Initial patrol response
- Dispatch priority, response and scene arrival
- Detention, frisk, search and probable cause development
- Use of force decision points and the force continuum
- Scene control, evidence collection and preservation
Specialization 01
Police policy, procedure and culture
What officers are trained to do, what agencies actually do, and where the record shows the two diverged. Reviewed by a former patrol officer, major case detective and patrol sergeant.
Areas of examination
Detective and cold case investigations
- Case assignment, solvability factors and follow-up standards
- Interview and interrogation practice, including juveniles
- Witness and photographic identification procedures
- Cold case review, re-investigation and file reconstruction
Special assignments
- Narcotics and street-level drug enforcement
- Vice and undercover operations
- White collar and financial crimes investigation
- Confidential informant handling and documentation
Supervision and accountability
- Sergeant-level supervision and span of control
- Policy adoption, training records and remediation
- Internal review, discipline and early warning systems
- Failure to train and failure to supervise analysis
Officer communications
- Report writing, narrative construction and omissions
- Mobile data terminal (MDT) message traffic
- Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) records and timelines
- Over-the-air radio traffic and 911 call handling
Police culture
- How training, incentives and peer norms shape decisions
- Officer mindset — reasonable or otherwise — under stress
- Records practices and what departments do and do not retain
- Where discovery productions are routinely incomplete
The new case checklist
Do not wait for discovery, and do not rely solely on what discovery produces. Many agencies supply only what they believe the prosecution asked for, and dispatchers or records clerks frequently decide which portions of 911 calls, radio traffic and CAD entries are released.
These are the items to request first in any case involving a physical arrest and booking.
Discuss your file- 01Arrest report with statutes and probable cause summary
- 02The complete initial report and all supplements
- 03Body-worn camera footage for every officer on scene
- 04Witness statements, written and audio
- 05Miranda advisements, written and audio
- 06Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) reports
- 07Co-defendant arrest paperwork
- 08Search warrants and returns
- 09Grand jury testimony
- 10Interview room and scene video or audio
- 11All officer and dispatch radio and MDT traffic
Why a police expert matters
Policies, procedures, training and culture are central to determining why police do what they do. When the state builds its case on those foundations, the defense should be prepared to examine them with equal rigor — and when the conduct was sound, an honest expert says so.
The American Bar Association Criminal Justice Standards for the Defense Function, Standard 4-4.1, direct counsel to determine whether the client’s interests would be served by engaging forensic or other experts, and to seek resources from the court, the government or donors where the client cannot pay.
“You never know what you will find under rocks, so I always recommend looking, even if it’s scary.”