confidential informants in the area who may be able to share important information.
