What happens when police do an investigation?
An investigation is when police collect evidence to find out if a criminal offence has been committed.
During the investigation, you might hear or see Police use words like ‘incident’, ‘occurrence’ or ‘offence’. Police might use these words to refer to what happened to you. You might also hear Police refer to a ‘QP number’. A QP number is a number that is specific to your case.
Police may contact people who know information about the sexual violence to help with the investigation. This might be people who knew something about the violence when it was happening, or before or after it.
Police might also need to:
- identify places of interest to the investigation such as where the violence happened
- collect evidence and take photographs
- find and talk to witnesses
- look at CCTV footage, computers or other electronic devices – they might ask to look at your phone or other devices or ask to take it to collect evidence
- if the violence was physical and happened recently, they might ask for the clothes that you were wearing for examination or ask if you would agree to a forensic medical examination, which is sometimes called a rape kit. You can tell police if you have already had a forensic medical examination.
If police want to take photographs of your body, take your clothes or other belongings (such as bed sheets), or ask you to do a forensic medical examination – this is always your choice. Police try to collect as much evidence as possible as this helps them investigate what happened. Evidence can be important if your case goes to court – it might help the lawyers, court or jury understand what has happened. If you have personal items – such as clothing – kept by police as evidence, they should be returned to you as soon as practical.
Sometimes the evidence might just be what you say happened – this is okay.
During an investigation, police might try to ask the person they think hurt you (the suspect) questions in an interview. If the suspect agrees to being interviewed, police will talk to them about what has happened. The suspect might have legal representation with them at the interview. The suspect does not have to answer any questions and can refuse to do an interview with police. This doesn’t stop Police from charging or arresting someone.
If you are worried about your safety when Police are investigating, talk to Police about this and call 000 if you are ever in danger.
After you report sexual violence to Police, Police should give you the name of your investigating officer and their contact details. Under the Charter of Victims’ Rights, you have the right to be informed of how the investigation is progressing, unless it might jeopardize the investigation.