PROGRAMS & SERVICES

Investigative Support Crime Analysis Unit

Mission & Goals | Services | Legal Authority

MISSION & GOALS

The mission of the Investigative Support Crime Analysis Unit is:

To provide timely and valuable investigative assistance to law enforcement agencies for the purpose of identifying and locating victims and offenders of violent criminal behavior, through the identification, collection and analysis of diverse information.

• Facilitate Investigations by Establishing a Single Point of Contact
  The Investigative Support Crime Analysis Unit provides a single point of contact for law enforcement investigators to request criminal investigative analysis services. As a result, duplication of investigative effort is avoided and the exchange of information is expedited.
  
  
• Identify How Perpetrators Commit Crimes
  Crime analysts in the Investigative Support Crime Analysis Unit are trained to analyze and correlate information on how a perpetrator(s) commits a crime, or their "modus operandi(MO)".  MO is collected from the current crime being investigated by law enforcement and compared to MO information identified in previously reported unsolved and solved violent crime cases. This process is designed to link crimes being committed by the same person(s) and thereby, assist agencies identify perpetrators.
  
  
• Increase Multi-jurisdictional Cooperation
  Today's criminals are highly mobile and cross city, county, and state boundaries in order to commit their crimes. The Investigative Support Crime Analysis Unit's crime analysts notify investigators of possible multi-jurisdictional links between crime and criminals. The notification process is designed to facilitate communication and cooperation between law enforcement agencies dealing with similar types of crime and criminals.

SERVICES

Provide a single point of contact to law enforcement agencies requesting criminal investigative analysis services involving unsolved violent crime.

Capture and maintain case specific Method of Operation (MO) on unsolved violent crimes reported to the California Department of Justice (CADOJ).

Conduct and evaluate searches of CADOJ databases and other information systems to assist in locating suspects and/or witnesses.

Analyze and correlate information on previously reported unsolved violent crime cases, against cases currently under investigation, to identify MO similarities.

Notify violent crime investigators of possible multi jurisdictional links between crimes and provide available MO and suspect information.

Provide future technical assistance to investigators using the Violent Crime Information Network to assist in violent crime investigations.

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LEGAL AUTHORITY

California Penal Code Section 14201.6.
Department of Justice; publicly accessible internet directory

14201.6.

(a) The Department of Justice shall establish and maintain a publicly accessible computer internet directory of information relating to the following:

(1) Persons for whom an arrest warrant has been issued pursuant to an alleged violation of any offense defined as a violent felony in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5.
(2) Critical missing children.
(3) Unsolved homicides.
(b) The Attorney General may determine the extent of information and the priority of cases to be included in the directory.
(c) The department shall keep confidential, and not enter into the directory, either of the following:
(1) Information regarding any case for which the Attorney General has determined that disclosure pursuant to this section would endanger the safety of a person involved in an investigation or the successful completion of the investigation or a related investigation.
(2) Information regarding an arrest warrant for which the issuing magistrate has determined that disclosure pursuant to this section would endanger the safety of a person involved in an investigation or the successful completion of the investigation or a related investigation.
(d) For purposes of this section, "critical missing child" includes, but is not limited to, any case of a missing child for which there is evidence or indications that the child is at risk, as specified in subdivision (b) of Section 14213.

California Penal Code Section 14202.
Investigative support unit and automated violent crime method of operation system; establishment and maintenance; duties; availability of files

14202.

(a) The Attorney General shall establish and maintain within the center an investigative support unit and an automated violent crime method of operation system to facilitate the identification and apprehension of persons responsible for murder, kidnap, including parental abduction, false imprisonment, or sexual assault. This unit shall be responsible for identifying perpetrators of violent felonies collected from the center and analyzing and comparing data on missing persons in order to determine possible leads which could assist local law enforcement agencies. This unit shall only release information about active investigations by police and sheriffs' departments to local law enforcement agencies.
(b) The Attorney General shall make available to the investigative support unit files organized by category of offender or victim and shall seek information from other files as needed by the unit. This set of files may include, among others, the following:
(1) Missing or unidentified, deceased persons dental files filed pursuant to this title or Section 102870 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) Child abuse reports filed pursuant to Section 11169.
(3) Sex offender registration files maintained pursuant to Section 290.
(4) State summary criminal history information maintained pursuant to Section 11105.
(5) Information obtained pursuant to the parent locator service maintained pursuant to Section 11478.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(6) Information furnished to the Department of Justice pursuant to Section 11107.
(7) Other Attorney General's office files as requested by the investigative support unit. This section shall become operative on July 1, 1989.