Essay Sample on Investigative Task Force

Assuming that legal authority was not an issue, should this investigation be conducted by VPD personnel or a multijurisdictional task force?

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Assuming that the legal authority was not an issue in determining the investigative task force to undertake the criminal investigations for the eleven random explosions, a multijurisdictional task force composed of the investigative agencies from the two states would be appropriate in the conduction of the investigations. This is because the eleven explosions occurred in both states and the casualties, as well as the damages, occurred in the two states which have different independent investigative agencies. By doing so, it will be appropriate for the interests of both nations to be taken care of unlike if the investigations were done solely by the VPD personnel despite being equipped with skilled personnel, investigators as well as physical resources to aid in investigations.

However, having the VPD as the lead investigative agency along the investigative agencies from the other state will be appropriate since the investigations will be fastened and enhanced by the well-equipped VPD which is reported to have around 100 sworn personnel, including 17 all-purpose detective investigators as well as certified forensic laboratory for rudimentary analysis, staffed by credentialed civilians. Additionally, VPD needs to be incorporated as the lead investigative agency since the first three explosions and major damages occurred within their jurisdiction. Further, utilizing a multijurisdictional criminal investigative taskforce would ensure that both states and casualties from the two states access the required information throughout the investigation period as compared to when one investigative agency like VPD from one state is used.

Besides, a task force for this investigation is important since there were multiple areas where the explosions, deaths, and injuries occurred. With the many counties within the two different states involved a task force will be crucial so that the different agencies from the two states can work collaboratively on the plan to bring the convicts to book. Additionally, the multijurisdictional criminal investigation taskforce will bring about an opportunity to develop a collaborative relationship between the investigative agencies from the two states which will further strengthen the efforts of prevention of such crime in the future (Kovacich & Jones, 2006). Finally, whenever task forces work together, they are known to offer better coverage of a criminal act spread over a larger area like in our case.

At what point should the potential of establishing an investigative task force be considered?

The potential of establishing an investigative taskforce should be considered at the point of conducting investigative searches, seizures of forensic evidence in a crime scene and conviction of suspects that involve more than one jurisdiction. Besides, a task force ought to be considered whenever there are multiple criminal acts that are linked but have taken place in multiple jurisdictions. The incorporation of the task force is because the searches would involve two states where one agency may lack the legal authority to conduct the searches as well as lack the public awareness with the citizens of the other state. Despite taskforces not being necessary in some cases, their value should not be put aside in such a case and thus should be considered before making any final decision (Kovacich & Jones, 2006).

Besides, the large nature and the danger involved in the crime further plays a crucial role in deciding whether the task force would be the right choice for the investigation. Therefore, incorporating an investigative task force at this stage will make it possible to conduct a better coordinated investigative search and forensic evidence seizure since citizens in all the affected states will feel free to disclose any relevant information to the task force with members of the respective state's task force.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of an investigative task force?

A multijurisdictional investigative taskforce in a unified force involving participants from more than one jurisdiction organized for a specific investigative operation. For our case, the investigative task force will be tasked with the task of carrying out criminal investigations regarding the perpetrators of the eleven explosions within the area that transverses the two states. Among the advantages of utilizing an investigative task force in such an investigation include the provision extra manpower to the investigation as well as the provision of more resources through pooling of resources together to realize more qualified personnel, laboratories, forensic investigators as well as tools that provide insights into the issue under investigation within a given crime scene (Barak & Maymon, 1998). However, there exist disadvantages attributed to task forces while investigating a crime such as a scenario of having too many people within the task force trying to lead the process while there are few individuals to perform the actual work.

Additionally, there exists the risk of losing critical information and evidence between the different agencies and officers who may not be committed to disclosing all the information and evidence from the investigations. Whenever such scenarios occur, it makes an investigation that had the potential of being conducted well fail and thus resulting in criminals going scot free. Generally, such repercussions are what every investigative agency would try to avoid but this is not determined to be an issue until issues leading to such cases arise (Deflem, 2006). Therefore, it is important to carefully think about the various issues surrounding a taskforce before making the decision of starting one so that there can be enough time to weigh both the pros and cons of the venture.

Who, or what entities, should be involved in the decision to create an investigative task force?

The decision to create an investigative task force should involve the chief officers in charge of the lead investigative agency. For this case the only the chief officer in the VPD and the investigative agency in the other state should be involved since whenever there are many people involved in the whole process of deciding whether to create an investigative task force, the issue may end up too complicated to solve and thus end up stalling the investigations (Barak & Maymon, 1998). However, there exist instances when government agencies pull ranks within the agencies to create a task force due to the scope and nature of the crimes that the taskforces will be involved in investigating such as those involving terror and international implications.

Assuming, on balance, that you favor a task force approach, what difficulties do you foresee, and how will each be addressed?

If the investigations adopt the task force approach there are various difficulties foreseen due to the nature of task forces. Due to the many people, the different agencies and officers of different ranks working together within the task force, there are probabilities of the emergence of friction as well as arguments over the group, person or agency responsible for the different activities within the investigation (Barak & Maymon, 1998). Additionally, the idea that VPD as the lead agency may not have the ability to always remain the leader in cases where federal and state agencies get involved may interfere with the operations of the task force as such federal agencies may entirely take over the operations and end up jeopardizing the investigations (Ratcliffe, 2009). Besides, there may be concerns about difficulties in sharing of information and evidence whenever there are multiple agencies that are needed to work collaboratively.

However, despite the difficulties when working with a task force, that does not mean the end of using the approach but need to be carefully and clearly addressed right from the beginning of forming the task force (Deflem, 2006). This is because if the difficulties are not well addressed, there could arise more friction than the necessary which could lead to an investigation that leaves some details unattended or even one that could allow a criminal to go scot-free due to the nature in which the evidence and other issues within the investigations might have been handled. Therefore, it will be key for VPD to make a clear decision on who the investigation's leader is and handle any efforts to overturn the decision quickly. Further, if there is the involvement of a government agency where it is required to take over the operations, the transition ought to be carried out hastily without prejudice so that the investigations can be kept moving forward to a successful conclusion.

What demands and/or concessions should VPD exercise in order to employ a cooperative task force in this particular case?

For the purposes of employing a cooperative task force in this investigation, it is key for VPD to exercise various demands and concessions such as requesting to be the lead agency at the start of the investigations (Barak & Maymon, 1998). This is because VPD was the first to arrive at the crime scene upon the explosion of the first three explosions and proceeded to collect evidence and thus has the needed information and evidence from the first explosion. Despite the many agencies that are likely to take part in the task force, it will key for them to be willing to shelve interests of being the lead agency right from the initial stages of the investigative process. Further, VPD need to exercise a lot of carefulness to avoid expanding the task force beyond the necessary extents since despite taskforces being very critical in the process of investigating and solving such crimes, they are capable of causing more problems than the ones they are created to solve when they are too large (Ratcliffe, 2009). Therefore, taskforces need not be too large for them to perform their duties successfully and thus should only be based on the agencies that are important in handling the investigations in the most appropriate way.

Legal Issues

What legal issues should be considered when embarking on a task force investigative strategy?

When embarking on a task force investigative strategy it is important to take into consideration various issues since the whole process of handling an investigation in the right way could lead to various legal issues that would let criminals walk scot-free. However, this is not a common issue but it has the possibility of taking place. Therefore, the more high-profile the case as well as the many agencies and people working on it, the riskier the case and the more the legal issues involved. The chain of evidence involved in a case is among the most significant legal issue since as the information and evidence get passed between the agencies, the more the chances of the evidence getting lost, damaged or tampered with. Whenever such happens with one piece of evidence, the whole investigation becomes questionable and can end up tainting the entire investigation such that it can endanger the investigation.

How is each of these issues resolved?

The issue of evidence loss or damage, as well as other legal issues that surround a case involving a task force, can be resolved by incorporating a careful chain of custody that does not endanger evidence and information. In case of breakage of the chain of custody, there are chances that an investigation can end up being unsuccessful and if some pieces of the evidence are not used, then the chances of the criminal walking scot-free increase. Therefore, it is evident that allowing such scenarios to happen would be detrimental to any task force committed to bringing a convict to boo...