Excerpt from a book review by Mike Reddy, former UK Deputy Banking Ombudsman and former Deputy Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education
The author, Gareth Jones, takes us through the practical steps of planning, examining evidence, interviewing, report writing and making recommendations. There is also a useful chapter about investigators and the media.
The book is laced with interesting case studies and amusing anecdotes and comments. Nothing is more persuasive than a good story and many of the cases he refers to illustrate well his “eight principles of excellent investigation” (essentially these relate to: independence, training, neutrality, resourcing, interviewing and the handling of evidence).
Download and read the full review
This is a ground breaking, hands-on guide to conducting investigations of any kind, including regulatory, compliance, workplace, insurance, human rights, harassment, health and safety, police and military oversight and ombudsman investigations.
Of interest to anyone involved in any field of investigation, and anyone involved in evaluating investigations, this book sets out the eight principles that underlie effective and credible investigations, discusses common problems that may arise and how to avoid them.
You’ll learn proven approaches to planning and executing systemic investigations and be provided a benchmark to assess the quality of investigations done by others.
Full of real life examples and practical advice.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Principles of Excellent Investigation
Chapter 2. Investigative Challenges
Chapter 3. Case Assessment: How to Decide Whether and What to Investigate
Chapter 4. Systemic Investigations
Chapter 5. Planning an Investigation
Chapter 6. Witnesses and Interviewing
Chapter 7. Documents
Chapter 8. Physical Evidence
Chapter 9. Assessing the Evidence
Chapter 10. Report Writing
Chapter 11. Investigations and the Media
Chapter 12. From Launch to Lessons Learned
Chapter 13. Harassment Investigations
Chapter 14. Investigating the Police