Investigative Tactics

in criminalistics, a system of procedures that makes possible the swift and full detection of crimes and exposure of the guilty. Investigative tactics include the planning of criminal investigation and procedures for the effective execution of investigative actions, for example, investigatory view, interrogation, and search.

Principles pertaining to investigative tactics require that several hypotheses be proposed for each criminal case, based on given evidence, and that these hypotheses be checked simultaneously. Crimes can be exposed most successfully by means of a plan of investigation stating the circumstances to be established and specifying the types and times of investigative actions and operational searches to be conducted. Logic, psychology, and other sciences are used to develop particular investigative actions. For example, different procedures are used in the interrogation of the accused, an underage witness, and the victim, depending on the psychological traits of each. Investigative tactics are used in both the investigation of crimes and the hearing of cases in court.

A typical feature of investigative tactics in Soviet criminal procedure is the requirement that tactics correspond strictly to procedural law, which regulates the main investigative actions. Investigative tactics play an important role in criminalistics technique and in the methods of investigating particular types of crime.