Investigation and detection: Back to the future

This article reflects upon the key insights and evidence from policing research with regards to the organisation and conduct of police crime investigations and detective work. In particular, it attends to how a number of innovative technologies have had a shaping effect on this aspect of the police role. A central thread of the argument developed is how shifts in the context for policing, associated with the information environment has been inducing socio-technical changes to how crimes are investigated and resolved. Projecting forward from such developments, the article concludes by speculating on the ways the increasing availability of 'opensource intelligence' might reconfigure the social organisation of police crime investigations.