Elements and Performance Criteria

Information to be sought from the community, including ethnic communities, could be related to and may include
assisting in the investigation and/or prosecution/coronials, of criminal activity, location of witnesses to and/or suspects of such activity
addressing public order/general community safety issues
locating missing persons
establishing participative community programs
progressing/supporting court hearings/matters

Information to be collected may come from
public community forums
individuals
community business leaders
local media
local government
schools
community watch groups
fellow officers
public recreational areas
police informants
information databases such as ABCI, NEPI
crime/accident/incident scenes.
Information collected is sorted and collated according to criteria agreed to with Supervisor.
Disposal of irrelevant information must conform to organisational policy and procedures

Information recording forms / reports may include
both hand-written and electronically based pro-forma's and reporting styles

Statements should be comprehensive and may contain
all relevant information
all information required by court
all details which may assist the investigation and/or prosecution
Statements may be taken at Police Stations or other agreed locations and are to be recorded in a written format that complies with the legal requirements for statements. Where appropriate and legal, statements may also be recorded in forms other than written such as audio-tape or audiovisual (video) tape

Interview and evidence recording equipment may include
audio tape recorders
video cameras and recording equipment
cameras authorised for the purpose of recording interviews
statements, etc that can be tendered as evidence in courts
In some organisations, interview and evidence recording equipment may also include basic fingerprinting equipment
Use of the equipment should also cover the authorisation, storage and filing of tapes / film, original and duplicates

Interviews may be conducted at
Police stations
hospitals
prisons
other agreed lawful sites and are to be recorded in the manner prescribed by organisational policy and procedures

Critical aspects of evidence
It is essential for this unit that competence be demonstrated in the ability to gather relevant information and record it accurately

Interdependent assessment of unit
Pre-requisite: Nil
Co-requisite: Nil

Underpinning knowledge
jurisdictional laws, by-laws and regulations relating to:
offences against persons, property, accessing information systems and 'Privacy Legislation'
information types and their sources
procedures and security measures for accessing, storing, retrieving and sharing data from police databases
the rights of individuals in relation to the conduct of interviews and statement compilation

Underpinning skills
questioning and interviewing
operating interviewing recording equipment
preparing and compiling statements
investigative techniques
identifying, labelling and storing of evidence
using police information systems

Resource implications
Access to interview and evidence recording equipment

Consistency in performance
Evidence of competency will need to be gathered over time and from across a range of simulated / actual workplace situations

Context of assessment
Evidence should be gathered over a period of time in a range of actual or simulated workplace environments