Evidence Collection and Interviewing Tip: Team Huddle
After an incident occurs and steps have been taken to preserve the incident scene, it’s a good time for the investigative team to huddle for 15 or 20 minutes to quickly assign initial tasks and plan steps forward.
Here are a few questions to answer during the huddle:
- Who will visit and photograph the scene? When will this happen?
- Is there any fragile evidence that will go away if it is not collected immediately? Who will collect it?
- Who will issue witness statement forms and to whom? When will they be collected?
- Who will schedule interviews with the witnesses after the statements are collected?
- Are there maps, diagrams, photographs, or security video that can be located and collected immediately?
- Is it necessary to contact any specialists or experts at this point?
- Are control and recording procedures in place to gather evidence?
- When will a follow-up meeting be held to review tasks assigned and decide upon next steps?
These are just a few questions to consider. Can you think of more that need to be addressed before the investigation gets started? Comment below.
To learn more evidence collection tips, register for “TapRooT® Evidence Collection and Interviewing Techniques to Sharpen Investigation Skills,” March 11-12, 2019. We also can come to your facility and teach this course as a 1-day course. Contact us to learn more.
