Criminal investigations and evidence gathering are among the most important and sensitive criminal justice procedures, as they are the key to accessing justice, ensuring rights, and combating and preventing crime.

Above all, they are the benchmarks to measure the efficiency of the agencies entrusted with this heavy responsibility, and the social satisfaction with such agencies that cost our Nation huge sums of money.

Criminal investigations and evidence gathering have rules that govern and regulate their procedures, techniques and administrative methods, in anticipation of the resulting denials of justice or transgressions of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Investigative and evidence gathering measures are performed - sometimes - against people who shall be presumed innocent until found guilty, thus posing a threat to their freedom and dignity. Therefore, the laws of criminal procedures and evidence rules have been enacted to regulate the rights of the accused, the rights of victims and the needs of society, and strike a balance between them.

Criminal investigation is the legal, administrative, technical measures taken by a relevant official authority to detect crimes, identify perpetrators, and those affected, and collect evidence that achieves criminal justice. Criminal investigation procedures consist of a set of interrelated and complementary systemic elements of work that work in coordination and harmony for the benefit of criminal justice. Investigation differs from interview and interrogation.

An interview is a procedure designed to obtain information about details of a crime committed by a person(s) who have that information, with the aim of the following: 

Getting valuable facts.

Excluding the innocent.

Identifying the perpetrator.

Obtaining a confession.

As for the Interrogation, it is a procedure designed to associate the information provided by the interview with the offender. However, when it comes to criminal matters, the interview and the interrogation are considered investigative elements.

Who is the Investigator: The term "Investigator" refers to a member of the Law Enforcement Authority, assigned to take all legal, administrative and technical measures leading to detecting the crime, identifying and arresting the offenders, collecting evidence and assisting people affected by crime in getting out of their dilemma. The investigator may be an individual or a group of individuals that takes the form of a committee or a team as required by the nature and circumstances of the crime. In general, the investigator is that person or group charged under a readily applicable law with collecting facts and evidence in order to achieve five goals:

Detect the crime before, during or after it has occurred.

Identify the offenders and take appropriate legal measures in their regard.

Collect evidence that helps in achieving criminal justice.

Help the persons affected by the crime in normalizing their situation.

Apply the Criminal Procedure Act at the pre-trial stage.

From a legal point of view, the investigator is a member(s) of the criminal police, the prosecution, or the judiciary, empowered to investigate a case in person or by proxy in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law, or special laws.

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Attempts to detect crimes and prosecute offenders have begun with investigation and trial procedures since man knew crime. Those attempts continued to grow and develop as societies developed and patterns and methods of committing crimes varied.

Detecting and investigating crimes in their early stages were carried out in ways and means similar to the methods of committing crimes and of punishments that prevailed at the time.

Guessing, voodoo, beatings and torture were occasional procedures to get to the truth. Then came the stage where the investigation, the prosecution of offenders and the identification of people and objects were depending on witnesses, tracing of footprints, insights and other capabilities and innate skills that were peculiar to some individuals and tribes.

With the development of man and the spread of science and knowledge, crime has entered a new stage where science and knowledge outputs are exploited in the commission of crime. So firearms, documents, chemical and biological substances became crime instruments and components

Investigators resorted to using the same means to search and prosecute criminals. Hence the phenomenon of forensic laboratories and forensic investigation methods which spread in the second half of the twentieth century.

In the late 20th century, computer technology emerged as a tool of crime, requiring the use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence to detect crimes and collect forensic evidence from the same high-tech environment.

The result was the creation of digital evidence laboratories, the development of computer forensics, and the use of videoconferencing to manage investigations remotely.

As crime is a social phenomenon, its patterns and methods of commission will continue to change with the movement of societies and the ways in which individuals engage in daily activities. Human activities are expected to be automatized and high technology used. However, it is likely that some known criminal investigative techniques will remain based on attested expertise, talent and personal skill of investigators.

If emerging crimes require technological means and aids to investigate them, this does not mean abolishing the general traditional rules of investigation. The rules, acquired skills, and innate abilities of investigators remain indispensable constants.

Some of these general rules remain critical for investigators in all cases, whether for conventional or new crimes. They are permanent and inherent in all types of criminal investigations.

These general rules include rules relating to the integrity of legal formalities; any violation thereof may lead to the annulment of the investigation. 

There are general rules that enhance the role of investigators' expertise, professional skills and natural talents that serve to identify people and objects and discover facts. There are also certain parameters related to professional ethics, the conditions for investigators and the legal restrictions that the investigator must adhere to in order for his procedures to be sound and not affecting human rights and dignity, so that the evidence obtained be admissible in criminal courts.

In conclusion, the police and the judiciary require continuous and specialized knowledge of cybercrime and digital forensics in order for them to distinguish between the different roles that computer can play in information technology crimes. Such accurate knowledge is necessary to develop a deeper understanding of how computers contribute to committing a cybercrime. With the rapid spread of computer crimes, the need is likely to grow for the police and judiciary to understand how to differentiate between the various types of web crimes that began to branch out and complicate every day. Only accurate knowledge of cybercrime and digital forensics can help law enforcement professionals dig into investigation strategies and digital forensic collection.

Emirati writer and researcher

Member of the UAE Authors and Writers Union

Adel Abdullah Humaid