Stage 2. Preliminary investigation

The preliminary investigation stage is also an important stage. After the initial response has been covered and the appropriate response has been sent to the crime seen, It is the police teams job to interview the victim (if possible) or any witness's to find out if there is a person suspected of the crime and whether there is a sufficient amount of evidence. the preliminary investigation depends on the type of crime that's been committed, basing it on the factors of whether there is a victim, crime scene, witnesses and a suspect(s). Upon arrival of the crime scene police SOCO (scenes of crime officers) teams have to consider that there may be evidence in the location of the crime, to prevent contamination of the suspected evidence, the crime scene must be cordoned off. A police search team, which may also be SOCO's will look for any evidence leading to a break through in the case, any evidence that is found will be confiscated and secured to prevent losing any evidence in court when convicting the suspect. Certain lines of inquiry, if applicable, need to be taken for example, interviewing witnesses as soon as possible to ensure an accurate recall of any events they may have seen. This stage is crucial to the outcome of a case as without this stage no follow up leads could be made which means the case will remain the same from the initial response and no new evidence will be found or suspects which mean the case may never be solved.

In my case of Billie Jo, the ambulance team that was the initial response to the crime could tell from the extent of the injuries that Billie Jo's accident was no accident and in fact an intentional assault of GBH or attempted murder. Upon basic analyses of Billie Jo, the ambulance driver noticed two large bloody foot prints on Billie's legs. When the ambulance team pronounced Billie dead at the scene of the crime, trying extensively to save her, two detectives show up to speak to the witness's and the SOCO's officers arrive shortly after 4.07pm and cordon off the scene of the crime to investigate.
The evidence that was found was the murder weapon (tent peg), the bloodied footprints, bin liner shoved up Billie's nostril and a bloodied hand print on the back garden gate which was not discovered until days after.
This stage was important in my case as it was very successful, by carrying this out, two suspects where found from this, and family history of violence was uncovered along with further evidence toward Sion Jenkins which meant a successful outcome to the case as Sion was found guilty due to this.

Errors in this stage can lead to a lengthy process trying to get a conviction from an initial response or no conviction based on insufficient evidence. In my case, following up a lead, resulted in arresting an innocent man which took up police time and resources that could of been used looking for the real criminal.