The process
How it is run
Three functions with different training and different instincts, running one process that is nobody's alone.
The Triangle: Security, HR and Legal
Three functions with different training, different obligations and different instincts, running one process. Where the lines should fall.
What Standard of Evidence Applies
Not the criminal one, and the difference matters in both directions. What has to be established, and how sure anybody needs to be.
Scope: What You May Look At
An enquiry authorised for one thing expands into everything unless somebody drew a line. The line should be written before the first query runs.
Preserving Evidence Without Overreaching
Records expire on their own schedules and a case can lose its evidence by doing nothing. Preservation is urgent and it is not the same as collection.
Covert Stages and Their Narrow Justification
Working without telling the subject is sometimes necessary and is the part of an enquiry most likely to be judged harshly afterwards.
Timeframes and Why They Slip
A case that drags is a case that harms somebody, and the causes of delay are predictable enough to be designed against.
Documenting as You Go
A case file written at the end is a case file written to fit the conclusion. The contemporaneous version is both fairer and considerably more useful.
When the Investigation Changes Shape
Cases turn into other cases. The transition is where authorisation lapses, scope drifts and the original purpose quietly disappears.