Learn processes, practices, and principles that drive criminal investigation in this free online law course.

This course takes you through the criminal investigative steps that are essential to maintain law and order and provide justice to the victims of crimes. As there is no precise and universal crime-solving methodology, this course teaches you the important concepts, legal rules and investigative processes that must be respected and adopted to every investigation.

We begin by introducing you to criminal investigation procedures as a thought process as we provide a brief history of criminal investigations. We then explain how to categorize evidence and break down the rules pertaining to its search and seizure to explain why some of it would be inadmissible in court. The course then delves into the investigation process and related issues, including ‘event classification’, the rules of engagement, the three most common investigation errors and the ‘STAIR’ tool commonly used to solve crimes.

The course shows you how to manage various types of witness as you measure their competence to testify by interviewing them. We explain how to manage a crime scene by taking notes and protecting its integrity. We go through the process of interviewing, questioning and interrogating suspects and describe how each of those processes is subtly different from the others. Finally, we explore the forensic sciences used in criminal investigations to analyze crime scenes and interpret evidence. This course suits anyone who is interested in criminology or who wants to pursue a career in law enforcement or criminal justice.