Investigations (Major Case Management)

Print or save as PDF 

Definitions

Command Triangle: Consists of the Team Commander, Primary Investigator and File Coordinator for a Major Case investigation, who, in addition to their individual responsibilities, are jointly involved in making key decisions about the investigation.

Investigative Team: Police officers and civilian staff assigned to a Major Case investigation on a permanent or temporary basis, including the Command Triangle.

Major Case: For the purpose of these Standards, includes:

(a) The types of investigations listed in Standard (1) of BCPPS 5.2.1 Threshold and Reporting; 
(b) Any other investigation, including a type or category of investigation, or a particular investigation, which the Chief Constable, Chief Officer, or Commissioner, or a delegate thereof, has determined, with due regard to the factors listed in Standard (3) of BCPPS 5.2.1 Threshold and Reporting, requires Major Case Management.

Officer: A constable appointed under the Police Act or an enforcement officer appointed under section 14.15 of the Police Act.

---

Standards

Investigative techniques

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer or Commissioner must ensure that:

(1) The Investigative Team for a Major Case investigation has access to, using members of the police service or through an agreement with another police service(s), persons with appropriate training and skills, or demonstrated competency and experience to undertake, at minimum, the following roles or functions:

(a) Legal applications;
(b) Affiant;
(c) Crime analyst;
(d) Interviewers, including persons with appropriate training and skills, or demonstrated competency and experience to conduct or provide guidance with respect to interviews with vulnerable witnesses;
(e) Qualified polygraph examiner;
(f) Confidential informer handling;
(g) Police agent handling;
(h) Undercover operations;
(i) Physical surveillance;
(j) Interception of private communications/electronic surveillance;
(k) Witness protection and handling;
(l) Extraction and analysis of digital evidence; and
(m) Forensic experts.

Interviewing

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer or Commissioner must ensure that:

(2) Officers interviewing suspects or key witnesses during a Major Case investigation are:

(a) Selected on the basis of the investigative and evidentiary requirements of the case and the individual to be interviewed; and
(b) Have appropriate training and skills, or demonstrated competency and experience for the type of interview.

Consultation with other experts

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer or Commissioner must ensure that:

(3) The Command Triangle and/or the senior Officer responsible for monitoring the progress of a Major Case investigation must consider the need to consult with other Officers and/or experts from other disciplines (e.g., a case conference or strategic advisory group) to obtain feedback or advice on steps that could be taken to advance a Major Case investigation that has been open for nine months and remains unsolved, or sooner at their discretion. 

Accessing expert resources

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer or Commissioner must ensure that:

(4) The Command Triangle must consider the need to access expert resources to assist with a Major Case investigation, including but not limited to:

(a) Behavioural sciences services (e.g., criminal profiling, geographic profiling);
(b) Forensic pathology;
(c) Forensic anthropology/archaeology;
(d) Forensic entomology;
(e) Forensic odontology;
(f) Forensic botany;
(g) Pattern/wound interpretation;
(h) Blood spatter analysis;
(i) Other medical experts; and
(j) Other forensic experts.

Supporting the detection of links between cases

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer or Commissioner must ensure that:

(5) In addition to using a provincially-approved case management system as required under Standard (1) of BCPPS 5.2.3 Case Management System, any information that could support the detection of links between cases is entered into PRIME Versadex, including at minimum:

(a) A summary of the offence;
(b) Information about known suspects or offenders;
(c) Contact information for the investigation; and
(d) Any other investigative information at the Command Triangle’s discretion.

(6) Relevant and available policing information systems are researched to determine whether a Major Case investigation may be linked to another investigation(s) in the same or another policing jurisdiction.

(7) When a potential link is identified, reasonable and timely measures are taken to evaluate whether the same person(s) may be responsible for the offences, including, at minimum, communication with the lead investigator of the other investigation(s).

Policies and procedures

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer or Commissioner must ensure that:

(8) Policies and procedures are consistent with these BC Provincial Policing Standards.

Annotation

Vulnerable witness: Refers to a witness who, due to age, mental or physical disability or other personal characteristics, the nature of the offence, the nature of their relationship with the offender, or any other circumstance, may have difficulty providing, or may need accommodation to provide a full and candid account of events.