NCJ Number
70990
Date Published
1980
Length
300 pages
Annotation
This law enforcement manual is designed to help the arson investigator in planning, analyzing background and intelligence information, and formulating operational investigative steps.
Abstract
The manual can also be considered a dual planning and strategy development tool that helps the investigator to move from the general to the particular, or from the office to the field, and from planning to implementation. It focuses on the scope of the nationwide problem of arson-for-profit; the identification of arson motives such as financial stress, fraud, elimination of business competition, or labor-management grievances; and the roles and vulnerabilities of arson-for-profit scheme participants. Selection and enforcement strategies are given, including the options presented by the antiracketeering approach and in organized crime investigations. Additional chapters outline the expanding enforcement and prevention options in arson-for-profit control and efforts at cooperation and coordination with such outside resources as the media, insurance companies, and neighborhood associations. Information location and expert assistance sources are discussed as well as arson information management and early warning systems in New Haven, Conn., New York City, Boston, and Phoenix, Ariz. The manual also outlines record searches and document checks and discusses interviews of witnesses, informants, and suspects. Financial investigation is discussed in terms of company balance sheets and the use of economic intelligence. Steps to uncover hidden ownership and to develop circumstantial evidence in arson-for-profit cases are given. Charts, tabular data, and appendixes with information on land records, interviews, information sources, circumstantial evidence in arson, and tactical intelligence on economic arson are presented. A bibliography of 24 citations is provided.