NCJ Number
121352
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 57 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1990) Pages: 48-51
Date Published
1990
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Philadelphia's experience indicates that the standard processing of residential burglary scenes by a large urban police department can be an efficient, beneficial method of operation and contribute to community policing.
Abstract
In January 1987 a "scene team" composed of two detectives was created within the Northwest Detective Division to visit as many burglary scenes as possible in the highest crime sectors of the division. One detective processed the location for latent prints and any other physical evidence, and the other detective interviewed neighbors in the immediate area. The team processed as many scenes as possible during their duty tour and reported their findings to the assigned detective, who was responsible for completing the investigation and all necessary reports. The evaluation of the program after 1 year indicates it was an efficient use of detective manpower if an automated fingerprint identification system is used. The Philadelphia Police Department is in the initial stages of procuring such a system. In the future, scene team detectives will operate alone, permitting the processing of twice as many scenes. Each detective will have the option of conducting neighborhood interviews if circumstances warrant it. The pilot program did not show neighborhood interviews as a standard operation to be a cost-efficient use of time. 3 footnotes.