Question

this is a criminal justice topic

base on the sample case,   

CSI Officer Roberts was called to respond to a street address adjacent to a location where fire-fighters were extinguishing a house fire. The reporting officer, Lonnie Downs, had spotted a pool of blood in the street in front of the residence; the residence was on fire, but no victims had been located. The amount of blood in the street indicated a victim should be found suffering from a severe loss of blood. While Officer Downs began canvassing the neighborhood and knocking on doors, CSI Officer Roberts took photographs and created a crime scene diagram. Having just completed bloodstain pattern analysis training last month, Officer Downs knew how to use string to map out the path of the blood droplets and determine where the indicators converge. This might identify whether the victim was standing or sitting as the blood droplets were falling. The measurements indicated that the point of impact was the front bumper of the fire engine. Officer Downs questioned the fire truck engineer, who stated he had not seen anyone around the area when they arrived on the scene in response to the fire call. The entire squad deployed immediately and did not treat any patients. Both a fire supervisor and a police supervisor were summoned to the scene.  

When the fire trucks were ready to clear the scene, the lead fire truck was pulled back to depart. A body was discovered underneath the truck. So now it is a good thing the CSI had already completed his initial investigation by taking photos and mapping the blood spatter. Apparently the victim was struck by the lead fire truck and had crawled back under the vehicle where he later expired. This is an excellent example of well-trained officers beginning to document actions before it is ever determined that a crime was committed. CSI Roberts had photographs, a sketch, and a stringing diagram of the crime scene. Officer Downs had already begun to complete the preliminary investigation report and had identified all the first responders on the scene. It was, however, impossible to get a statement from anyone else. They were too busy laughing. The victim was an opossum. Not all investigations are going to lead to criminal prosecutions. This is a good example; however, keep in mind that you may not know the outcome of an event or incident for many years. That doesn’t mean that shortcuts are taken or required paperwork is not completed because, in your opinion, no crime has occurred. Police officers encounter unexpected outcomes throughout their careers. What appears to be a clear-cut suicide may actually be a well-staged homicide. There is no room for second-guessing or taking shortcuts when conducting an investigation and building a case file.  

From complaint to arrest, provide the appropriate decision making necessary for this case. Expand thoughts for each one and why it is connected to the investigation.  

Answer 1

For the following case let's follow classic decision-making process steps -

1. Identify the Problem: Was there any murder or an accident? If it was murder, who could be suspect and why? Prior trends indicate, sometimes what appears to be a clear-cut suicide may actually be a well-staged homicide.
2. Collect Information:
   • Firefighters were extinguishing a house fire when CSI agent was called
   • The reporting officer identified a pool of blood in front of the resident
   • No victim at the site
   • The Victim was either in sitting or standing position
   • The point of impact was the front bumper of the fire engine
   • Firetruck engineer reported of not seeing anyone on arrival
   • Body recovered under the lead firetruck
   • The victim was an opossum
3. Identify Alternatives:
   • An opossum was really killed by the lead firetruck, but since the hight of an average opossum is 30 inches it might not be visible to the driver but have a chance to hit by the bumper and get stuck underneath.
   • Lead firetruck might hit a person who has called them accidentally or allegedly and to cover-up, they stuck a dead opossum underneath and placed the body somewhere else in the house or inside the fire truck
4. Weigh the Evidence:
   • Dead opossum body found under the firetruck
   • No human in-sights
   • Blood pool shows lots of blood loss
   • The victim was standing or sitting,
5. Choose from Alternatives:
   • ​​​​​​​The blood can be of an opossum which got accidentally hit by the lead firetruck because the hight of a standing opossum is almost the same as a human, which was identified.
   • No humans or any other casualty was insight
   • No report of any other dead body
   • Prior to finding the opossum body, it was found the victim was hit and crawled under the firetruck, which is not possible for a human
6. Implement Action:​​​​​​​
   • Actions could have been taken with respect to animal welfare law, but since there is no hard law against accidentally hit animals, no actions can be taken in place
7. Evaluate the results:
   • ​​​​​​​Need a proper blood test to evaluate whether the blood was of an opossum or a human
   • If found the blood of the opossum, case close else investigation re-opens.