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.
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Notes
- 1.
College of Policing (2013): Introduction and Types of Critical Incidents [Internet]. https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/critical-incident-management/types-of-critical-incident/ (Accessed 26 January 2016).
- 2.
Home Office Homicide review 25/04, p. 11.
- 3.
25/04.
- 4.
College of Policing (2013): Investigation Process [Internet]. https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/investigations/investigation-process/ (Accessed 26 January 2016), see in particular Para 7.4.2 within this module.
- 5.
The first conviction for murder based upon what was then called ‘DNA fingerprint’ was of Colin Pitchfork in 1988.
- 6.
Innes M., both in ‘The Process Structures of Police Homicide Investigations,’ British Journal of Criminology 42 (2002), 669–688 and in Investigating Murder: Detective Work and the Police Response to Criminal Homicide. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003.
- 7.
Office of National Statistics, Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, Chapter 2 Homicide 2012/3 Published February 2014.
- 8.
The homicide rate for the year ending March 2017 was still 20% lower than 10 years ago (13.2 homicides per million population compared with 10.5 homicides per million population—excluding Hillsborough). http://www.ons.gov.uk.
- 9.
‘Home Office Large & Major Enquiry System’. First introduced in 1986, with an agreement to move to HOLMES 2 in 1994. The current system is provided under a PFI agreement with Unisys.
- 10.
Major Incident Room Standardised Administrative Procedures (MIRSAP) 2005 ©ACPO is the current guidance.
- 11.
A summary of the report by HMCIC Byford was published in 1981, with the fuller details released in 2006, following a Freedom of Information Act submission.
- 12.
For a review of recurring themes within challenged Major enquiries, See Roycroft M., ‘Historical Analysis of Public Inquiries of Homicide Investigations,’ The Journal of Homicide and Major Incident Investigation 4 (2, Autumn), (2008), 43–58.
- 13.
Para 2.2.5 The ‘Golden Hour’ Principle. Murder Investigation Manual regarding the balances required of an ‘experienced SIO’, p. 42.
- 14.
The phrase ‘Experienced SIO’ is used only 5 times in total within the 301 page document, and nowhere else within the manual during a discussion of the activity of the SIO.
- 15.
Variously described in Cook T and Tattersall SIO Handbook, Balckstones 2014 Sec 2.3, p. 30 and in ACPO Practice Advice on Core Investigative Doctrine, NPIA 2012 p. 88.
- 16.
SIO handbook, as above.
- 17.
ACPO Core Practice as above, citing the International Journal of Aviation Psychology 1, 45–57.
- 18.
The task management system provided by Clio Software is widely adopted for this purpose.
- 19.
Popularly attributed to Donald Rumsfeld in a US Department of Defence briefing given on 12 February 2002, although alternately cited from elsewhere.
- 20.
Doyle C. The Sign of the Four. 1890 Chapter 6.
- 21.
Information is used here as a generic description for the range of Statement, Officer’s reports, Messages and other means by which information is delivered to the MIR .
- 22.
See below for further discussion of the ‘abc’ of investigation.
- 23.
See in particular the MacPherson report S16.11 and all of Sec 20.
- 24.
See the Flanaghan Report on the Soham Murders 5.72 Time Line document … ran to 99 pages. It was subsequently described by the principal CPS lawyer as ‘the single most useful document that came out of operation Fincham’.
- 25.
See examples at SIO Handbook Sec 2.5 ‘ABC Rule’ p. 31, or ACPO Core Investigative Doctrine p. 88.
- 26.
See Roycroft as above, and Home Office Homicide Review 25/04.
- 27.
See ACPO Guidance on Command and Control 2009.
- 28.
Flanaghan Report, see especially Recommendation 2, referencing Sec 5.49 ‘Ironically, the overlaying of the Gold, Silver, Bronze command structure on this operation contributed to a lack of clarity of command of the incident, particularly in relation to the role of the SIO’.
- 29.
Variously interpreted as ‘Trace Interview and Eliminate’ or ‘Trace, Implicate or Eliminate’.
- 30.
CPS Guidance on DNA Charging, Including National Tripartite Protocol, Local FSP Protocol templates, Staged Reporting procedure, new MGFSP form, 2004.
5.4 In the light of this, a suspect should not be charged solely on the basis of a match between his DNA profile and a DNA profile found at the scene of the crime, unless there are compelling reasons to do so. It is imperative that under the change in policy, the speculative DNA evidence will need to be evaluated with at least some other supporting evidence in the case.
- 31.
See Office of National Statistics I MacRory @measuring National Well Being—Households and Families 2012. 29% of households are one person, representing 7.7 million people. Isolation, or familial/relationship threats diminish the likelihood or early notification or discovery of a missing person in these circumstances.
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Harland, A. (2019). How a Major Incident Room Operates and the Management of Critical Incidents Ex DCI Harland N Yorks Police. In: Roycroft, M., Roach, J. (eds) Decision Making in Police Enquiries and Critical Incidents. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95847-4_5
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