How the Community Works with Uniformed Patrol Officers

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With community policing investigators work with uniformed patrol officers, dispatchers, citizens, witnesses and victims, physicians, the coroner or medical examiner, laboratories, the defense counsel, and the prosecutor’s office. They all work together to help in solving the crime. The officer plays a vital part to the investigation process it is a big responsibility of the officer to make sure that the crime scene is secured to prevent damage or destruction of evidence. The uniformed patrol officer relies on the dispatcher to inform the officer of the location of the crime, description, and any other information the officer may need. The dispatcher is the first contact between a citizen and the officer (Bennett, Hess & Byram, 2007). The citizens, witnesses, and victims frequently provide the investigator or police with valuable information and sometimes are the key to solving the case. They can provide eyewitness accounts, descriptions, and leads that would otherwise wouldn’t be available. The physicians treat the victim if injured and are asked to listen carefully to anything the victim says and to report and hold all clothing as evidence for the police. The coroners or medical examiner are called in if the victim has died and provide the investigator or police with time of death and the type of weapon that could have been used. The laboratories examine the many types of evidence such as hairs, fibers, blood, and other body fluids, clothing, and various impressions from the crime scene (Bennett, Hess & Byram, 2007). The defense council only has contact with the investigator under the advice of the prosecutor’s office. The last step is the prosecutor’s office when the investigators have concluded the investigation. Now the case can be prosecuted, leads developed, or the case can even be dropped if the investigator and the prosecutor’s office come to an

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