No short cuts in solving most real-life crimes

COLUMBUS -- In real life, crimes are never solved in 20 minutes between commercials for room freshener and the latest miracle cure.

“On television, if things don’t fit, they make it fit, and short cuts are mandatory,” said Sgt. Tim Kayl, criminal investigator for the Columbus Police Department. “In real life, if it doesn’t fit, we stop what we’re doing and come at it from a different direction. In real life we know taking short cuts will always, eventually, come back to bite us.”

Kayl has been with the department since 1980. He served from 1980-87 as a patrol officer. In 1987 he traded his uniform for a suit and tie to fill the role of crime investigator for the department, and in 1992 he made sergeant.

“All personnel of this department have responsibilities for the criminal investigative function or it’s support,” Kayl told participants of the Citizens Police Academy. “Preliminary investigations are done by patrol officers. The support division was established as a specialized unit charged with handling investigations requiring special expertise, or other factors that don’t lend themselves readily to completion by the patrol officer.”

The support division of the Columbus Police Department operates with one investigative sergeant, two criminal investigators and one drug investigator. Each is trained in the latest techniques of the investigative process from interviewing witnesses and interrogating suspects to electronic surveillance, death investigations, crime scene reconstruction and polygraph examinations.

“This is just like CSI except we don’t have all the fancy technology,” Kayl said. “We have an average of eight to 10 cases open all the time, and the job is to come to each crime scene with an open mind.”

Kayl commended the community service technicians for their important role in evidence collection of hair, fibers, fingerprints and DNA, and crime scene photography and videography.

Criminal investigations, it turns out are more an art form than a science even though the investigator may use state of the art tools to aid the process. Kayl said there are no rigid theories or rules that can be applied to every investigation. The investigator comes to the process with some general precepts, and concepts, but there is also an element of luck involved more often than might be imagined.

“When we arrive at a crime scene we’re faced with a puzzle that needs to be put together and oh, by the way, there are some pieces missing, and before we can figure those out, we need to get a handle on the bigger picture,” said Kayl. “Sometimes, finding a lucky break in the evidence is a major part of a successful investigation.”

Each criminal investigation begins with a determination that a crime has indeed been committed. Once that is established, the investigator verifies the crime occurred within their jurisdiction, works to discover the facts, directs the collection of physical evidence, identifies the perpetrator(s), locates and apprehends the perpetrator and aids in the prosecution.

Kayl said the criminal investigation can be proactive or reactive.

“An example of a proactive investigation would be when we set up a sting operation or send a teenager into a store or bar to see if he can buy alcohol, Kayl said. “Reactive investigations begin with a complaint or response to a crime scene.”

Traits that make an effective investigator include common sense, tenacity, intuition, open mindedness, honesty and the ability to communicate clearly in writing the final report.

Kayl said gathering information from many sources is the key to success for him. Information from phone, work, school and medical records and information from the Internet, neighbors and friends is analyzed to reveal an accurate picture of suspects and others involved in a case.

Other tools include the interrogation of the suspect, interviewing the witnesses or victim(s) and the polygraph or lie detector test.

“We don’t get the nice Batman utility belts,” Kayl said. “Our most important piece of equipment is the tape recorder.

“If we can work with the suspect, make him or her feel comfortable and at ease; we can sometimes get the confession from them. The best confession is not just ‘yes, I did that crime,’ but rather the step-by-step how I did it and why I did it.

“The best confession sometimes begins ‘It was a dark and stormy night ... .’”

In the end Kayl said there is no “norm” for a successful case. An open case is not a failure, and some cases just can’t be solved, but that doesn’t stop him from working each day to bring as many as possible to a close.