When I first started the internship I was lucky enough to join when there were multiple field operations I could help with such as the search warrants. The last couple of weeks have been a little slower around the office as the detectives wait to chase a new lead or gather more information. Usually this allows me the down time to catch up on other assignments such as creating evidence boxes and writing "fake" reports off of cases that aren't being worked yet.
If it gets really slow I try and ask the detectives to fill me on one of their cases that they are working and listen to how they plan on pursuing it and if they think they can get a conviction or not. I was surprised to find that there are quite a few cases in which a detective and his/her partners will spend a lot of time investigating just to have the case rejected by a District attorney or not even reported to the district attorney cause there was not enough information or evidence gathered to make an arrest. This doesn't happen because the detectives did anything wrong but simply there wasn't enough evidence to prove anything. It is not like the television shows where they catch the suspects almost every time or find some sort of evidence with every lead they follow. A majority of the work being done is from a desk or a phone.
The point you make about how detective work in real life is not as it appears on tv is very relevant. I feel like people often have preconceived notions about how things work, who people are, etc. I know many people are turned off by the organization that I am interning for for exactly that reason. I also agree with you about the importance of the being the scenes paperwork. All of the menial, unglamorous leg work is often the most important and the people that do it rarely get the recognition they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy reading your posts about your internship. I think the work that you are doing with your internship is very interesting and hands-on. I was surprised to find out that some cases will get rejected for lack of evidence, but I guess it does make sense. You wouldn't want to waste tax dollars trying to prosecute someone if there is not enough evidence for a conviction. Keep up the good work and hope you take away things that will help you in your future career.
ReplyDeleteI definitely find it interesting when something doesn't happen as you would expect it to based on television or movies. I think people underestimate how much desk work is done by detectives and all of the necessary "red tape" you must go through. The down times are definitely not as exciting, but there is still plenty to do. I've also found that anything dealing with government work can process extremely slowly and cause lulls when and where you don't want them, but maybe that's different dealing with alleged criminals and search warrants?
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