INTRODUCTION

Criminal investigation is an ancient science that may have roots as far back as c. 1700 BCE

in the writings of the Code of Hammurabi. In the code, it is suggested that both the

accuser and the accused had the right to present evidence they collected. In the modern

era, criminal investigations are most often done by government police forces. Private

investigators are also commonly hired to complete or assist in criminal investigations.

Criminal investigation is an applied science that involves the study of facts that are then

used to inform criminal trials. A complete criminal investigation can include searching,

interviews, interrogations, evidence collection and preservation, and various methods of

investigation. Modern‑day criminal investigations commonly employ many modern

scientific techniques known collectively as forensic science. Criminal investigation,

ensemble of methods by which crimes are studied and criminals apprehended. The

criminal investigator seeks to ascertain the methods, motives, and identities of criminals

and the identity of victims and may also search for and interrogate witnesses.

Identification of a criminal who has left no fingerprints or other conclusive evidence can

often be advanced by analysis of the modus operandi; professional criminals tend to stick

to a certain technique (e.g., forcing entrance), to seek certain types of booty, and to leave

a certain trademark (e.g., the means by which a victim is tied up). Criminal‑investigation

departments compile such data, as well as lists of stolen and lost property, and have

ready access to such public records as automobile and firearms registrations and such

private records as laundry and dry‑cleaners ’ marks, pawnshop and

secondhand‑dealers ’ transactions, and many more. Information flows in more or less

continuously from police informants and undercover agents. Wiretapping and other

electronic‑surveillance methods have become extremely important, though subject to

legal restraints. Interrogation of suspects is one of the most important functions of

criminal investigation. In most countries this proceeding is delicate because a confession

gained in violation of the suspect ’ s rights can be repudiated in court. The use of the
polygraph, or lie detector, is also subject to widespread courtroom limitations. Of

increasing assistance in criminal investigation is the crime laboratory, equipped to deal

with a wide range of physical evidence by means of chemical and other analysis.

Techniques of identification, especially fingerprinting, and more recently voiceprinting

and even “ DNA fingerprinting ” (a technique that is still experimental), have come to

prominence in modern investigation. Photography and photomicrography, document

examination, ballistics, and other scientific techniques are also standard crime‑laboratory

tools. Forensic medicine can supply analysis of blood and urine and identify traces of

chemical substances in bodily organs of homicide victims.

A useful perspective on the criminal investigation process is provided by information

theory (Willmer). According to information theory, the criminal investigation process

resembles a battle between the police and the perpetrator over crime‑related information.

In committing the crime, the offender emits "signals," or leaves behind information of

various sorts (fingerprints, eyewitness descriptions, murder weapon, etc.), which the

police attempt to collect through investigative activities. If the perpetrator is able to

minimize the amount of information available for the police to collect, or if the police are

unable to recognize the information left behind, then the perpetrator will not be

apprehended and therefore, the perpetrator will win the battle. If the police are able to

collect a significant number of signals from the perpetrator, then the perpetrator will be

identified and apprehended, and the police win. This perspective clearly underscores the

importance of information in a criminal investigation.

THE TENET OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.

Understand crime scene security, approaching a scene, searches and documentation of

evidence. Understand latent print recovery and documentation. Understand tasks related

to trace evidence identification and recovery. The purpose of an investigation is to

establish relevant facts to prove or disprove allegations of fraud and corruption. It is a

legally established fact‑finding process conducted in an impartial and objective manner,

connection. The investigative process is a progression of activities or steps moving from

evidence gathering tasks, to information analysis, to theory development and validation,

to forming reasonable ground to believe, and finally to the arrest and charge of a suspect.

Scientists use different methods of investigation in different circumstances. These

methods include (in no particular order) fair testing, identifying and classifying, modelling,

pattern seeking, and researching. Each crime scene is unique and requires crime scene

investigators and reconstructionists to evaluate how to proceed with processing in a

manner that is safe and best preserves evidence and its context. All decisions made by a

crime scene investigator or reconstructionist during, and after a crime scene is processed

should consider the following:

1. Legal Considerations

2. Personnel Safety

3. Scientific Reliability and Validity

4. Preserving Context

5. Maintaining Evidence Integrity

6. Transparency and Ethics

7. Managing Bias

crime scene investigation and reconstruction are led by general guiding principles.

Though all the principles listed in this are important, some circumstances could require a

crime investigator or reconstructionist to give greater weight to one principle over

another. A decision to deviate from a guiding principle shall be documented and

explained.
The Nigeria police can not archive the practical criminal investigation

Why? These challenges are: the low crime reporting culture of the public, paucity of police

funding, corruption, inadequate training of police officers in criminal investigations,

delayed duplication of investigation case files, missing investigation case files, lack of

forensic science facilities and experts; and poor public record keeping.

The Nigeria police is faced with several problems some of which include, nepotism,

ethnicism, corruption, institutional weaknesses such as inadequate manpower (both in

strength and expertise), insufficient education and training, inadequate equipment and

poor conditions of service of the average policeman , poor public relation between the

superior and subordinate officers, lack of public cooperation.

REFERENCE

1. Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation (Sixth Edition).

2. Victimology:Theories and Applications, Ann Wolbert Burgess, Albert R. Roberts, Cheryl

Regehr, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2009, p. 103.

3. Major treatment in crime "Detention of crime".

4. Guiding principles for crime scene investigation and reconstruction.

5. African journals of criminology and justice studies.