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Detective : Private eyeA detective is an officer of the police that performs criminal or administrative investigations, or a private person licensed to investigate information not readily available in public records (also called private eye).
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In most American police departments, a candidate for detective must have served as a uniformed officer for a period of one to five years before becoming qualified for the position.
Detectives obtain their position by competitive examination, covering such subjects as:
Private detectives are licensed by the state in which they live after passing a competitive examination and a criminal background check. Some states, such as Maryland, require a period of classroom training as well.
The detective bureau in most police departments is organized into several squads, each of which specializes in a type of investigation such as:
Detectives have a wide variety of techniques available in conducting investigations. However, the majority of cases are solved by interrogation of suspects and witnesses, which takes time. In a policeman’s career as a uniformed officer and as a detective, a detective develops an intuitive sense of the plausibility of suspect and witness accounts. This intuition may fail at times, but usually is reliable.
Besides interrogations, detectives may rely on a network of informants he or she has cultivated over the years. Informants often have connections with persons a detective would not be able to approach formally.
In criminal investigations, once a detective has a suspect or suspects in mind, the next step is to produce evidence that will stand up in a court of law. The best way is to obtain a confession from the suspect, usually in exchange for a plea bargain for a lesser sentence. A detective may lie or otherwise mislead and may psychologically pressure a suspect into confessing, though in the United States a suspect may invoke his or her Miranda rights[?].
Physical forensic evidence[?] in an investigation may provide leads to closing a case.
Examples of physical evidence can be, but are not limited to:
Many major police departments in a city, county, or state, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, maintain their own forensic laboratories.
Detectives may use public and private records to provide background information on a subject. These include:
Unless a plea bargain forestalls the need for a trial, a detective must testify in court about his investigation. He or she must seem reliable and credible to a jury, and must not give the impression of personal vindictiveness or cruelty. A detective's background often comes into question in courtroom testimony. A famous example came in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, when Detective Mark Fuhrman of the Los Angeles Police Department testified for the prosecution. Attorney F. Lee Bailey[?] first asked Furhman if he had ever used the "n-word" (see Nigger). Furhman denied this. In court, Bailey produced taped interviews with Furhman using this offensive word.
The detective story has been a popular genre in books, radio, television, and movies since the early 19th century.
Famous fictional detectives include:
See Detective fiction and Crime fiction for more details.
See also:
over a ridge upon us, two men of the party I had left, and one, I saw,
his horse, and held his pistol.html">pistol by him. They said that I should come with
answered them they lied. At this, one rode forward suddenly, and
pistol was thrust in his face.html">face, and Pierre bade him cease, which he did;
were determined, fired; and the man.html">man.html">man that clutched at me fell from his
felt the man's heart, and said to the other: 'Take your friend.html">friend away, for
man did so; and Pierre, as he looked at the dead man, added: 'Why did he
We travelled on without speakin' for a long time, and then I heard him
with human life, you have to play it to the end--that is the penalty.
turned and asked me if I had friends in Pipi Valley; and because what he
find. And he started in his saddle, and I could see by the way he
to whom you are going?"
And the girl.html">girl replied: "Ah, father, have I not told you? It is Shon
strangely and sadly at her. But the girl's eyes were fastened on the
"A colour spread upon him, and then left him pale; and he said: 'To Shon
thought a horrible smile.html">smile played upon his face, and I grew frightened, and
You and Shon McGann are not enemies?'
"After a moment the smile that struck me with dread passed, and he said,
as good as ever shared a blanket or split a loaf, though he was free of
parted. We could meet no more; but who could have guessed this thing?
prove.' And he paused again, but added presently: 'It's better you should
he was a friend of mine,' he said, 'and ill always comes to those who are
yet. 'I do not know,' said he, 'for I've travelled long and far from
.
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