Private investigation

“ When federal agents and prosecutors quietly open a criminal investigation, we are not concealing anything; we are simply following the longstanding policy that we refrain from publicizing non-public information. ”

“ It is not forbidden in our country to conduct investigation openly or secretly. My course of action was dictated solely by the interests of my clients and the inadequate official investigation. Very rich men took part in the disturbances ”

“ Under our system society carries the burden of proving its charge against the accused not out of his own mouth. It must establish its case, not by interrogation of the accused even under judicial safeguards, but by evidence independently secured through skillful investigation. ”

“ For facts, figures and definite instances of theft, of malicious misinformation of the public, of bribery and of every sort of stock-selling abuse in connection with holding companies, the Federal Trade Commission, in its investigation of public utilities, can supply incontrovertible evidence. ”

“ It is the duty and the purpose of the Executive to direct an investigation by the Department of Justice, through the grand jury or otherwise, into the history, organization, and purposes of all the industrial companies with respect to which there is any reasonable ground for suspicion that they have been organized for a purpose, and are conducting business on a plan which is in violation of the Anti-Trust law. ”

“ Classified by law as national secrets, required to maintain confidentiality or prohibited from provision to the public according to other laws, regulations, or orders. 2. Making available to the public or provision will obstruct the investigation, prosecution, or law enforcement of a crime, impair the fair trial of a criminal defendant, or injure other people's life, body, freedom or property. 3. The draft for internal use or other preparatory works before the government agency make a decision. ”

“ Administrative agencies have power themselves to initiate inquiry, or, when their authority is invoked, to control the range of investigation in ascertaining what is to satisfy the requirements of the public interest in relation to the needs of vast regions and sometimes the whole nation in the enjoyment of facilities for transportation, communication and other essential public services. [5] These differences in origin and function preclude wholesale transplantation of the rules of procedure, trial and review which have evolved from the history and experience of courts. ”

“ But even if prosecutions fail in cases of full exposure, public opinion almost always accomplishes the object desired. A thorough investigation of official corruption and criminality leads with great certainty to the needed reform. Publicity is a great corrector of official abuses. Let it therefore be made the duty of the governor, on satisfactory information that the public good requires an investigation of the affairs of any public office or the conduct of any public officer, whether State or local, to appoint one or more citizens who shall have ample powers to make such investigation. ”

“ On the other hand, the investigative process could be completely disrupted if investigative hearings were transformed into trial-like proceedings, and if persons who might be indirectly affected by an investigation were given an absolute right to cross-examine every witness called to testify. Fact-finding agencies without any power to adjudicate would be diverted from their legitimate duties and would be plagued by the injection of collateral issues that would make the investigation interminable. ”

“ When official pronouncements on individuals purport to rest on evidence and investigation, it is right to demand that those so accused be given a full opportunity for their defense in such investigation, excepting, of course, grand jury investigations. ”

“ The responsibility for a reasonable investigation would add but imperceptibly if at all to the cost of doing business. In this field such investigation entails a burden which any legitimate enterprise should be prepared to carry. We need not conjure up hypothetical cases of extended inquiry which disclosed no straw man, for they would meet the test of reasonable investigation here proposed. ”

“ Disclosure of or access to matters pertinent to an inquiry or investigation will be limited to persons whose official duties require such knowledge. The Manual for Courts Martial, 1951, states that inspector-general investigations are privileged information. The same privileged status applies to inquiries and investigations conducted under this Regulation. Also paragraph 3, AFR 190-16, 29 July 1954, excludes investigative reports and reports of inspectors general and base inspectors from release to the public as information. ”

“ The principle thus expressed evidently is designed to exclude the wholesale investigations into the past of prominent public men with which the American public is too familiar, and also, unhappily, too well pleased; while not entitled to the "silence absolu" which less prominent men may claim as their due, they may still demand that all the details of private life in its most limited sense shall not be laid bare for inspection. ”

“ In appraising the constitutionally permissive investigative procedure claimed to subject individuals to incrimination or defamation without adequate opportunity for de ense, a relevant distinction is between those proceedings which are preliminaries to official judgments on individuals and those, like the investigation of this Commission, charged with responsibility to gather information as a solid foundation for legislative action. Judgments by the Commission condemning or stigmatizing individuals are not called for. ”

“ The Principle of Investigation The second principle is that of Investigation. Investigation is but a method of getting at the truth; and, as I said at the outset, it is the truth alone that shall set us free. In problems of the magnitude of those which industry presents, any just solution is impossible without a knowledge of the facts. There are certain evils which publicity is more effective in preventing and remedying than penalty; and unfair dealing between the parties to industry are of this kind. ”

“ Integrity (collectively “Government Wrongdoing”) .
2) No Adverse Action shall be taken against any government employee or
government contractor who cooperates with an investigation of or provides
information to the Commission on Public Integrity, the Inspectors General of
individual Ministries, the Board of Supreme Audit, or any other government
entity charged with investigating and exposing evidence of illegal activity,
public corruption, or official wrongdoing. ”

“ Since the Commission is merely an investigatorial arm of Congress, the narrow risk of unintended harm to the individual is outweighed by the legislative justification for permitting the Commission to be the critic and protector of the information given it. It would be wrong not to assume that the Commission will responsibly scrutinize the reliability of sworn allegations that are to serve as the basis for further investigation and that it will be rigorously vigilant to protect the fair name of those brought into question. ”

“ The present conditions both of payment and of status are not of the kind that will attract the highest type of brain to the work of criminal investigation, and yet there is no reason why it should not be made to offer the advantages of other branches of professional work. ”

“ An investigator shall keep confidential the state secrets, trade secrets and personal privacy that has come to his knowledge during the investigation through employing technical investigative measure, and shall promptly destroy the information and materials irrelevant to the case that are obtained through technical investigative measure. ”

“ Courts are ill-equipped to make the investigations which should precede a determination of the limitations which should be set upon any property right in news or of the circumstances under which news gathered by a private agency should be deemed affected with a public interest. ”

“ Over the years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has compiled an exemplary record of effective law enforcement while advising any suspect or arrested person, at the outset of an interview, that he is not required to make a statement, that any statement may be used against him in court, that the individual may obtain the services of an attorney of his own choice, and, more recently, that he has a right to free counsel if he is unable to pay. ”

“ The superiority of his calculations will always prevail against the routine of police investigation and, let us admit it, against the puerility of the criminal investigations with which presiding magistrates enjoy dabbling. In this business, as in all others, it is the small who pay for the great. ”

“ State attorneys general in connection with any criminal investigation; and (IV) any appropriate State regulatory authority, each of which shall maintain such information as confidential and privileged. ”

“ Of course, a legislative investigation-as any investigation must proceed 'step by step,' Barenblatt v. United States, supra, 360 U.S., at 130, 79 S.Ct., at 1094, but step by step or in totality, an adequate foundation for inquiry must be laid before proceeding in such a manner as will substantially intrude upon and severely curtail or inhibit constitutionally protected activities or seriously interfere with similarly protected associational rights. No such foundation has been laid here. ”

“ The matter of requiring the production of books and records to secure evidence is not as one-sided, in this kind of situation, as the most extreme expressions of either emphasis would indicate. With some obvious exceptions, there has always been a real problem of balancing the public interest against private security. ”

“ Not only is the practice of such judicial investigations long-established, but the subject matter of the present investigation does not lack a rational basis. It is no less true than trite that lawyers must operate in a three-fold capacity, as self-employed businessmen as it were, as trusted agents of their clients, and as assistants to the court in search of a just solution to disputes. ”

“ Policies shall be developed by the Council which will ensure the establishment of a corps of well-trained and highly skilled auditors and investigators. (d) The Council shall develop interagency audit and investigation programs and projects to deal efficiently and effectively with those problems concerning fraud and waste which exceed the capability or jurisdiction of an individual agency. The Council will recognize the pre-eminent role of the Department of Justice in matters involving law enforcement and litigation. ”

“ The Court of Appeals acknowledged that compliance with the FOIA may compel disclosure of materials that ordinarily are beyond the scope of discovery in a criminal investigation, and thus may enable a potential defendant to prepare a response and construct a defense to a criminal charge. The court concluded, however, that this concern was more properly addressed to Congress. ”

“ On such a memorial doubtless the Senate or House would direct an investigation. But if you or any other prominent man commence the practice of appealing to Congress for investigations every time you are assailed in the newspapers, you will have a pretty busy life; and to appeal once and not afterward in some similar case raises an implication that you cannot bear an investigation in the second. ”

“ They maintain these techniques are indispensable to develop adequate strategic intelligence concerning organized crime, to set up specific investigations, to develop witnesses, to corroborate their testimony, and to serve as substitutes for them-each a necessary step in the evidence-gathering process in organized crime investigations and prosecutions. ”

“ The laws of conspiracy have provided an effective substantive tool with which to confront the criminal groups. From a legal standpoint, organized crime continues to grow because of defects in the evidence-gathering process. ”

“ Upon the Secretariat request, Commission gives a written authorization to the Secretariat investigators to conduct necessary investigation, according to the procedures stipulated in this Law. To conduct the investigation, the Secretariat investigators must present the authorization, which contains the object and the purpose of the investigation and also the foreseen sanctions in article 73, 74, 76 and 78 of this Law. 3. When the necessary investigations are impeded, the Authority requests the Tax Police assistance. ”

“ One should always look for a possible alternative, and provide against it. It is the first rule of criminal investigation.” ”

“ They are asked to give evidence before boards and commissions, they are asked to furnish journalists and writers of books with information. They have done so willingly, but there is a sense coming over many of us that we have had investigations a-plenty ”

“ The necessary inquiries are beyond the powers of private persons, and their pursuit will be found sufficiently difficult by official investigators. Great reluctance will be exhibited to disclose the information which should be sought, and the common cry will certainly be raised that such scrutiny is without general advantage and is painful to private feelings. ”

“ For, certainly, it will be allowed that the first requisite of justice is that the officers of the State shall be sufficiently provided with intelligence, with resources and with encouragement, to search into all cases of alleged crime, and to take care by ascertaining especially the private character and previous history of the witnesses how far they are to be credited. ”