Incident Room.

Incident room;

The incident room of an investigation is an onsite facility that the investigation team can work at. The incident room is usually set up in the community of which the crime has taken place because it makes it easier and quicker for the investigation team to process information here. The incident room will have a specific number for the public to contact to report information. This is because the investigators are working from one place, the incident room, rather than various places. This is helpful because information can be co-ordinated here and provides a place for the public to give information which may be key to the investigation. With the incident room, there is an incident team which has the purpose of accessing information that is given from the public. The incident team are trained as to deal with the public give face-to-face information reporting and also verbal information over the phone. They will then access this information they have been given whether it has any relevance to the case. If the information given is accessed and is relevant to the case, this can help lead to more enquiries and further actions.

This incident room is an important stage of the investigation but is not always carried out or used. If an incident room set up it is better to do so in the early stages of the investigation. This is because if the public or witnesses come forward to report information and give witness statements, they are more likely to remember their accountings nearer the time of the crime rather than days after. Also the incident room stage can also be helpful in the stages of the investigation process because it can encourage people to come forward with possibly valuable information due of the location of the incident room and may be easier for them to get to.

According to my research in the Madeleine McCann case, there was no incident room involved in the investigation. However, we can look at how an incident room could have helped the case if it was set up as part of the investigation process. There were various witnesses of the Madeleine McCann case who reported a male suspect. The incident room could have accessed this information around the time of the crime which could have possibly led to a lead suspect. This information could have led to the out ruling of Madeleine wandering off and focused more on Madeleine being abducted. 

This stage of the investigation was unsuccessful because of the outcomes this stage could have had if there was an incident room in the investigation. Any information given to the incident room could have been assessed closer to the time of the investigation which could have lead to a possible suspect. This would have lead to a successful outcome in leading to a suspect, the investigation would have then progressed onto looking into the suspect and proving that they were guilty.