Lesson II [BT-4-1]

Lesson II

Theme: Police Work

Police Work

The basic responsibility of the police is fight crime, maintain order, and provide miscellaneous services to the public.

Criminal investigation is the most glamorous aspect of policing. Most police officers regard defective work as Ђrealї police work. Detective work has а specific mission: apprehending the offender. The quality of work can also be measured in terms of the number of arrests. This contrasts sharply with patrol duty, which largely involves peace-keeping. Good detectives are believed to be able to solve most crimes, so the citizen-victim becomes angry when the police fail to solve the crime he or she suffered from.

The process of investigating а crime involves several different steps performed by at least three different units within the police department: patrol officers, detectives, criminalistics technicians. The two major stages of the investigation process are preliminary investigation and the follow-up investigation.

The preliminary investigation is normally the responsibility of the patrol officer who is the first to arrive at the scene of the crime. The five major responsibilities include:

arresting any suspect or suspects,
providing aid to any victims,
securing the crime scene to prevent loss evidence,
collecting all relevant physical evidence, and preparing а preliminary report.

The follow-up investigation includes the following steps:

interrogation of suspect or suspects, if arrested at the scene of the crime;
interview of witnesses;
search of the crime scene for physical evidence;
modus operandi review to determine, if the crime is similar to others under investigation or resembles crimes committed by known suspect;
development of additional information from informants, contacts, official records, etc.;
preparation of reports.

Active Vocabulary

Miscellaneous services - разнообразные услуги

Fail to solve the crime Ч не раскрывает преступление

Criminalistics technician Ч эксперт-криминалист

Preliminary Ч предварительный

“о arrive at the crime scene Ч прибыть на место преступлени¤

Providing aid Ч оказание помощи

“о secure the crime scene Ч оградить (обезопасить) место преступлени¤

The follow-up investigation Ч дальнейшее расследование

Available Ч имеющийс¤ в распор¤жении (в наличии)

Interrogation Ч допрос

Interview Ч опрос

Witness Ч свидетель

Search Ч осмотр

Modus operandi - модус операнди, способ действи¤, Ђпочеркї (преступника)

“о apprehend Ч задержать, арестовать

Offender Ч правонарушитель

Physical evidence - вещественное доказательство

Suspect Ч подозреваемый

Victim Ч пострадавший

Suffer Ч пострадать

Relevant Ч относ¤щийс¤ к делу

Read the dialog

The Suspect

Policeman Good evening, sir. IТd like to ask you а few questions, if you don' t mind.

Suspect ††††† By all means, officer Ч only too glad to help if l can. But I know nothing about it.

Policeman† About what?

Suspect†††††† About the murder that someone committed next door two nights ago, of course.

Policeman† Hm! Did you hear anything unusual that night?

Suspect†††††† Oh, no I heard nothing at all.

Policeman† Did you see anything out of the ordinary?

Suspect†††††† No, I saw nothing, officer.

Policeman† Did you speak to anybody that evening?

Suspect†††††† No, nobody. I was sitting here watching television. I was minding my own business.

Policeman† So murder isn't your business, sir? Someone fired six shots with а revolver, but you heard nothing... ј man ran through that door five minutes after the crime, but you saw nothing and spoke to no one... Yet you say that you sat in that chair the whole evening and went nowhere... It all sounds very suspicious to me, sir. Have you anything to add?

Suspect†††††† Nothing at all.

Policeman† Then I have no more questions to ask ... but you won' t get away with it.

Suspect ††††† What was that?

Policeman ††We shall proceed with our enquiries, sir.