How a Major Incident Room Operates and the Management of Critical Incidents Ex DCI Harland N Yorks Police

Abstract

Harland states that the investigation of homicide can be broken down into the search for the suspect(s) and the building of a case against them. He concentrates on the mechanics of the Major Incident Room, the MIR. This is the formal organization of a major police enquiry incorporating the ‘HOLMES’ database, which has a number of weaknesses including “timeliness” which is a handicap in the initial stages of an investigation. A second challenge is the sequencing of events. Time and place are central elements of the SIO’s initial parameters and are often the basis of eliminations from enquiries where there is no direct physical evidence as elimination criteria. The role of the SIO has become increasingly managerial, reliant on the synthesis of material by others rather than their own direct judgement of that material.