How to Create a Hospital Investigation Unit
Risk assessments, officer training and sharing information with other agencies help make this hospital’s investigators effective.
6. Keep investigations confidential:
Occasionally, hospital investigation units must arrest a hospital employee, so it is important that investigators not divulge case information with other officers. One or more of them might be friends with the suspect.
7. Be impartial and don’t jump to conclusions:
It can be tempting to blame employees from certain professions, such as the custodial staff, when the actual culprit could be an individual most people don’t suspect, such as a colleague or a doctor. Raymond advises members of units at other hospitals to keep an open mind during their investigations.
8. Avoid black-and-white thinking:
Not all hospital cases are clear cut or should be prosecuted. This is particularly true when psychiatric patients are involved, says Packard. “Do we really want to prosecute this assault, or should we work this out with the victim?” she asks. “There’s that thin line you have to walk.”
9. Hire good people and train them:
Boston Medical Center hires sworn officers for its investigation unit, which enables them to access confidential law enforcement information. Once they are hired, the officers’ skills are further developed with detective training, computer forensic investigations training, sexual assault courses and crime scene processing training.
10. Share information with other agencies and associations:
Packard and Raymond’s investigation unit has good working relationships with the local district attorney, law enforcement, social workers, emergency medical services, the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) and other organizations, which allow them to share and obtain intelligence on various individuals whom the hospital may encounter.
11. Involve security in new-hire orientations:
During these meetings, Packard’s employees encourage recently hired employees to report all incidents – even those that just might be suspicious – because it helps the investigative unit see the big picture and crime patterns.
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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