Criminal Investigations - Research Paper Example

Criminal Investigations Introduction The CID is the branch of the Abu Dhabi police that deals with criminal investigations, criminal records and many other functions. Its work is to carry out investigations, including forensics investigation and come up with conviction evidence in the court. The branch receives its request from various quarters to carry out criminal investigations into various matters. It works with the other police departments in order to provide them with investigations regarding various criminal elements. Apart from carrying out criminal investigations, they also carry out other processes that are in line with their operations. They especially do the following; Security clearance The Criminal Investigation Department provides organizations and government departments with security clearance for their potential and existing employees. This clearance involves a background check on individuals to establish if the person has a crime record, both within the UAE or anywhere in the world. For local people who are born and reside in Abu Dhabi, the criminal clearance always involves a check for any criminal records within the UAE. For foreigners who intend to work in Abu Dhabi, the security clearance involves a check for criminal records within the UAE as well as their country of origin. This is always important for most firms as well as government employees who want to be careful in terms recruiting people with a clean criminal record. Most government departments that have jobs that are sensitive want to know that they are employing people who don’t have the high potential of being criminals. Private organizations also ask for this security clearance when they feel that the position they want to fill is a sensitive position that needs to be filled by a person which can be trusted. Criminal records maintenance The Criminal Investigation Department also acts s the manager for the repository of the data and information for the criminal records. The Criminal Investigation Department keeps all the data records about all criminal records and criminal investigations. This data reserve for criminal records helps in a number of ways with regard to curbing crime. First, it helps with the criminal investigations. The data kept by the Criminal Investigation Department in Abu Dhabi is always important in criminal investigations because they act as the basis of criminal investigations. They also provide with a database for security clearances as described above. All criminal records are stored and managed by the Criminal Investigation Department and the department uses this to carry out not only criminal investigations but also to help in routine processes such as security clearances for individuals. These records help in criminal investigation because the records can identify offenders who are already on record. The Criminal Investigation Department has a repository of all the criminals who have been prosecuted in the past and therefore if these criminals commit crime again, they are likely to be easily identified. As a result, the Criminal Investigation Department therefore plays a very important role in the police force as it helps in the prosecution of criminals and also in the acquisition of individuals who may have been wrongly accused. In either way, the department acts as the neutral agents who stand in the gap to make sure that the people are well protected, whichever side of the law they are. The Abu Dhabi police play a very major role in protecting public security in the UAE and more so in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The police department in Abu Dhabi is made of several departments and service centers. The Abu Dhabi police Criminal Investigation Department is mandated with the role of criminal investigation as a mean to reduce and mitigate crime. The Criminal Investigation Department in Abu Dhabi carries out all sorts of criminal investigation including security checks for individuals. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) check that is necessary for people who want to be employed in both private and publics secrets. This check is important in that it helps in screening people to make sure that they are not criminally responsible for some crime before taking some roles in organizations. The screening done mainly to make sure that those jobs that are high risk. II As identified, one of the services that the CID carries out is the security clearance. This is part of the security service that the department offers the public. By giving security clearances, the CID becomes a major part of the security machinery in the UAE. The screening process is guided by several policies and regulations. The CID for instance only carries a security check for an individual when and where they have been requested to do so. If an organization asks the CID to carry out the check, the department will carry out the check, as long as the right documents have been provided. Individuals may also request the check as and when they need it. The individual may be those who are looking for employment or various positions in certain organizations and the organizations have asked them for the security clearance. In such a case, such individual may themselves ask for the security clearance upon which they will be required to provide the right documents such as the passports in order for the search to begin. Resulting from this, it can be seen that there are two ways in which a security check for an individual can be done. One is where an organization requests the check and the other is where the individual themselves can request the check. In cases where the government and other private organization request for the check, the check will be done in the absence of the direct agreement of the individual. On the other hand, where the individual ass for the security clearance with the CID, they will have given an express request and permission to the department to carry out the security check. Policy Once a security check on a certain individual is done, the CID can give a positive or a negative result. In most cases, a negative result will result to the following; If the individual was about to be hired by a government department, they will not be hired if their security clearance is a negative one. However, if the results do not incriminate the person, the individual will get the position they wanted. However, even in the cases where the individuals are given a negative security check, they are still able to apply for jobs elsewhere within the UAE even within the Abu Dhabi and the person does not have to discuss the security clearance with potential employers. In this regard, if an individual gets a negative clearance report from the CID, they are still able to apply for jobs in other organizations without having to be legally bound to disclose their CID clearance report to the new potential employer. If the new employer is not interested in having the employees to take up a security clearance, the employee can take the new job if they qualify. The process by which the clearance checks are done is that the person filing for the clearance must provide for the relevant documents in order to help in identifying the person to be cleared. Even a company may ask for a clearance for an individual without their permission and the clearance check will still be done. Changes Who originates the process? One issue that comes up with regard to the security clearance is that anyone can ask the clearance of an individual with regard to their security clearance. Although this looks like a good idea with regard to security issues, it poses a several ethical issues that could need to be addressed. Even criminals or people with criminal records have rights and these rights include the right to privacy. Personal privacy rights include the right to have information of any nature secret unless it is a risk to the security of the public. The fact that a third party or a second party can ask for a security clearance and it will still be carried out by the CID without the direct consent of the person is a major risk for the violation of privacy rights. This should be changed on order to reflect the spirit of international privacy rights (Findlay, 2013). Such important records about an individual should only be accessed if and if only they pose a big risk to national or public security. Nevertheless if it is just a firm trying to hire an individual, the individual should be informed about such a check and be said whether they agree to the inquiry. Unfortunately, this is never the case. Security clearance checks for such individual are done without their consent. Some people doing even realize that such a check s being done anthem, until it has leady been done. The change Firms and government departments as well as private citizens who want to have a guarantee that they are not employing a person who is a criminal can request for a security clearance for an individual even without informing the individual. However, being able to ask for this information without the consent of the individual being cleared is a major violation of the international privacy laws (Orthmann, 2012). The ideal situation would be where these firms are able to ask for the clearance check, but that the clearance check will only take choice if and only if the concerned individual agrees to the request (Morales, 2000). As a result, if a potential employer wants to clear a potential employee, they can ask for the clearance check form the CID but this can only be initiated once the potential employee agrees to the check. If the potential employee decides that they don’t want the check to be done, they should be given the opportunity o opt out. However, when another person requests for a security clearance for another person, the person affected should be informed and allowed to decide on whether they want to still employee such an individual should he or she want to decline from the security clearance. This protects, as Moses (2009) the privacy of the individual without necessarily compromising the ability of the employers to be able to make sure that they are employing the right people. What is happening currently is that organizations and especially the government departments are able to request for these security checks for employees and the checks can be done without the consent of the individual. This is very risky with regard to information privacy of individuals. Time taken The other issue is with the time taken for the security clearance to be completed, especially with the international applicants. Sometimes, due to diplomatic issues and processes, an individual who has applied for a security clearance with the CID may have to wait for months before they are able to get this clearance. This has two detrimental impacts. First, it may reduce the trust and confidence of the people in the CID due to the fact they sometimes they are not able to get this essential service when and where necessary and when they need it. Secondly it makes the service delivery harder and this means that the people who depend on this service always have to wait longer before they can get what they have requested for. Due to the many months the people from united the UAE have to wait before getting the clearance, sometimes they end u failing to get the position they want. To deal with this, these security clearances are done and delivered in a fast and efficient manner. With regard to international clientele, it is necessary for the Abu Dhabi CID to work with international agents to make sure that diplomatic processes don’t make the process of a person getting the clearance too hard. This is important because at this time, especially in the context of globalization, more foreign workers are arriving at Abu Dhabi and it is necessary to make sure that these people are able to get the right clearance at the right time some that there are no bottlenecks in the way these people are absorbed in the workforce. The time line How long should a clearance take effect? One more issue is with regard to how long a criminal record should remain in force. Some criminal records should have a timestamp on them. Therefore for instance no need to give someone a negative criminal clearance because of a petty crime they did ten years ago. The justice system is supposed to correct and rehabilitate people. In cases where there is evidence of personal change, it is necessary to make sure that these people don’t have to go through the extra punishment of being labels with a negative criminal record; yet, this is never really the case with the Abu Dhabi CID clearance. In most cases, even long standing criminal recorded end up affecting the individual in and this goes against the spirit of the correctional department which is to correct criminal and return them the society as normal people who can function normally. When these individual are given a negative clearance, they are unable to get employment as well as other opportunities and this then forces them in a point where it is simpler to go back to their old ways. This must be addressed in an adequate way in order to make sure that the problem is solved in an amicable way. The CID, in conjunction with the other relevant departments should be to change this and be able to address these issues. Conclusion The Abu Dhabi CID is a major part of the law enforcement in the UAE. With its many roles such as criminal investigations and security clearance, it definitely plays a very important role. However, it is important note that the role they play is very crucial and must be addressed with the importance it deserves. With regard to giving clearance, the CID had a lot to achieve with regard to its ability to do this in a way that both achieves its role of making sure that firms and the government employs the right people. To achieve competitiveness, the CID shave to be able to make sure that their actions don’t unnecessarily affect people in an adverse way. This will include first of all making sure that the privacy of the individuals is respected in all possible ways. Secondly, it will involve making sure that the service can be accessed in the most efficient way in terms of time. This may need the overhauling of the service and making sure that everything is taken care of in terms of making sure that everything is in line with human rights. To achieve this, more resources will be needed. These resources may be in terms of more technology, more human resources and even more time. The CID should then recognize the important role it plays in the delivery of justice. References: Findlay, M. (2013). International and Comparative Criminal Justice: A Critical Introduction. London, UK: Routledge. Morales, M. (2000). Handbook of Criminal Justice Administration. New York, NHY: CRC Press. Moses, H. (2009). Modern Infromation Systesma nd The Issue of Priavcy. Jpurnal of Inforamtion Systems , pp 69-74. Orthmann, C. (2012). Criminal Investigation. London, Uk: Cengage Learning. Read More