Weegy: Collection of Evidence It is important that the investigator understand what evidence is and its purpose, at what stages of the investigative process it is obtained, and how and by whom it is obtained. [ Staff must collect evidence in order to conduct a thorough investigation and reach an investigative conclusion. Evidence is defined as, something that makes another thing evident or tends to prove a fact at issue to be true and/or grounds for belief that a fact at issue is true. Evidence of child abuse / neglect presents itself in a variety of forms; verbal evidence, such as witness statements, and physical evidence, such as clothing, instruments, weapons, etc. The Children’s Division (CD) investigator does not have the authority within policy, to collect physical evidence. However, the worker is authorized / expected to collect the following types of evidence using the methods prescribed: • The most common type of evidence available to the investigator is statements made by the victim, witness(es), alleged perpetrator, and collateral(s). Statements may be collected and documented by one or more of the following methods: o A personal face-to-face interview which is recorded in a factual summarization on the CPS-1; o An audio taped recording of the interview. The tape should be preserved and may be either transcribed or summarized on the CPS-1 and filed in the case record; o An audio-visual taped recording of the interview. The tape should be preserved and may be either transcribed and placed in the investigation section of the case record or factually summarized on the CPS-1; o A written signed statement as provided by the witness. Such statements should be filed in the investigation section of the case record. Taped and written statements are particularly important as evidence in judicial proceedings where the witness attempts to recant an earlier statement made to the investigator. • The investigator will also obtain or generate a variety of ... (More)