Investigation and Arrest
Chapter 8
In this chapter we will look at….
The
Police
The Investigation
The Evidence
The Arrest and Detention
The Police
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Canada’s Federal police force is the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP.
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The RCMP was formed in 1873 as the
North-West Mounted Police. They
provide…..
Investigative and protective services for
the federal government.
Provincial police, and municipal in some
cases, for all provinces and territories
except Quebec and Ontario.
The RCMP’s Work Focuses On….
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Customs and Excise – cases of international
smuggling, taxes and tariffs.
Drug Enforcement – Controlled Drugs and
Substance Act; smuggling.
Economic Crime – fraud, organized crime
Federal Policing – public safety and consumer
protection
Immigration – illegal aliens
Proceeds of Crime – confiscation of money or
property derived from crime
Criminal Intelligence – gathering intelligence,
organized crime, terrorist groups.
International Liaison and Protective Services –
security for federal officials and visiting heads of state.
Christopher John Wardon, 30 years old
Douglass Allen Scott, 20 years old
Provincial Police
 Jurisdiction
in rural areas and
unincorporated areas around
cities.
 The Ontario Provincial Police
(OPP), the Surete du Quebec and
the Royal Newfoundland
Constabulary are the three
largest.
Municipal Police
Police towns and cities.
Funded by the municipality.
Duties include any or all of the following:
preserving the peace
preventing crime
assisting victims of crime
apprehending criminals
Laying charges and participating in prosecutions
executing warrants
enforcing municipal bylaws
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Other Facts
Canada has about 62,500 police men and
women.
 Cost to the taxpayer, $6.5 billion.
 192 officers per 100,000 people (USA,262)
 Lowest is NL and PEI
 11,200 are female (18%)
 1,667 police members in Nova Scotia
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The Investigation
The crime scene, the site where the offence took place,
is key to the investigation.
 Police must get emergency crews on the scene,
eliminate any hazards and search the scene for the
perpetrators.
 The success of any prosecution rests on the physical
evidence taken from the scene, so officers establish two
boundaries; the center and the perimeter.
 The center is the area in which the offence was actually
committed; the perimeter is the area surrounding the
center, where the offender may have been present or
may have left some evidence.
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Crime scenes are preserved for three
reasons…..
1. To allow for a thorough search of the
scene
2. To seize and collect physical evidence
3. Ensure the evidence seized is admissible
in court
Contaminated evidence may be inadmissible
or lead police to the wrong conclusions.

Four Officers at the Scene
Patrol officers are usually first at the scene,
they make arrests if necessary or secure the
scene, usually using yellow police tape.
 The scenes of crime officer is trained in
evidence collection and preservation.
 A criminal identification officer is
responsible for searching the crime scene,
gathering evidence and sending it to the lab.
 A criminal investigations officer, a
plainclothes detective, supervises the
investigation.
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Physical Evidence
Includes any object, impression or body element
that can be used to prove or disprove facts
relating to an offence.
 Usually carries more weight than witness
testimony.
 Forensic science refers to the use of
biochemical and other scientific techniques to
analyze evidence in a criminal investigation.
Scientists examine and analyze the physical
evidence found at a crime scene.
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Forensic scientists………
Give expert evidence at trials
Perform autopsies
Analyze firearms and bullets
Have some expertise such as analyzing paint to
tell what model car is involved.
 Entomologists are insect specialists who can
determine the time of death by examining life
stages of insects.
 Some are experts at examining tool marks
(hammers, crowbars, screwdrivers), as they are
the most frequently used tools in crime.
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Some examine impressions, patterns or
marks found on surfaces and caused by
various objects. They photograph, scan or
take a mould of the impression, then try
to match with an object.
 Impressions can have class
characteristics, the general attributes of
an object, or individual characteristics,
the specific and unique features of an
object.
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Fingerprints
A fingerprint is a patterned mark left on
a surface by a fingertip.
 Prints can also come from hands, feet and
toes.
 A print is unique to each individual and
useful in identifying offenders and
unfortunately, in some cases, victims.
 There are two types of prints ……..
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A visible fingerprint means the print formed
when a fingertip coated in blood, grease or
some other substance touched a surface and
left a print visible to the naked eye.
 A latent fingerprint is formed by natural oils
and perspiration on the fingertip. It is invisible
to the naked eye. To “see” this print three
methods are used.
1. Dusted using a graphite powder. The print is
lifted from the surface using tape and then
photographed.
2. Iodine fuming, which involves exposing
areas of cloth or paper with iodine fumes
which attached to the print and make it visible.
3. A laser is used to illuminate the print. Sweat
compounds on the surface absorb the laser
and turn yellow so they can be photographed.
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DNA Evidence
Blood, semen, hair, mucus and skin are often left
at a crime scene. Any of these can be used to
test for DNA and then match the results to a
particular suspect.
 Blood is the most common body substance
found.
 DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is found in every
cell of the human body and is unique to every
individual with the exception of identical twins.
 DNA testing can therefore link or exclude anyone
from a crime.
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Hair and clothing fibers can also be used to
connect a suspect to a crime scene.
Once the physical evidence has been collected it
must be carefully labeled and stored.
A chain of custody is established, a witnessed
written record of all the people who had control
over the evidence. It must show…..
Who had contact with the evidence
The date and time the evidence was handled
The circumstances under which the evidence
was handled
What changes if any were made
Arrest and Detention
Procedures dealing with arrested suspects are
outlined in the Criminal code and the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. If the proper procedures
are not followed it may lead to charges being
dropped because of inadmissible evidence.
 A detained or arrested person has the right to
remain silent, know the reason for their arrest
and the right to a lawyer.
 Once an arrested person has been informed of
their rights, anything they say or put in writing
can be used against them.
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Police use a four stage approach in the
interrogation of suspects:
1. Ask the suspect to describe the entire
incident.
2. Describe the period just before the
incident.
3. Describe the details of the actual
offence.
4. Describe what happened during the
period after the incident.
The primary goal is to arrive at the TRUTH!
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An Arrest involves legally depriving someone
of liberty by seizing or touching the person to
indicate that he or she is in custody.
 In order for the arrest to be lawful the
arresting officer must follow these steps:
1. Identify him or herself as a police officer
2. Advise the accused that he or she is under
arrest
3. Inform the accused promptly of the charge
and show the arrest warrant if one has been
obtained.
4. Touch the accused to indicate that he or she is
in custody.
Once the accused is in custody the police must
inform the person of their right to counsel.
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Another option is detention. This is legally
depriving a person of liberty by seizing or
touching the person to indicate that he or she is
in custody. It is mainly done to get the person to
answer a few questions or determine if the
person is a suspect in a crime. If you refuse to
accompany the police you may be placed under
arrest.
 Police must have reasonable grounds to
arrest someone. This is information that would
lead a reasonable person to conclude that the
suspect had committed a criminal offence.
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The police have three methods of
apprehending an offender…….
Appearance notice – a legal document
usually issued for less serious offences,
compelling a person to appear in court.
(summary convictions, less serious indictable)
If the accused fails to appear in court on the
specific date and time, a bench warrant may
be issued. This is an arrest warrant issued
directly by a judge when an accused person
fails to appear in court.
1.
2. Arrest with a warrant – If police believe that
a suspect will appear in court voluntarily, a
summons can be issued. This is a legal
document issued for an indictable offence,
ordering an accused person to appear in court.
- Otherwise, police will obtain an arrest warrant.
An information, a statement given under oath
telling the court the details of an offence, is
given by police before a judge. Once the police
“lay an information” the judge will decide if it is
in the public interest to issue an arrest warrant.
- An arrest warrant is a written court order
directing the police to arrest a suspect. It
contains the name of the accused, the charge
and the reason for the warrant.
3. Arrest without a warrant – There are three
circumstances under which the police can arrest
a person without a warrant.
- They have reasonable grounds to believe that a
person has committed an indictable offence or is
about to commit one.
- They find a person in the act of committing a
criminal offence.
- They find a person who they believed is named
on an arrest warrant.
All peace officers, including mayors, prison
guards, customs officials, aircraft pilots and
fisheries officers, can arrest under these
circumstances.
A Citizens Arrest
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This is an arrest without a warrant by any person other
than a peace officer.
Immediately following such an arrest the suspect must
be turned over to a peace officer.
A citizen’s arrest can be made under these
circumstances…….
A person whom he finds committing an indictable
offence.
A person who on reasonable grounds he believes has
committed a criminal offence or is escaping from and
freshly pursued by persons who have lawful authority to
arrest that person.
An owner of property or a person authorized by the
owner, can arrest a person whom he finds committing a
criminal offence on or in relation to that property.
Searches
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The charter protects people from illegal search
and seizure. Here are some of the rules
regarding searches.
Searching a person – The police do not have
to obtain a warrant to search anyone they
have arrested, as long as three conditions are
met….
The arrest is lawful
The search must be connected to the lawful
arrest
The manner in which the search is carried out
is reasonable.
An impaired driver must submit a breath
or blood sample but otherwise you can
only be compelled to give such a sample
with a warrant.
 Searching a place – usually must have a
search warrant, a court document that
gives the police the right to search a
specific location.
 In order to get a warrant the police must
deliver a sworn information to a judge,
which specifies the crime, the items police
are looking for and the reasonable
grounds they have for believing the items
will be found at the location.
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The warrant will list all of these details as well as the
date and time the police are allowed to conduct their
search.
 Unless specified, the search must take place within
daylight hours, usually 6 am to 9pm.
 The police must identify themselves and show the
warrant before conducting the search. Other items not
listed in the warrant can be confiscated if they are
related to the crime and in plain view.
 Objects obtained are kept in police custody until the
trial.
 Sometimes a telewarrant, a search warrant obtained
by phone or fax, can be used if the police need to act
quickly.
 To search a private home a warrant is almost always
required. Two exceptions are imminent injury or death to
any person or the destruction of evidence related to an
indictable offence.
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Procedures After Arrest
After being arrested for an indictable offence, a
person may expect to be fingerprinted,
photographed and sometimes, participate in a
line up.
 If the person is not charged or is acquitted in
court, the arrest record is kept for 10 years
before being destroyed.
 A line up, a grouping of people shown to a
victim or witness for the purpose of identifying
the perpetrator, can not be forced upon an
arrested person.
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After the arrest procedures a person is often
released until the trial.
 Police may ask you to sign a promise to
appear, a signed agreement that an accused
person will appear in court at the time of trial. If
the person doesn’t show, a warrant for arrest is
issued.
 Some may sign a recognizance, a guarantee
that the accused will appear in court when
required, under penalty of a fine of up to $500.
 Police may also request a surety, a person who
agrees to make a payment if the accused does
not appear at trial.
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Bail
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Bail is the temporary release of an accused who posts
money or some other security. Application is made
before a judge.
If the crown does not want an accused person released
before trial, a show-cause hearing is held, a judicial
hearing in which the Crown or the accused has to
convince the judge either to detain or release the
accused before trial.
Cause can be that the accused may flee or that they
may be a threat to society.
In some cases there is a reverse onus, where the
accused has to show why bail should be granted.
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Reverse onus may apply when:
The accused is charged with committing an
indictable offence while already out on bail.
The offence is indictable and the defendant is
not a Canadian citizen.
The charge involves failure to appear or breach
of a bail condition.
The accused is charged with importing,
trafficking or possession for the purpose of
trafficking, narcotics.
course, there is always the writ of Habeas
Corpus.