Investigations
When a crime is reported, the Criminal Investigations Division steps in to handle the situation. Listed below are some specific crime areas handled by different divisions within TPD.
| Burglary & Pawn Shop Recovery | Auto Theft | Forensics |
| Financial Crimes | Career Criminals | |
| Violent Crimes | Special Victims | |
Burglary & Pawn Shop Recovery
Investigation of all commercial, residential, and automobile burglaries that occur within the city limits of Tallahassee is the primary responsibility of the Burglary Unit.
Investigators are assigned to districts with responsibility for geographic areas. This enhances investigators' knowledge of community problems in their assigned districts through increased interaction with citizens and businesses. Stolen property reported in burglaries is routinely checked against area pawnshop transactions. When fingerprints are collected from burglary scenes, an inquiry is made into a Statewide/Regional fingerprint database in order to aid in identifying the perpetrator(s). The database is known as "AFIS" (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). If the source of the print is of "AFIS" quality, and the suspect has a prior criminal arrest history, the system will provide a short list of suspects matching the characteristics of the prints. Our Identification Section will then identify the source down to one individual.
Recovering stolen property that has been pawned or sold to a second hand dealer can greatly help in returning the property to the owner. It is the Pawn Shop Recovery Units' responsibility to inspect these businesses to make sure they are complying with the state laws involving pawnshops and secondhand dealers.
Pawn tickets are collected from pawnshops and second hand dealers, and the items pawned or sold are checked on state and national computer databases to determine if they are stolen. Collected pawn tickets are exchanged with other local law enforcement agencies to assist in recovering as much stolen property as possible.
Financial Crimes
Following-up investigations for a wide range of property crimes including fraud related to banking institutions, businesses and personal accounts, Internet/Computer, and mail fraud is the responsibility of the Financial Crimes Unit (FCU). They also investigate embezzlement, theft, counterfeiting, and con games. Many of the cases assigned to FCU are extremely involved and time-consuming and often cross jurisdictional lines into other counties and states. Consequently, the FCU has a close working relationship with other state and federal agencies including the FDLE, FBI and the U.S. Secret Service.
On February 8, 2006, the Tallahassee Police Department announced the formation and activation of the Cyber Crime Unit as part of the Financial Crimes Unit. This unit will combat the current and disturbing increases in computer crime. Unit members will conduct investigations both independently and in cooperation with the recently formed FBI Tallahassee Cyber Crime Task Force (TCCTF). Tallahassee Police is a charter member of the TCCTF. Now active, the Cyber Crime Unit will be investigating incidents reported by local citizens and businesses as well as referrals from the TCCTF.
In addition to specialized training, the supervisor of the TPD Financial Crimes Unit and the investigators gained membership in Tallahassee Chapter of Infragard (website). InfraGard is a partnership between the FBI, various govenemntal enties, and the private sector. InfraGard is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States. Through meetings and communication methodologies the industries and law enforcement jointly address computer issues.
The Financial Crimes Unit is working hard to meet today's sophisticated criminal challenges. Two initiatives being undertaken by the FCU include educating the public about identity theft, and providing safety education for children who use the Internet.
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing forms of "white-collar" crime in the United States and other nations. In a traditional fraud scheme, victims are contacted directly by suspects who use lies and deception to get the victims to part with their money. Identity theft, however, requires no direct communication between criminal and victim. Identity thieves capture information about you and use it to commit fraud, steal your money, fraudulently charge items to your accounts or even create new accounts. To address this important criminal trend, the Financial Crimes Unit has developed an educational campaign entitled, "Identity Theft Awareness Initiative." As a part of this initiative the FCU provides a large amount of Web-based identity theft information designed to educate citizens, both helping identity theft victims and acting as a helpful reference.
The Federal Trade Commission has developed an in-depth informational booklet titled, "Take Charge: Fighting Back Against Identity Theft" (465KB PDF) to educate citizens about identity theft and to provide helpful solutions. Additionally, FCU members have developed a quick reference pamphlet titled, "What is Identity Theft?" (110 KB PDF)
Nationally, over 45 million children age 10 to 17 use the Internet and in a disturbing societal trend children are frequently targeted for victimization on the Internet. The Tallahassee Police Department Financial Crimes Unit provides a helpful guide for parents to educate themselves and their children about Internet safety. Children are exposed to computer use in ever-increasing numbers and society has embraced technology as essential. Many uninformed parents fail to realize the threat to children by unsupervised use of computers accessing the Internet. Children who use the Internet are less likely to fall victim to illegal computer use when they are armed with preventive information from their parents or other sources. Parents should review the information found on the TPD Kids Internet Safety page and then decide how to best communicate the information to their children. The Financial Crimes Unit has also added the Identity Crime Incident Detail Form (PDF) to its Identity Theft web site to assist victims in organizing their case for the investigator.
Violent Crimes
The Violent Crimes Unit (VCU) is divided geographically into two units, Violent Crimes Unit North and Violent Crimes Unit South. The units investigate all crimes against persons, all robberies and specially trained advocates within the units provide victim advocacy services.
The Violent Crimes Unit conducts investigations into crimes against persons, such as murder, attempted murder, suicides, battery/aggravated battery, assault/aggravated assault, domestic violence, violation of restraining order/injunction, kidnapping (adults), stalking, elder abuse, bomb threats, accidental deaths (drowning, electrocution), fire deaths, officer involved shootings, and officer involved deaths. In addition, criminal investigators assigned to the VCU also investigate all armed and unarmed robberies, home invasions, and carjacking incidents in the City of Tallahassee.
Auto Theft
All attempted thefts and thefts of motorized vehicles are investigated by the Auto Theft Unit, which also investigates "chop shops" and conducts periodic inspections of salvage and junkyards to ensure compliance with state laws.
Special Victims Unit
The primary responsibility of the Special Victims Unit (SVU) is to investigate and follow up in cases of Sexual Battery, Child Abuse/Neglect, Crimes against Children, Child pornography, Voyeurism, Missing Persons (adults and children), and Harassing/Threatening phone calls. Many of the crimes investigated by SVU are sexual in nature. SVU works closely with the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF).
In addition to the above investigations the SVU also has an investigator assigned to Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC). This investigator works closely with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) in protecting Tallahassee's children against online predators. Many of these cases cross-jurisdictional lines, therefore this unit works closely with FDLE, FBI and the US Attorneys Office. The listed FDLE web site provides several links that are useful <http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/> in protecting children against sex offenders.
For more information, please visit TPD's Guide to Internet Safety.
Forensics
Documentation, collection, preservation, and ultimately the identification of physical evidence is the responsibility of the Forensics Unit. This process involves many aspects of forensic investigation, which include detailed photography and videography, processing for fingerprints, and preparing detailed crime scene diagrams.
The section supports all of the department's units in the area of evidence collection and is active in all levels of cases, available 24 hours a day.
In addition to the basic duties being shared by all the technicians, each person is assigned to at least one area of specialized work. These disciplines require specialized training and years of on the job instruction. In many cases it allows the forensic technicians to examine and render expert opinions as to the value and identification of an item of evidence. These specialized areas include, but are not limited to: inked and latent fingerprints, computerized fingerprint searches, digital photography, questioned documents, footwear comparison, blood stain pattern analysis, video enhancement, and entomology evidence collection.