Abstract
Objective
To examine the impact of an investigative checklist on evidence collection by police officers responding to a routine burglary investigation.
Methods
A randomized control trial was conducted in virtual reality to test the effectiveness of an investigative checklist. Officers in the randomly assigned treatment group (n = 25) were provided with a checklist during the simulated investigation. Officers in the control group (n = 26) did not have access to the checklist at any time. The checklist included five evidence items commonly associated with burglary investigations.
Results
Officers who were randomly provided with an investigative checklist were significantly more likely to collect two evidence items located outside of the virtual victim’s home. Both treatment and control officers were about equally as likely to collect three evidence items located inside the residence.
Conclusions
Investigative checklists represent a promising new tool officers can use to improve evidence collection during routine investigations. More research is needed, however, to determine whether checklists improve evidence collection or case clearances in real-life settings. Virtual reality simulations provide a promising tool for collecting data in otherwise difficult or complex situations to simulate.
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Notes
While discussing preliminary results from this study and during the review process, we heard anecdotal reports that some police agencies previously adopted and informally tested investigative checklists with varying levels of success. However, our literature search did not surface any official reports/studies that can be cited to inform the current study.
The evidentiary item images are provided for reference, but do not adequately capture the realism and presence users typically experienced in VR. Honestly, one of the worst ways to sell the realism of VR is to show 2D images and/or video. We remain confident that all users could equally collect/experience all five evidentiary items regardless of assignment group.
The initial plan was to have the footprint in the mud outside the broken window, but it proved difficult to achieve for the developers. Placing the footprint inside was more feasible.
In response to a reviewer, we note the choice to include five evidentiary items was arbitrary but provided a logically round number that balanced having enough items to make the investigation interesting but not so many that the experience would be burdensome for participants. Future studies should vary the number of evidentiary items to determine if it has any impact on the results.
One officer was called to a crime in progress before completing the simulation and post-survey. Another officer spent most of their time comparing another VR experience they were familiar with rather than completing the task at hand. Finally, one officer failed to complete the post-survey.
Data collection took place in the late 2022 and early 2023.
The participants’ view within the VR experience was simultaneously cast to a computer monitor in the data collection room and recorded as a backup plan as well, but it was not necessary to view the recordings to collect the outcome data.
The authors thank one of the anonymous reviewers for raising this important point.
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Haberman, C.P., Tang, M., Driscoll, C. et al. The effect of checklists on evidence collection during initial investigations: a randomized controlled trial in virtual reality. J Exp Criminol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-023-09599-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-023-09599-1