A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. Private detectives usually operate commercially and are licensed. They may be known as private investigators (P.I.s or "private eyes"). Informally, and primarily in fiction, a detective is any unlicensed person who solves crimes, including historical crimes, or looks into records. A private investigator, or PI, is a person who undertakes investigations, usually for a private citizen or some other entity not involved with a government or police organization. ... The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ...

Detective as a designator of rank or status

In some police departments, primarily in North America, Detective can be the lowest rank among investigators (above the lowest rank of officers and below Sergeant). Some departments have distinct levels of detectives, depending on their experiences and skills. New York City Police Department and Los Angeles Police Department, for example, both have three grades. Most larger police departments have rank structures for their investigators that parallel the "street" police, such as Detective Sergeant and Detective Lieutenant. World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Police rank, or simply rank, is a system of grading seniority and command within police forces and other law enforcement organizations. ... This article is about the rank of sergeant. ... The New York City Police Department (NYPD), the largest police department in the United States, has primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within The Five Boroughs of New York City. ... Parker Center-LAPDs Headquarters LAPD redirects here. ... A Lieutenant is a military, paramilitary or police officer. ...

In the British police, "Detective" is used as a prefix before all ranks in the Criminal Investigation Department and Special Branch from Constable to Chief Superintendent. Detective Constables do not outrank uniformed Constables, however. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Detective Constables were usually referred to simply as "Detective", but this is no longer the case. Many Commonwealth countries also use the prefix. A Police Constable of West Yorkshire Police on patrol The United Kingdom is a unitary (as opposed to federal) state, and police forces, generally speaking, are organised at the level of administrative districts. ... The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of all British Police forces to which plain clothes detectives belong. ... Special Branch is the arm of the British, Irish and many Commonwealth police forces that deals with national security matters. ... A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. ... Chief Superintendent (Ch Supt/CSP; colloquially Chief Super) is a senior rank in the Police Forces. ... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of 53 independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ...

Detectives and their work

Becoming a detective

In most American police departments, a candidate for detective must have served as a uniformed officer for a period of one to five years before becoming qualified for the position. Prospective British police detectives must have completed at least two years as a uniformed officer before applying to join the Criminal Investigation Department. In European police systems, most detectives are university graduates who join directly from civilian life without first serving as uniformed officers. In fact, many European police experts cannot understand why British, Irish, American and Commonwealth police forces insist on recruiting their detectives from the ranks of uniformed officers, arguing that they do a completely different job and therefore require completely different training, qualifications, qualities and abilities. The opposing argument is that without previous service as a uniformed patrol officer a detective cannot have a great enough command of standard police procedures and problems and will find it difficult to work with uniformed colleagues.

In addtion, in some US police departments, policies exist that limit the term that an officer may serve continuously as a detective, and mandate that detectives must regularly return to patrol duties for a minimum period of time. This is based upon a perception that the most important and essential police work is accomplished on patrol, and that the skills, experience and familiarity with their beats that patrol officers maintain are essential for detectives to maintain as well. Investigations, by contrast, often take weeks or months to complete, during which time detectives may spend much of their time away from the streets. In this thinking, rotating officers also promotes cross-training in a wider variety of skills, producing both better detectives and uniformed officers. Such policies also serve to prevent "cliques" within detective bureaus that can contribute to corruption or other unethical behavior.

Detectives obtain their position by competitive examination, covering such subjects as:

• Principles, practices and procedures of investigations
• Principles, practices and procedures of interviewing and interrogation
• Local criminal law and procedures
• Applicable law governing arrests, search and seizures, warrants and evidence
• Police department records and reports
• Principles, practices and objectives of courtroom testimony
• Police department methods and procedures

Private detectives are licensed by the state in which they live after passing a competitive examination and a criminal background check. Some states, such as Maryland, require a period of classroom training as well.

Organization of detectives

The detective branch in most larger police agencies is organized into several squads or departments, each of which specializes in investigation into a particular type of crime or a particular type of undercover operation, which may include:

• Homicide
• Robbery
• Stolen vehicles
• Organized crime
• Fraud
• Burglary
• Narcotics
• Forgery
• Criminal intelligence
• Sex crimes
• Street crime (mugging etc.)
• Computer crime
• Crimes against children
• Surveillance
• Arson

wikipedia sucks Etymology: Latin homicidium, from homo- human being + caedere- to cut, kill Homicide is the killing of another human being by one or more persons. ... Organized crime is crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. ... The term narcotic, derived from the Greek word for stupor, originally referred to a variety of substances that induced sleep (such state is narcosis). ... Forgery is the process of making or adapting objects or documents (see false document), with the intention to deceive. ... Criminal intelligence is information gathered, collated and disseminated by law enforcement agencies concerning types of crime and particular criminals and criminal groups. ... Sex crimes are forms of human sexual behavior that are crimes. ... Mugging may refer to: A type of robbery. ... Computer crime - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior. ... this Arsonists redirects here. ...

Techniques of detectives

Street work

Detectives have a wide variety of techniques available in conducting investigations. However, the majority of cases are solved by the interrogation of suspects and witnesses, which takes time. A police officer usually develops an intuitive sense of the plausibility of suspect and witness accounts. This intuition may fail at times, but usually is reliable.

Besides interrogations, detectives may rely on a network of informants they have cultivated over the years. Informants often have connections with persons a detective would not be able to approach formally.

In criminal investigations, once a detective has a suspect or suspects in mind, the next step is to produce evidence that will stand up in a court of law. The best way is to obtain a confession from the suspect, usually in exchange for a plea bargain for a lesser sentence. A detective may lie or otherwise mislead and may psychologically pressure a suspect into confessing, though in the United States suspects may invoke their Miranda rights. A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case in which a prosecutor and a defendant arrange to settle the case against the defendant. ... The Miranda warning is given by police officers of the United States to suspects they have arrested and intend to question. ...

Forensic evidence

Physical forensic evidence in an investigation may provide leads to closing a case. This article or section should be merged with Forensic science Forensic evidence consists of anything that can be used in a court of law to convict a person of a crime. ...

Examples of physical evidence can be, but are not limited to:

• Fingerprinting of objects persons have touched
• DNA analysis
• Luminol to detect blood stains that have been washed
• Bloodstain pattern analysis
• Footprints or tire tracks
• Chemical testing for the presence of narcotics or expended gun propellant
• The exact position of objects at the scene of an investigation

Many major police departments in a city, county, or state, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, maintain their own forensic laboratories. A fingerprint is an impression normally made by ink or contaminants transferred from the peaks of friction skin ridges to a relatively smooth surface such as a fingerprint card. ... The general structure of a section of DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid —usually in the form of a double helix— that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life, and most viruses. ... Synthesis of Luminol. ... Bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) is one of several specialties in the field of forensic science. ... The term narcotic, derived from the Greek word for stupor, originally referred to a variety of substances that induced sleep (such state is narcosis). ... Official FBI Seal The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal criminal investigative and intelligence agency which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...

Records investigation

Detectives may use public and private records to provide background information on a subject. These include:

• Fingerprint records. In the United States, the FBI maintains records of people who have committed felonies and some misdemeanors, all persons who have applied for a Federal security clearance, and all persons who have served in the U.S. armed forces
• Records of criminal arrests and convictions
• Photographs or mug shots, of persons arrested
• Motor vehicle records
• Credit card records and bank statements
• Hotel registration cards
• Credit reports
• Answer machine messages

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... A felony, in many common law legal systems, is the term for a very serious crime, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. ... A misdemeanors (or misdemeanour), in many common law legal systems, is a lesser criminal act. ... Credit cards An array of various credit cards. ... An answering machine, also known as an answer machine (especially in UK and British commonwealth countries), ansafone(tradename [1]), ansaphone(tradename [2]), answerphone or telephone answering device (TAD), is a device for automatically answering telephone calls and recording messages left by callers. ...

Court testimony

Unless a plea bargain forestalls the need for a trial, detectives must testify in court about their investigation. They must seem reliable and credible to a jury, and must not give the impression of personal vindictiveness or cruelty. A detective's background often comes into question in courtroom testimony. A famous example came in the murder trial of O. J. Simpson, when Detective Mark Fuhrman of the Los Angeles Police Department testified for the prosecution. Attorney F. Lee Bailey first asked Fuhrman if he had ever used the "n-word" (see Nigger) Fuhrman denied this. In court, Bailey produced taped interviews with Fuhrman using this offensive word. Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947 in San Francisco, California), publicly known by the initials O.J., and nicknamed The Juice, was a Hall of Fame college and professional football player and film actor. ... Mark Fuhrman (born February 5, 1952) was a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) who found the bloody glove that linked O.J. Simpson to the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson. ... Parker Center-LAPDs Headquarters LAPD redirects here. ... Bailey made the cover of Time in the late 70s for defending Patty Hearst Francis Lee Bailey, often referred to as F. Lee Bailey (born 1933), is a U.S. lawyer. ... The word nigger is a highly controversial term used in many English-speaking countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, and Australia to refer to individuals with dark skin, especially those of African descent who previously were racially classified by the now outdated term Negro. ...

Famous fictional detectives

The detective story has been a popular genre in books, radio, television, and movies since the early 19th century. In many police drama series, detectives are depicted as being something of an elite, with most uniformed police officers deferring to them. Most famous fictional government detectives work for local or regional agencies. Detective Story is a 1951 film which tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detectives squad. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Element of detective work are also featured in famous "federal" characters, such as Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and Ian Fleming's James Bond. (The first two Bond film adaptations featured more investigative work than their successors.) The name Jack Ryan can refer to: Jack Ryan (Senate candidate), former candidate for U.S. Senate from Illinois and ex-husband of actress Jeri Ryan Jack Ryan (designer) created the Barbie doll. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond, also known as 007 (pronounced double-oh seven), is a fictional British spy created by writer Ian Fleming in 1953. ...

Police detectives

• Detective Andy Sipowicz, played by Dennis Franz in the television series NYPD Blue
• Detective Vic Mackey, played by Michael Chiklis in the television series "The Shield"
• Lennie Briscoe, played by Jerry Orbach in the television series Law & Order
• Sergeant Joe Friday, portrayed by Jack Webb and later by Ed O'Neill in the television series Dragnet
• Lieutenant Columbo, played by Peter Falk in the television series Columbo (and also some television movies)
• Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, played by Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect.
• Detective Chief Inspector Morse, in the novels of Colin Dexter and played by John Thaw in Inspector Morse.
• Detective Sonny Crockett, played by Don Johnson, and Detective Ricardo Tubbs, played by Philip Michael Thomas, in the television series "Miami Vice"
• Detective Inspector Jack Regan, also played by John Thaw, and Detective Sergeant George Carter, played by Dennis Waterman, in the television series The Sweeney.
• Thompson and Thomson, from the comic Tintin, created by Hergé
• Inspector Gadget
• Inspector Koichi Zenigata, from the anime and manga series Lupin III, created by Monkey Punch
• Detective Harvey Bullock from the comic book series Batman and cartoon series Batman: The Animated Series
• Plainclothesman Elijah Baley from Isaac Asimov's Robot series.

Dennis Franz (born Dennis Franz Schlacta, October 28, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is a German-American actor best known for his roles as Andy Sipowicz, a gritty police detective in the television series NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues and Beverly Hills Buntz. ... Dennis Franz and David Caruso on the NYPD Blue first season DVD cover NYPD Blue was a long-running American television police drama set in New York City. ... Vic Mackey, Head of the Strike Team Detective Vic Mackey is the fictional leader of the Strike Team, a four-man anti-gang unit in The Shield. ... Actor Michael Chiklis Michael Chiklis was born on August 30, 1963 in Lowell, Massachusetts and grew up in Andover, Massachusetts. ... The Shield is an American police drama television series shown on FX Networks and other networks around the world. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe in Law & Order Jerome Bernard Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) was an American actor best known for his starring role as wisecracking NYPD Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series, and for his musical theater roles. ... Law & Order is an American televison police procedural and legal drama set in New York City. ... Detective Sergeant Joe Friday was a fictional character created and played by American actor, television producer, and writer Jack Webb 1920-1982) on the radio and television series Dragnet. ... Jack Webb John Randolph Jack Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer director, and writer who is most famous for his role as Detective Joe Friday in the television series Dragnet. ... Ed ONeill as Governor Eric Baker (D-PA) on The West Wing Edward ONeill (April 12, 1946) is an American actor. ... Dragnet opening frame from the 1967 version. ... DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete First Season Peter Michael Falk (born September 16, 1927 of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Hungary) is an American actor. ... DVD cover of Columbo - The Complete First Season Columbo was an American crime fiction TV series created by Richard Levinson and William Link. ... Mirren with Malcolm McDowell in O Lucky Man! (1974) Dame Helen Mirren, DBE (born Ilyena Lydia Mironova on 26 July 1945) is an English stage, television and movie actress. ... Prime Suspect is a highly-acclaimed Granada Television police procedural television drama series of the decades of the 1990s and 2000s, which has been followed up by several sequels. ... (Norman) Colin Dexter is the British author of the Inspector Morse novels. ... John Edward Thaw (January 3, 1942 - February 21, 2002) CBE, was a British actor who achieved his first starring role in the military police television drama Redcap (1964 - 1966), and subsequently appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles. ... Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse is a fictional character, who features in a series of thirteen detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, though he is better known for the TV series produced by Central Independent Television from 1987–2000. ...   Don Johnson (born Donald Wayne Johnson on December 15, 1949) is an American actor well known for his film and television appearances. ... Philip Michael Thomas (May 26, 1949 in Columbus, Ohio) is an African-American actor. ... Miami Vice was a popular television series (five seasons on NBC from 1984-1989) starring Don Johnson (James Sonny Crockett) and Philip Michael Thomas (Ricardo Rico Tubbs) as two Miami police detectives working undercover. ... Dennis Waterman is also the name of a Little Britain character, Dennis Waterman (Little Britain). ... For other uses of the name Sweeney, see Sweeney The Sweeney is a British television police drama focusing on two crime-fighting members of the Flying Squad, an elite branch of the British police force specialising in armed robbery and violent crime. ... Tintin and Snowy (Tintin et Milou) are world travellers and inseparable friends in The Adventures of Tintin. ... Georges Remi (May 23, 1907 – March 3, 1983), better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. ... This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... Monkey Punch Monkey Punch (モンキー・パンチ) is the pen name of manga artist Kazuhiko Katō (加藤一彦 Katō Kazuhiko, born May 26, 1937), creator of the successful Japanese manga series Lupin III. He was born in Hamanakachō, Hokkaidō. Katō first started to work as a manga artist under the pen name Kazuhiko Katō (加東一彦 Kat... This article is about the DC Comics character. ... Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-man, and still sometimes as the Batman) is the second staple DC Comics fictional character and superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... The animated Batman shoots his grappling gun from a rooftop in a scene from the episode, On Leather Wings. ... Elijah Baley is a fictional character in Isaac Asimovs Robot series. ... Isaac Asimov, photographed by Jay Kay Klein Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... Isaac Asimovs Robot Series is a series of books by Isaac Asimov, both collections of short stories and novels. ...

Private detectives

• J.J. Gittes, played by Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown
• Adrian Monk, played by Tony Shalhoub
• Auguste Dupin, created by Edgar Allan Poe
• Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, both created by Agatha Christie
• Jim Rockford, created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell, and portrayed by James Garner in the television series The Rockford Files
• Thomas Sullivan Magnum, played by Tom Selleck in the television series Magnum P.I.
• Philip Marlowe, created by Raymond Chandler
• Sam Spade, created by Dashiell Hammett and portrayed on film by Humphrey Bogart
• Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Simon Templar, the book, movie and TV character created by Leslie Charteris

See Detective fiction and Crime fiction for more details. Jack Nicholson at Cannes, (2001). ... Chinatown is a 1974 film directed by Roman Polański featuring many elements of the film noir genre, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama. ... Monk is a television show about an obsessive-compulsive detective named Adrian Monk (played by actor Tony Shalhoub). ... Tony Shalhoub stars as Adrian Monk on USA Networks Monk. ... Auguste Dupin is a fictional character created by Edgar Allan Poe. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... David Suchet as Poirot Hercule Poirot (pronounced ) is a fictional character, the protagonist of many of Agatha Christies detective novels, a good number of which have been adapted into films, television series, radio dramas, and stage shows. ... Joan Hickson as Miss Marple Jane Marple, usually known as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in many Agatha Christie novels. ... Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976), was an English crime fiction writer. ... Jim Rockford is a fictional character on the television series The Rockford Files. ... Roy Huggins (July 18, 1914 – April 3, 2002) was a novelist and an influential writer and producer of humorous, character-driven US television series. ... Stephen J. Cannell (born May 2, 1941) (pronounced CAN-ULL) is an Emmy award winning television producer, writer, novelist and occasional actor from the USA. Noted for sophisticated, character-driven writing within genre formats, Cannell has created or co-created nearly 40 different shows, including The Rockford Files, The Greatest... James Garner (born April 7, 1928) is an American film and television actor of partially Cherokee Indian descent. ... The Rockford Files was an American detective (private investigator) television drama that had its first run on the NBC television network between 1974 and 1980 and has been in constant syndication to the present day. ... Magnum, P.I. was an American television show that followed the adventures of Thomas Magnum (played by Tom Selleck), a private investigator living in Hawaii. ... Tom Sellecks lead character on Magnum, P.I. portrayed him as a moustached private investigator. ... Magnum, P.I. was an American television show that followed the adventures of Thomas Magnum (played by Tom Selleck), a private investigator living in Hawaii. ... Ed Bishop had the title role in BBC Radios The Adventures of Philip Marlowe. ... Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an Anglo-American author of crime stories and novels. ... Poster of the 1941 Warner Brothers film version of The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston Sam Spade is a hard-boiled private detective and the leading character in the novel and movie The Maltese Falcon (first released in 1931). ... Samuel Dashiell Hammett (May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. ... Humphrey DeForest Bogart (25 December 1899 – January 14, 1957), an American actor of legendary fame. ... Sherlock Holmes as imagined by the seminal Holmesian artist, Sidney Edward Paget, in The Strand magazine. ... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. ... The Saint in a 1955 paperback edition. ... Leslie Charteris (May 12, 1907, Singapore–April 15, 1993) was born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, to a Chinese father and an English mother. ... Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction that centres upon the investigation of a crime, usually murder, by a detective, either professional or amateur. ... Sherlock Holmes, pipe-puffing hero of crime fiction, confers with his colleague Dr. Watson; together these characters popularized the genre. ...

See also

• Criminal Investigation Department
• Private investigator
• Eugène François Vidocq
• Special Agent