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1. Do I need to schedule an appointment to personally speak to my investigator?

Yes, each investigator typically receives between 15 and 20 cases per month. Every case is important to us; however, this creates a situation where the investigator working your case will be working on other cases simultaneously. Bear in mind that every investigation requires interviews with witnesses, searches for suspects, searches through various databases like our pawn shop programs, and other field work.

Investigators spend a great deal of time outside the office. This means calling for an appointment will be the most efficient manner to see the investigator who is assigned to your case in person. Also, please don't be discouraged if you receive his voice mail when you call; again, he is most likely in the field and will return your call as soon as possible.

2. What actions are automatically taken regarding my case that I might not be aware of?

The circumstances of your case are automatically compared to other crimes occurring in the same geographic area. In many instances, there may be no suspects in your case but a suspect will be identified in another crime nearby. Any stolen items are compared to all the local pawn shops in the county to ensure your property wasn't pawned. If you have serial numbers on your stolen items, they are entered into a national computer database so that any law enforcement officer in the United States who runs that serial number will know the item is stolen.

There are also intelligence meetings among law enforcement agencies to compare the type of crimes occurring, how they occur and who is involved. This helps keep all agencies aware of the local criminals' activity; criminals do not obey jurisdictional lines between agencies. These are only a few of the steps that are taken during the course of an investigation, and of course the circumstances of each case will dictate what procedures will be effective.