Curriculum Information

From the initial crime to the crime scene and then the court room, students will experience investigations involving serious and major crimes and understand the processes, guidelines, policy and legislation involved.  This is a dynamic module that allows students to experience the investigation from the initial report, how the case is built and progressed to eventually reach its culmination in the Court room. The module will critically evaluate the processes involved in serious and major crime investigations; the multi-agency approaches involved in investigations to seek recommendations for how such incidents could be prevented in the future. 

This module is directly aligned with the Major Scene Investigation module where students apply their knowledge of crime scene investigation to review and analyse the value of evidential material recovered from crime scenes and how they can be used to support criminal investigations. The knowledge from Major scene investigation supports this module directly as students will identify and define complex issues associated with examining crime scenes and the decision-making process involved in the investigative process.  

Students will be guided step by step through the investigative process of serious and major crimes and apply this knowledge to simulated scenarios to understand experience the complexities of these investigations and the challenges in getting them to court. Students will have the opportunity to apply this knowledge to a simulated investigation in the Hydra suite.  

Structure of the module: 

Introduction to serious and major crime investigation 

Types of investigation 

The role and responsibilities of a criminal investigator 

Investigation management 

Investigative decision making 

Stages of an investigation 

Investigative strategies 

Forensic investigation – direct links with the Major scene investigation module 

Proactive investigations 

Case management 

Court procedures