Reviewed
By Don Johnson, Editor, PI Magazine
The Process of Investigation: Concepts
and Strategies for Investigators in the Private Sector (Third
Edition)
By Charles A.
Sennewald, CPP, CSC and John K. Tsukayama, CPP, CFE, PCI
This is not just a good book; it is a necessary addition for
those interested in establishing a comprehensive library for
the training of their operatives and new hires, especially
for those of us who provide investigative services to the corporate
sector. It is also a valuable training resource for those in
the academic milieu of our profession.
A disclaimer begs offering: the PI Magazine Bookstore has
carried earlier editions of this text and I am not writing
this review to drive sales for PI Magazine or the publisher,
Butterworth-Heinemann, an imprint of Elsevier. Although one
of us will occasionally review a new addition to our offerings,
that is not the case with this book. Sales of this text have
always been good without our own review. The publisher asked
me personally to review this edition even before they sent
it to the Bookstore. I’m glad I took them up on the offer.
The authors are well known in the field of corporate security
and investigations, and the text is written from that perspective.
However, there is not one single chapter or process detailed
in this book that cannot apply to the larger arena of investigation
in the private sector, whether working a child custody case
for a family law attorney or handling a suspicious claim for
an insurance defense firm. This book is truly all about the process of
investigation.
If you were asked to identify the two categories of investigations,
would you reply “constructive and reconstructive”?
The authors waste no time in the first chapter laying out their
approach to the process of investigation, clearing defining
how each category involves the application of logic and “the
exercise of sound reasoning.” If you apply logic and
reasoning to the question I just posed, you will come up with
the same answer as the authors. Constructive investigations
are dealing with the here and now: a complaint of sexual harassment
has been lodged and alleged to be continuing. How do you investigate?
A reconstructive investigation addresses an event or incident
after the fact: a workplace accident resulted in injuries and
counterclaims as to fault. Where do you start?
The Process of Investigation covers in detail, with case samples
and analyses, the range of core skills that are necessary for
a professional investigation to succeed; including but not
limited to surveillance techniques, interviewing and interrogation,
evidence categories and collection, written statements and
report writing -- the unsung art of the professional investigator.
I like this book. One last question: What do you think is
the “overriding human trait” that makes for a successful
investigator? I agree one hundred percent with the authors’ take
on that one -- perseverance. |
