Question 1

What has a study of undercover officers found?

Accepted Answer

They tend to be newer, inexperienced officers, supervision may be lax, and they are exposed to great danger, often without adequate briefing or preparation There also has been no systematic study of the cost, benefit, and impact on the officer or on the community

Question 2

Why are these bugs and taps permitted for extended periods?

Accepted Answer

By law, they can be installed for only 30 days, but extensions can be granted A judge, in determining whether an extension will be granted, considers the complexity of organized crime activity, and the nature of the premises under surveillance

Question 3

What are the three types of citizens' commissions?

Accepted Answer

Government funded, bi-partisan groups―where investigators have police status but no arrest
authority (e.g., Pennsylvania Crime Commission),
Groups funded by the private sector―having no law enforcement authority (e.g., Chicago Crime Commission),
Government-sponsored, temporary groups―that investigate a specific incident or phenomenon (e.g., Knapp Commission, President's Commission on Organized Crime)

Question 4

What happened to the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, and why?

Accepted Answer

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Question 5

What are the federal agencies primarily involved in organized crime cases today?

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Question 6

How would you assess the cost-benefit of undercover work?

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Question 7

What is Carnivore?

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Question 8

Why must investigation of organized crime place more emphasis on proactive approaches?

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Question 9

What problems have been found in carrying our electronic surveillance?

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Question 10

Why is room-bug electronic surveillance relatively uncommon?

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Question 11

What is the downside of using informants?

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Question 12

What is an informant?

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Question 13

What is the utility of citizens' commissions?

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Question 14

Why has there been a dramatic increase in electronic surveillance of pages and cell phones?

Accepted Answer

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Question 15

What is the "informer's privilege"?

Accepted Answer

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Question 16

Are e-mail messages protected from nonconsensual interception?

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Question 17

How has the number of taps changed since 1970 in the United States?

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Question 18

How is intelligence gathering different from assembling evidence to build criminal cases?

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Question 19

Why are undercover investigations not used as often in organized crime investigations as is commonly believed?

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Question 20

In a well-known case in Boston, a criminal-turned-informant was mishandled. How?

Accepted Answer

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Exam 9: Investigative Tools