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Hi, I'm working on a novel and I have some procedure questions I'm hoping I can get answers to. The scenario is:
A woman leaving a bar witnesses another woman get assaulted and raped. She calls 911, but freaks out and leaves without sticking around to talk to the police. The woman who was assaulted is in a coma and there are no other witnesses. The police find the witness,but she is at first reluctant to tell what she saw or attempt to describe the perpetrators, because she has reason to believe they know she saw and have threatened her (she dropped her license at the scene when she was getting her phone out). My questions:
who would show up at her house to interview her the first time - plain clothes detectives or uniformed officers? If plain clothes, would they be detectives? if it was suspected that this was a hate crime, would that make a difference in who showed up?
How would they handle it if the witness was, at first, reluctant?
Once the witness is ready to talk, how would that happen? Would she brought to the station and interviewed on the record by someone? Would it be the same cop(s) who originally got her to open up, or would it be someone different? Taped or with a stenographer?
How would she attempt to describe/identify the perpetrator - books with pictures, a computer, composites?
Would she be offered some sort of protection, and if so what?
Is it out of the question that one cop alone might follow up the next day and spend as much time as necessary to get her to talk if she was their only witness and if they had reason to believe she would talk to that particular cop (good earlier connection)?
I'm having a hard time getting my local police to call me back and it would help me a lot to get some descriptions of what my character might see when she goes into the police station - where would she be taken to give her statement, what do the rooms tend to look like, what smells do people associate with those rooms etc.?
Thank you! I've called my local station and been sent from one person to another until I finally landed at a voicemail and so far no call back. Any help would be much appreciated.
A woman leaving a bar witnesses another woman get assaulted and raped. She calls 911, but freaks out and leaves without sticking around to talk to the police. The woman who was assaulted is in a coma and there are no other witnesses. The police find the witness,but she is at first reluctant to tell what she saw or attempt to describe the perpetrators, because she has reason to believe they know she saw and have threatened her (she dropped her license at the scene when she was getting her phone out). My questions:
who would show up at her house to interview her the first time - plain clothes detectives or uniformed officers? If plain clothes, would they be detectives? if it was suspected that this was a hate crime, would that make a difference in who showed up?
How would they handle it if the witness was, at first, reluctant?
Once the witness is ready to talk, how would that happen? Would she brought to the station and interviewed on the record by someone? Would it be the same cop(s) who originally got her to open up, or would it be someone different? Taped or with a stenographer?
How would she attempt to describe/identify the perpetrator - books with pictures, a computer, composites?
Would she be offered some sort of protection, and if so what?
Is it out of the question that one cop alone might follow up the next day and spend as much time as necessary to get her to talk if she was their only witness and if they had reason to believe she would talk to that particular cop (good earlier connection)?
I'm having a hard time getting my local police to call me back and it would help me a lot to get some descriptions of what my character might see when she goes into the police station - where would she be taken to give her statement, what do the rooms tend to look like, what smells do people associate with those rooms etc.?
Thank you! I've called my local station and been sent from one person to another until I finally landed at a voicemail and so far no call back. Any help would be much appreciated.
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