Essential Elements An Investigator should have

Do you want to be an eligible investigator? Then some essential elements you should have.

Firstly, you must treat all parties to a complaint with the same level of cordiality, intensity, compassion and insistence. If it can be shown that you were not objective, it will jeopardize the entire investigation and process. If you react compassionately when the complaining party cries, your must react compassionately when the responding party exhibits fear. Remember these are allegations; no conclusion has been reached yet. Do not take sides. You represent the interest of the process __ not either party involved in the allegation.

Secondly, you should taking “prompt and effective action calculated to end the harassment, prevent its recurrence and as appropriate, remedy its effects”. In order to limit the harm to all parties and possible liability of he responsible school entity, dealing as immediately as possible once an allegation has been made is critical. Expediency, however, does not mean doing shoddy work!

Thirdly, each event in the allegation must be dealt with to the point of where the evidence clearly resolves any conflict and /or there is no way a resolution is possible. An example of the last statement is if the complainant and the respondent have different and conflicting statements of events, there are no witnesses, and there is no history about wither person to determine who may be the more credible party. In such a circumstance it is appropriate to state in your report that due to the above _ cited circumstance, it is impossible to resolve this particular issue in the complaint. To do otherwise, would impossible to resolve this particular issue in the complaint. You need to caution, advice and warn all parties that they need to maintain confidentiality about what has been asked of them in the course of an investigation. The only one you really are guarantee that from, however, is yourself. For you and therefore the process to remain credible, you must be the model of discretion. Share information on a very strict “need to know” basis, which should be determined your policy.

You need to respect all parties to an investigation. At times this will be a challenge, especially when the evidence in a case supportive of the allegation and the allegation is of more offensive kind. Keep your feelings and opinions to yourself. Remember your job is to determine the validity of the allegation. The basic rule of the thumb is to treat the individual parties the way you would like to be treated if you had to respond to a charge or be a witness in someone else’s case.

Your credibility is enormously enhanced, and thus your ability to have people responds to your necessary questions, when you conduct yourself with “professionalism”. It could be said that by effecting points, the overall experience would equal the concept of professionalism. Choose your words well, hold yourself in high regard, know that you have a very difficult task to perform, believe you are capable of doing it and ask for assistance when you are stuck (the best and most experienced investigator still can get stuck and have to ask for assistance). Your ability to succeed will be based on what others think of you, e.g., will I get a fair shake? Can you be trusted? Have you already made up your mind? Will you take me seriously? Remember, the more credible you are, the easier it will be for you to do this very difficult job.