Patrol to Detective

[Eastside]

Well during the week ive learn that ive passed the first stage in applying to CID as a TDC(trainee detective constable).Im waiting for the second round to learn if i did finally make it through to start the programme(about 2 yrs of rotation through all the various CID departments).Has anyone else made the transition and if so how did they find it??
What was the major noticeable change for you and did you enjoy it??

Any advice??

[eyerish101]

no more blue suit

[Eastside]

lol.............walked into that one didnt i....

[AzInv]

I have been a "Defective" for nearly three years now",,I like the hours, no blue suit and it provides a nice sane life and weekends off, to go on motorcycle rides. I dont like being micromanaged, where in patrol you can be, but not like as in a CID. You usually have to tell your boss or keep him updated before you throw the hooks on someone...Interviewing people can be cool or a pain in the [email protected]@. I have a great office with a great bunch of guys which makes all the difference...My boss is also great..If you work with a bunch of jerk offs and have a boss for a jerk off and you have to be in an office with him or her ten hours a day it can suck...Where in patrol, you just put your patrol car in drive and go out and do your own thing....Patrol you dont constantly think about overdue cases..You just put your suit on,,go collar bad guys and go home at the end of the shift..Being a Defective you are responsible for those cases twenty four seven...So it all depends..Me personally I would like to move up to Homicide or Arson someday, But I still love on rare occassions when we get to go out and pick up someone or serve a warrant...I still think about lateraling and going back to uniform..I am torn I guess..So it all depends..

[Runnin' 87]

Welcome to the world of the fashion police.

I spent ten years in investgations and just came back out as a patrol supervisor. I started out with the usual misdemeanor stuff and when I left I was working violent crimes and assigned to a multiagency homicide investigation team. The whole time I was there my moto was, "I am a temporarily misassigned patrolman." I had thought I would go there for a year, and come back out better prepard to work the streets. Wow, I wish I had watched my mouth.

In investigations your focus changes a bit. It is not as much, "what is being alledged", but rather "considering what has been alledged what can be proven" or "what does the evidence show me as measured against the allegation".

Your evidence, obviously, will come from lots of sources. Statements, DNA, photographs, and on and on and on.

I recall once during a shooting investigation, standing in a room full of bullet holes. The victom had said he was in one place, and the shooter in another. We put the little rods in the bullet holes, and they pointed the wrong way based on the allegation. It kind of turned the whole mess around real quick. It is also quite the pain in the *** when yor victims lie to you more than your suspects.

You will do fine.

I had thought that when I went to my patrol shift I would start to make investigators out of them. Let them take some statements, do a bit more crime scene work, maybe chase a few leads. That has not really come to fruition. I had forgot how completely unorganized, and chaotic things were at the instant the patrolman arrive. The vicitms and witnesses, generally, are not in a good mental state for a detailed interview. Gaining control, identifying areas of importance, organizing, and maitaining security of a crime scene is a large task. Then, as an investigator, I would arrive some ten or thirty minutes later, and all is hunky-dory never having seen the initial chaos. I would sometimes ask, "why didn't the patrolman do this." Frankly after ten years I had lost sight of a few things. I had also lost sight that "they" need to be prepard to respond to the next emergency.

Patrol and investigations are seperated for good reason. Both are needed. I still get my guys to do more than most patrolman when time permits. It just ain't going to happen as much as I wanted.