Traffic homicide investigation and prosecution

Law Enforcement

Traffic Homicide

What use to be referred to as a traffic accident investigation is giving way to the more modern terminology of vehicle crash investigation. But even with the name change the skills needed are still the same. Most departments have specific traffic investigative units or traffic homicide investigators. These specially trained units are used to investigate serious or fatal car crashes. Their specialized training often deals with accessing the structural damage to a vehicle or other items, taking measurements and drag factors in order to determine speed, movement, and points of collision for traffic incident reconstruction (Byrd, 2000).

Most police department's crash investigation requirements have developed into more than report writing and evidence gathering. There is a steady demand for more in-depth crash investigation in order to answer the age old question of who was at fault. This requires police departments to have personnel with expertise in the higher levels of crash investigation. There are courses available for traffic homicide investigators in order to gain crash investigation training and makes them proficient in gathering evidence at the scene, measuring, and scale diagramming and estimating minimum speed from skid marks (Advanced Traffic Crash Investigation, n.d.).