The police are under pressure when a dead body is found. If they rule out suicide, the public will feel unsafe knowing there is a killer on the loose.
Unfortunately, the pressure to find who did it can lead to officers making mistakes that put an innocent person in the dock.
You cannot rush a crime scene investigation
Here are some of the police errors that could lead to the person responsible getting away and you facing homicide charges:
- Failing to question what they see: If someone stages the crime scene, it could lead the police down the wrong path if they take what they see for granted.
- Failing to gather witnesses at the crime scene: If the police are slow to arrive or too keen to clear people from the area, they might lose access to valuable witnesses. The guilty person might even still be there amid the crowd, but the police are so busy securing the scene they do not notice.
- Destroying evidence at the crime scene: If a lot of police or first responders turn up to the incident, they all need to park somewhere and stand somewhere. If they do not watch where they are driving or walking, they could trample over valuable evidence.
- Failing to store evidence properly: Evidence can get lost or confused if not registered and stored with care.
- Failing to follow leads: The police believe you committed the crime. They are so intent on proving their theory that they wave away people who try to tell them differently. They might ignore people they consider unreliable, such as a small child known for telling tall tales, or a local ensuring home resident with Alzheimer’s, missing out on valuable information.
Investigating the police investigation that led to you facing homicide charges is crucial to defending your innocence. Finding errors could prevent you from spending years behind bars for a crime you did not commit.