Law enforcement officers often must use problem-solving skills to address issues when solving crimes. Being able to identify the root causes of a problem you are facing and determine potential solutions is a skill criminal justice practitioners use often. A very common issue, and one that is paramount to solving crimes, is witness cooperation. In this summative assessment, you research a criminal case where witness cooperation was problematic and, by using the information available to you, perform a root cause analysis. Use the material you have learned this week to propose strategies that law enforcement officers could use to mitigate the issue.
Research a criminal case where witness cooperation was an issue for investigators.
Imagine you are one of the investigators and write an 825 word case audit for your police chief as part of the agency’s quality control procedures. Address the following in your case audit:
- Summarize the facts of the selected criminal case.
- Discuss the challenges investigators faced in dealing with witnesses to the crime.
- Conduct a root cause analysis (RCA) using the 5 Whys approach on the problem investigators faced with witness cooperation.
- Propose 3 strategies that investigators could have used to improve communication and cooperation with witnesses during the criminal investigation.
- Explain why these strategies would have been successful.
