Hi, I'm Catherine and I'm Sheila and we're taking you through private eyes.

Catherine and I are going to discuss the tools of the trade, the different elements that we go through in order to get to our conclusion,

which is to help our client resolve their case, whether it's a criminal case or a civil case. Catherine does criminal cases. Her methods and procedures are quite different than mine.

So Catherine, I want you to go over what your first initial step when you get a case. I read the offense report. How are those?

They vary from county to county. Some are better than others. Certainly there are great places to start because the offense report outlines the entire investigation.

So it's like a synopsis of the case against my client. And so for me, especially with not having to kind of start backwards, like I think maybe you do not backwards, but from a different place, I get to kind of begin my investigation shortly after the investigation.

So it's not only after law enforcement begins theirs. So we're kind of, you know, working it around the same time. It works. That process works with my brain.

You know, it's in the right order of things. So the offense report will outline what the charges, the probable cause affidavit allows is basically just a short, an even shorter summary of why the arrest was made.

Obviously, they need probable cause to make an arrest. So that's just a quick blurb. And then the offense report will go into detail about what step each officer involved takes what witnesses were interviewed.

You know, sometimes there's, there's additional stuff regarding evidence collected when you get a report, is it important for you to look at the words and the statements and have like a statement analysis done.

That's a great question. I, so what I do is I print out the offensive part of old school, I like my pen and paper. So I can highlight.

You know, and at this point, I kind of know what I'm looking for the dates, the times, the important identifying information of individuals of the facts of the crime as they're outlined in this offense report.

So I print out everything, I highlight everything, and then I go back and I start and I read it again and I'm putting it into my case journal, which allows me to start to kind of see what the progression of the investigation was based on what the law enforcement did.

And then that's it. That's all I do at that point. And then I go talk to my client because that's where it gets interesting for me.

Based on what they say, I'm then taking what I already know the cops are saying and then I am bouncing that off of what my client is saying.

And it's my job to follow all the leads and not only retrace law enforcement steps, but also try to test out all the other theories that are potentially that are possible.

What do you mean by test out test out meaning I'm following all of those leads and seeing if anything makes sense. And I'm obviously if my client is saying he didn't do it or it was maybe wrong, wrong ID or something along those lines.

Then by testing out I'm I'm going and I'm talking to who could potentially be in alibi.

Is there surveillance that shows that it could be potentially someone else those kinds of things.

So following all the leads that's important in being able to conduct a thorough investigation.

Danielle, I think an offense report is important in the details, but also what details have been left out.

Not just what an offense report says, but what it doesn't say.

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