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Tens of thousands of brave men and women serve in police departments across the nation and in so doing provide a modicum of safety through patrol activities and responding to crimes both in progress or recently committed.

Many crimes are solved through "good old shoe leather" investigations and increasingly sophisticated electronic and forensic technology.

However, many crimes remain unsolved and too many persons are convicted of crimes that they did not commit.

Both the Elizabeth Smart case and that of the "Washington DC Sniper" -- not to mention so many other criminal cases -- were "cracked" by observant and civic-minded private citizens, while police agencies for extended periods of time variously bumbled and bungled under the watchful eye of an increasingly cynical public.

Such leads me to suggest that there exists a basic and serious flaw our sytem of criminal investigation.

While I do not wish to impugn the efforts of our law enforcement agencies, it would appear that a systematic examination of the specific capabilities, training, and career path of those who rise through the ranks to become criminal investigators ("detectives").

I have known several individuals, a number of who continue to be friends, who chose to pursue a career in law enforcement. Virtual all of these individuals are of impeccable character and integrity and sincerely wish to serve and protect their fellow citizens.

However, the majority of these folks, as well as police officers with whom I am acquainted or familiar with, do not enter the police academy sufficiently educated or intellectually prepared to carry out activities which require a high level of analytical ability and the capacity for scientific, legal, and deductive reasoning. Nor do they have the interest, aptitude, confidence, and desire and ability to seek out and complete further training in such comlex disciplines as psychology, other social sciences, biological and physical sciences, information technology, and other fields of knowledge relevant to criminal investigation.

After a few years of patrol duty, police officers typically decide, or not, to strive to earn a detective's shield. They prepare for and take qualifying examinations, are evaluated on their performance as patrol officers -- who in fact most often are involved on a non-independent role in various activities related to criminal investigations conducted by detectives - and are selected for detective position on the basis of their peformance, conduct, and, for good or ill, their skill in "fitting in" and "getting along" with both their superiors and their peers.

If such be true, it seems unlikely that, for a variety of reasons, the current situation ever will be addressed with any degree of success. Issues of morale, organizational management, recruitment and retention, discipline, etc., etc. likely never could be overcome.

In ideal world, at least two career paths of relatively equal desirability could be established in departments and agencies across the country; namely patrol/tactical and investigative/analytic.

The former would include those professionals with skills, aptitude, and physical ability to conduct patrol, enforcement, arrest, and related activities - including surveillance and SWAT functions.

The latter would be peopled by individuals with various amounts of experience and advanced levels of education (up to and including the doctoral level), knowledge, aptitude, and intellectual capacity relative to activities that involve information acquisition and analysis, inductive and deductive reasoning, scientific and forensic analysis, psychological profiling, interviewing and interrogation, intereaction with the media and with prosecutors, other legal/paralegal professionals, area experts and consultants, and professionals within national and international law enforcement organizations.

A third, "hybrid" career track could be home to the traditional "detectives" who now constitute the basis of the criminal investigative labor force in the US. Pay and prestige for those within each career track would commensurate with attendant levels of personal risk, physical and mental qualifications and effort, relevant education and training.

Such would do much to expand the potential pool of individuals whose specific capabilities could be effectively applied to the tremendous challenge of law enforcement in this country.

Finally, determined and potentially qualified and capable individuals with necessary and appropriate qualifications acquired while on the job could be able to move from one career track to another -- within the limits of age and the ability of a given professional to acquire and maintain the necessary qualifications.

The foregoing sea-change might well be applied to Federal law enforcement agencies as well, but that's a discussion for a different day.

The challenges facing the society and the criminal justice establishment of today comprise an "apples-and-oranges" reality that must be addressed on the basis of specific capabilities and functions of those who serve and protect……