Started in 2008, Model Crime Investigations (or Model CI, MCI) is a student-associated international

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

. Model Crime Investigations is held annually in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

so it is usually known as KMCI. MCI is an

extracurricular activity An extracurricular activity (ECA) or extra academic activity (EAA) or cultural activities is an activity, performed by students, that falls outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school, college or university education. Such activities a ...

where students gather to learn about how a police department operates, as well as about how the broader criminal justice system functions. In the actual conference of simulation, participants will

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

upon civil or criminal cases to find culprits among virtual suspects in committees. Unlike scientific investigation, in Model Crime Investigation participants usually interrogate suspects in oral arguments, and gather verbal evidence. Issues that can be discussed will vary from minor cases such as robbery to major crimes such as international

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. During the sessions, students who charge the investigation will have to work on

affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a statemen ...

by summarizing the points given by the suspects and witnesses, for the purpose of exterminating crimes by means such as arrest and/or complaint; and prosecute suspects. Along with

Model United Nations Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an educational simulation in which students can learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. At a MUN conference, students work as the representative of a count ...

Moot Court Moot court is a co-curricular activity at many law schools. Participants take part in simulated court or arbitration proceedings, usually involving drafting memorials or memoranda and participating in oral argument. In most countries, the phrase " ...

Mock Trial A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting ...

, or

Model Congress Model Congress gives students a chance to engage in a role-playing simulation of the United States Congress. Such events are hosted by the Congress itself, Rutgers University, American International College, University of Maryland, Columbia Univers ...

, Model Crime Investigations aims to build students' global perspective.

History

*On December 8, 2008, YMCI (Youth Model Crime Investigation) was created. Back then, YMCI only aimed for high school students around the world. *On April 2, 2009, the name was changed to MCI (Model Crime Investigations), so that university students can join a conference also. (Official age restriction is from 9th to 12th grade students.) *On September 3, 2021, Puzzles Chu Debate Club successfully organized the first ever MCI in Vietnam with approximately 200 participants from all over Vietnam.

Operation

KMCI basically follows the system of

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

in United States. Committees students can take are Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Marshals, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, or Department of Homeland Security. Each student will work as police designated as a Lieutenant, Sergeant, or Commander, or will work as suspects defending themselves as innocent. Participants (if they are suspects) will typically receive a criminal case ahead of time, which includes the facts of the crime, their roles,

alibi An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...

s and pieces of evidence. Students taking roles as suspects must prepare and memorize the cases given to them. During model crime investigation sessions, participants working as Police, not knowing who the actual criminal(s) is (are), must gather these pieces of evidence through investigating, interrogating and interviewing suspects in order to find out who the offender(s) is(are).

Organization

Whole committees are supervised and controlled by students role-playing as Generals:
Commissioner General, Chief Superintendent General, Senior superintendent general, Superintendent General. ''(University of Students who took role as Generals in 2009 Korea Model Crime Investigations)'' Each session is operated by students following roles as Chiefs:
Chief of Police, Deputy Chief, and Assistant Chief Participants will be designated in the following committees randomly *

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

U.S. Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforcem ...

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevent ...

and *

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

And be given the roles in POLICE as
Commander, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, Senior Lead Officer, Patrol Force , OR be given the roles in SUSPECT as
Criminal,

Accomplice Under the English common law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even if they take no part in the actual criminal offense. For example, in a bank robbery, the person who points the gun at the teller ...

, Witness, and so on (Types of roles are subjected to be changed according to a criminal case of committee, and participants’ role must be kept fugitive by themselves.)

Goals

Police and Suspects has different goal of their own. As mentioned above, police should find out actual offenders by summarizing evidences given by suspects. Suspects should not let police to find about who the actual criminal is. Whoever achieves their goal is to win.

Role as Police

By going through procedures step by step, police officers have to find out the actual criminal, or criminals. All officers shall strictly adhere to the policy of the KMCI prior to any

interrogation Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...

of suspects. No coercion, threats or promises shall be used under any condition to obtain a

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

, statement, or admission from any individual. The immediate objective of the interviewing officer should be to establish a cooperative relationship. To this objective, an officer should:
i. Display a sincere interest,
ii. Be patient and tactful,
iii. Be respectful
iv. Control personal feelings, and
v. Provide reassurance.

Role as a Suspect

Participants can be designated as a criminal, accomplice or as a witness. They are able to lie about their positions in order to confuse police, but their evidences should match with the stances Chiefs provides several weeks before session. Suspects’ positions MUST be kept in a secret before sessions start. Actual number of criminals among suspects can vary from zero to all. Suspects making a speech, refusing interrogation or getting an interview should: # Display utmost respect, # Be kind to interviewers, # Cooperate interview as much as interviewee wants to, and # Never distort their evidence

Investigation

Investigation procedures are the only way which investigators can find valuable evidences. These investigations are divided into two parts: Preliminary investigation, and Follow-up investigation.

Preliminary investigation

Most preliminary investigations will be conducted by the members of Patrol Force since they usually are the first to arrive at the criminal scene. All officers designated to conduct preliminary investigation shall do their utmost to gather as much information as possible during this stage of investigation since its police department's the very first stage figuring out the information of suspects. The officers responsible for a preliminary investigation shall interrogate the suspect, find out personal information about the suspect such as, but not limited to age, address, phone number, family members, and shall report the incident fully and accurately and yield the responsibility to the follow-up investigators.

Follow-up Investigation

Follow-up investigation will be preceded by the Senior Lead Officer, Sergeant and Lieutenant because they are usually responsible for deeper investigations. It may be possible for the patrol force to conduct follow-up investigations, but the priority is given to other class officers. In this stage of investigation, police department would try to figure out more concrete and detailed information about the offenses and the suspects as thorough as possible, including following steps, although all of the steps may not be necessary in each case: review and analyze all previous reports prepared in the preliminary phase: conduct additional interviews with suspects, and preliminary investigating officers if necessary, conduct interrogations of all suspects, plan, organize and conduct crime scene searches for the purpose of gathering additional evidences: check criminal records of potential suspects: identify and apprehend suspects and: interview apprehended suspects in order to determine involvement in other crimes.

Debate

Debate procedure incorporated UNA-USA format(United Nations Associations of United States of America) to foster active participation from students. Motions and points have to be introduced by participants to take an action in the committee, and the conference will be governed under the authority of student chiefs. ''Introduction of an affidavit''
Once an affidavit has been approved, copied, and distributed, a person/people may make a motion to introduce the affidavit. The Chief will recognize the affiant of the affidavit to read the paragraphs of the affidavit. The Chief, at his or her discretion, may allow the main signatories to answer any clarification points on the affidavit. for any reason. After that, the affiant has to express his/her reasons for supporting his/her own affidavit. ''Speaker's list''
When a speaking time designated for an affidavit elapse, the Chief will terminate his speech. After that, the floor will be yielded to the Chief who will open the floor to debate. Chief will entertain other suspects’ or police agents’ speeches. These speeches must include reasons for disagreeing or sometimes supporting the contents in the affidavit. (Affiant also can take the floor again as long as the Chief recognizes him/her.) ''Closure of the debate''
When total allotted debate time is almost elapsed, a session will have final speeches. Usually, a final speech lasts 1 minute for, and 1 minute against the affidavit. When the final speeches are over, the debate procedure will automatically be closed, and voting procedures will begin.

References

* ''Guide to MCI'', official MCI rule book for Student Officers * ''Introductory MCI'', Guidebook for rookie participants * ''MCI Guidebook'', MCI's official publication

External links

Affidavit in support of criminal complaints, Arrest warrants and search warrants

United Nations Associations of United States of America

Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Korea Model Crime Investigations
{Dead link, date=April 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Educational programs