Talk:Detective

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pesudonyms for detectives? i.e. gum shoe

Contents 1 Request for disambiguation 2 Detective-career route in Europe 3 gumshoe 4 factual inaccuracy 5 Investigator

[edit] Request for disambiguation

Is a gumshoe a device for a detective or is it synonymous? If somebody finds out, make Gumshoe a disambiguation page between Detective and Gumshoe (video game). --SuperDude 00:35, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Detective-career route in Europe

I just read in this article:

In European police systems, most detectives are university graduates who join directly from civilian life without first serving as uniformed officers.

I live in the Netherlands and did not know about this. So, I checked, and found out that in the Netherlands, people can apply for a training and a job as a police detective after they had basic police school and worked in the uniform service 3-5 years.

I believe it is also in Germany possible to go from uniformed police to 'Kriminalbeamter'. This made me wonder which European countries apply what is called in this article 'European police systems'. Can somebody make this part more specific?

Johan Lont 10:38, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

But what you have said does not conflict with the statement that most detectives are university graduates who join directly from civilian life without first serving as uniformed officers. The article doesn't say that it's impossible to transfer from uniformed service. Are detectives in the Netherlands all recruited from uniformed officers, or just some of them? You don't say. It's my understanding that the majority of French and German detectives have not previously served as uniformed officers, but it's possible that this may have changed. -- Necrothesp 17:46, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

I actually meant to say that working in the uniform service is a prerequisite to be accepted in a detective function. However, I based that on only one source: a 'Frequently asked questions' section on an official Police-recruitment website (www.politie-werving.nl). Regional police forces handle their own recruitment, so perhaps some are hired directly as detective.

I have no personal knowledge about this. Next time I meet a policeman, I'll ask (perhaps when I get a speeding ticket).

In Germany, each Bundesland seems to have its own rules and police laws. I did not find much information on that subject.Johan Lont 08:34, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] gumshoe

Can someone explain the origin of the term gumshoe and put it in here? I came to this page typing in gumshoe and didn't find anything about the term other than that it redirects here. I already knew it meant detective but really have no idea why....csloat 11:00, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

"It turns out that the original "gumshoes" of the late 1800's were shoes or boots made of gum rubber, the soft-soled precursors of our modern sneakers... At the turn of the century "to gumshoe" meant to sneak around quietly as if wearing gumshoes, either in order to rob or, conversely, to catch thieves. "Gumshoe man" was originally slang for a thief, but by about 1908 "gumshoe" usually meant a police detective, as it has ever since." [1]

[edit] factual inaccuracy

"In a policeman's career as a uniformed officer and as a detective, a detective develops an intuitive sense of the plausibility of suspect and witness accounts. This intuition may fail at times, but usually is reliable". This is blatantly false. Numerous tests have demonstrated that trained detectives (and college students, joe schmoe, etc.) do no better than chance in determining whether a suspect is lying or telling the truth -- only very rarely do certain people (and this is regardless of employment) register a real ability to recognize liars or truth tellers (usually by a greater than average, unconscious grasp of microfacial expressions). Turn to Vrij, "detecting lies and deceit" (among other authors) for more information on the tests about police accuracy in spotting liars.mu_basho

I would agree with the above. I am a professional investigator, and the assertion made by Mu_Basho is true. In fact, some tests have shown that police officers and detectives fare worse than other test groups because they have a tendency to assume persons will lie to them. I think this statement should be changed as it is innaccurate.

Would it be possible to change or qualify the suspect statement? It certainly needs revision. It doesn't say that police are better or worse at detecting lies (this is definitely false), but rather an intuitive sense regarding the plausibility of statements. It's all rather hazy, but there are techniques that are applied in police training to do this. However, this needs to be qualified. Any ideas? Blaise Joshua 16:27, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it even needs to be there. It doesn't need to be said and it could qualify as original research. -- Necrothesp 09:51, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. I've taken it out. Blaise Joshua 12:29, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Investigator

The redirect from "investigator" is misleading: there exist investigators in clinical trials which are doctors - not detectives. (although sometimes they might be detectives, too...)--Sixtynine 12:48, 7 August 2006 (UTC)