In Hot Pursuit – Grandma’s Gumption Readers’ Challenge Part II
In the previous issue of The Gumshoes Gazette we challenged you to utilize your internal investigative procedures to distinguish the pertinent facts from the fiction In Hot Pursuit of the truth. Now we’re curious – how did you do?
Most likely you started how most any investigative undertakings begin, which is to gather evidence and document the known facts through addressing the how, what, where, when and who of the situation. Documentation is vital and is the launch pad for further inquiry that allows you to answer … the all important question – WHY?
Having identified and documented specifics such as parties involved, witnesses, physical evidence, location, etc., you then realize that you’ve just scratched the surface. So, what next? In an ideal setting, video footage from a CCTV installation would provide further evidence but unfortunately, in this case as in most others, it is not available. More than likely, your next step was to turn to subject and eye-witness accounts.
Depending on your internal investigative procedures, you may have conducted interviews, collected written statements or a combination of both. There is great validity to both methodologies. Each recounting of events varies and is inconsistent in details and specifics. Human nature being what it is though, the concise, factual accounts are muddied by perception, memory lapse, misdirection, and because someone felt they’ve something to hide, deception. In the end, enough similarities have given you the confidence in your understanding of the occurrence to close the investigation. Although you feel fairly certain as to what occurred, there are just enough discrepancies to leave a cloud of doubt hanging overhead. To maintain the integrity of the investigation the onus is on you to arrive at the truth.
You’ve ruled out surveillance and an undercover operation as relevant techniques in this instance, but have opted to re-enact events under the watchful eye of a video lens. Successive re-enactments deem it implausible that the injury was sustained in the manner first suspected. However, it does provide the conclusive piece of evidence to corroborate the truth.
