What Is The Purpose Of An Investigation?
Google "What is the purpose of an investigation, and you will get several different ways of saying the same thing. The purpose of an investigation "is to establish relevant facts to prove or disprove allegations of fraud and corruption.*
A lot of people tend to think of an investigation as a fact-finding mission. While this is mainly true, an investigation needs some objective metric in place that will allow us to measure the end value of the information we discover. The purpose of an investigation is not just to uncover the truth; it must take that truth and see what role it plays concerning some statute or policy. For this reason, investigators should be aware of the "investigative triangle."
The investigative triangle is a basic lesson in the special relationship held by three critical investigation components. These are 1) the alleged behavior, 2) the actual behavior, and 3) how the behavior relates to an existing rule, policy, procedure, standard, statute, etc. Together, the three components of the investigative triangle help us understand the role of the professional investigator.
Let's look a little closer at each of the three components.
The Alleged Behavior
The alleged behavior is what the complainant, reporting person, or witness told you the suspect did that they feel was wrong, unethical, illegal, etc. The alleged behavior might be an actual or perceived slight. The behavior feels unjust even though the truth is that the alleged conduct will not be judged by how it made someone feel or because of what they believe happened.
Actual Behavior
While the alleged behavior is some action the reporting person alleges to be true, the actual conduct is what actually occurred. Even if the investigator never uncovers everything the reporting person alleged, one of the main goals of the investigation is to determine the objective truth of what happened. This behavior might be the same action the reporting person alleged, or it might be completely different. There are also parts of the investigation the investigator might never be able to prove or know what happened. However, it is the investigator's job to start with the alleged behavior and determine what occurred during the reported incident.
Statutes and Policies
Most non-investigators get caught up in ideas of justice and right over wrong. Still, they often forget one of the most essential parts of the investigative triangle: the rules that are put in place to govern behavior. Having rules is a crucial component of justice. It ensures that people are held responsible for bad behavior and won't get in trouble just because someone doesn't agree with them. There has to be a rule that decides what the prohibited conduct entails, how it is defined, how an investigator must prove it, the punishment it carries, etc. These requirements ensure that a ruling body isn't just making things up along the way. In a perfect world, all the rules that effectively govern bad behavior would already be in place. However, justice and the ideas of what that means are constantly evolving. Over time, we will find certain behaviors are no longer acceptable, even if society tolerated them in the past. In other cases, we might see some old laws that prohibited specific actions as restrictive, outdated, or even a violation of our rights. Understanding this dynamic helps the investigator grasp the importance of how the rule of law interprets the alleged and actual behavior.
Law and policymakers should take note that investigative units can provide valuable feedback about the pulse of current statutes and policies. Anytime there is a rule that is not congruent with the public's expectation of justice, we need to revisit those rules.
When looking at the investigative triangle, we always examine an entity's behavior or actions. This observation can be something someone did or failed to do under the requirements outlined in the rules. Investigators should note, however, that rules sometimes outline factors other than mere behavior. Some violations will have other corresponding factors, such as culpable mental states in which things like a person's intentions become an element that must be met for an offense to have occurred.
The purpose of an investigation is to arrive at the correct case disposition based on whether the complete and objective information gathered during the investigation either meets or fails to meet the criteria of an established policy or the rule of law.
In short, an investigation aims to determine the truth of what happened and whether that truth violates an established rule. Of course, there are other factors involved. Evidence must be gathered, verified, and preserved. Investigators must know who has the burden of proof, whether the investigation is an administrative or criminal case, which policies or laws were broken, and the level of evidence that investigators must meet to show a violation occurred.
The last thing the investigator should understand about the purpose of the investigation is to realize an investigation is just one step in the criminal justice or civil litigation system. Several things still come afterward, such as indictments, plea bargains, court cases for criminal matters, lawsuits, restitution, and employee or licensing actions for civil matters. I say this to hit home the point that the purpose of the investigation is not to determine guilt or consequences. These things come later in various types of hearings, so the purpose of the investigation, while often in-depth, is also just a preliminary step in the system.
The next time you are assigned a case, begin by taking a closer look at each part of the investigative triangle. Understanding these elements and the foundation they provide will help you communicate more effectively with your complainants and will also serve to make you a better, more capable investigator.