Analytic Investigations (Intermediate Level)

What is a matrix?

The dictionary offers a detailed and clinically correct definition. However I'll provide a more easily understood definition along with a graphic to illustrate it. But for now, the take-away is that a matrix is grounded in math and based upon logic, as opposed to intuition or other factors which are challenging to measure.

From the case file, Activities Matrices can be developed. While they may seem complex at first glance they are actually simple to understand because they consist of people and events. In these examples one side of the Activities Matrix lists the entities of interest (or People), while on another side is the list of Activities that have occurred (or Events).

Where the person and the event converge indicates the person's involvement with the event. The Activities Matrix is a simple graphic to reflect the connection between people and events.

This type of matrix is ideal for establishing who was where with regard to an investigation, sometimes referred to as geo-tagging.

Matrices can be developed from pre-existing data, such as crime occurrences. In this example, a spreadsheet was created to document crime events over a 4 month timespan. From the data, Timeline matrices can be generated to reflect crime frequencies by days of the week as well as times during the day. These graphic representations are sometimes easier to understand than sifting through the raw data files. Regardless, the information could be used to generate basic predictive analysis to help determine potential investigative responses, or preventative activities such as surveillance or use of roving patrols, cameras, etc. The matrix can help support such actions with hard data.

From the case file, entities of interest (people) can be quickly identified and enrolled into an Association Matrix. What the Association Matrix reflects is who is associated with whom and some indication of their association, whether the association is Confirmed, Suspected, etc. We'll unpack that a bit more shortly, but the goal of the Association Matrix is to first identify everyone related to the investigation as well as every location, businesses and property referred to in the case by anyone, at anytime. An investigative rule of thumb suggests we Collect then Connect.

• Investigative Plan template

• Entity of Interest Worksheet

• Association Matrix Worksheet (small 21 slots)

• Association Matrix Worksheet (large 105 slots)

• (Bonus) Activity Matrix Worksheet (small 15 slots)

• Exercise Scenario 1

• Exercise Scenario 1 Solution

• Practical Exercise Scenario 1

• Practical Exercise Scenario 2

• Portfolio for notes

• Portfolio for notes

There are four general steps to an effective association matrix:

Step one is to review the case information and Identify the Entities of Interest;
Step two is to add the Entities of Interest to the Association Matrix template;
Step three is to identify the associations, relationships, or links between the Entities of Interest, we’ll use the Entities of Interest Worksheet, and show them in the Association Matrix; and
Step four is to determine where you might focus your investigative resources – what I think of as determining the Center of Gravity for investigative activity. Every investigation has at least one focal point. It may be related to personal gain, attempting to avoid punishment, or some sort of psychopathy. Once you can identify the center of gravity in an investigation, establishing a direction for the investigation can become less complex.

First, Identify the Entities of Interest; Second, to Add the Entities of Interest into the Matrix; Third, Show Associations, relationships, or links between the Entities of Interest and, Fourth, Determine the Center of Gravity for the Investigation.

Step 1 Identify the Entities of Interest. For the purpose of this course and Entity of interest is a Person - Individual, or creature with a heartbeat, living or not; a Place - which could be any location or property with a physical tangible presence; or a Thing - Business, Organization, etc. To simplify this instruction we will not include ideas, theories, beliefs, and other such intangibles. While obviously there will be exceptions, these general guidelines should be sufficient for our purposes.

Download this Exercise Scenario from your course workbook. Read through it and, based on the explanation of an Entity of Interest, identify each Entity of Interest found in this scenario.

Once you feel you've identified all the entities of interest continue and check your results.

Disclaimer: This fictional exercise scenario is not based on any actual case. Any similarities between it and any existing cases is coincidental. The names and businesses reflected are also fictional and not representative of any person, living or dead.

In the solution for this exercise you should have identified at least the same entities as I’ve highlighted here. If you didn’t, review the explanation regarding the entity of interest before you continue. If you happened to have identified entities in addition to those highlighted, that’s fine as well – so long as it’s not an idea, theory, belief, etc.

During this initial phase you may have copy the entities of interest to a single document with a list similar to this; 5th Street Used Cars, A-1 Auto Salvage, Matthew Anderson, Fort Otan, M.A. Towing, and Greg Michaels. If you haven’t done so already, print out your Entities of Interest Worksheet from your Course Workbook, as we will be referring to it shortly. Keep your list of entities handy.

While reading through information, in additional to identifying Entities of Interest, it’s important to also identify associations, relationships, etc., between entities of interest. To do this well, you must closely examine each entity of interest and determine how it is related to other entities within your case.

An important function of the Association Matrix is discovering and depicting relationships (associations) in a simple, unbiased and unambiguous manner. As you'll see shortly, each cell of the matrix represents one and only one possible relationship and that all relationships are visible and clearly understood.

In the very basic sense, the Association Matrix is a record of ‘who knows whom’, ‘who has done what', ‘who has been where’, etc. Some examples of relationships and associations include business or property owners, family connections, employer and employee relationships, suspects, survivors and victims, etc. This is an important facet of the development of the association matrix as it is connects entities of interest together based on facts. The facts could originate from business or property documents, and registrations, or testimonial evidence or information, etc., but the key is to only link those entities of interest with other entities of interest when they are mentioned, or appear in writing in some manner. By restricting your enrollment of associations to verified or verifiable information you reduce instances of confirmation bias. Furthermore, you can clearly trace the information that brought the entity of interest to the attention of the investigation to specific documentation, further distancing yourself from the potential accusation of bias.

Refer to the exercise scenario and identify the associations between the entities of interest in this exercise, then continue.

Using the same information from the scenario note the highlighted key words, phrases an instances that connect entities of interest together. In some investigations there will be numerous obvious instances to indicate the connection, and in others the connections will be far more discreet, or none will be evident.

A careful, diligent and thorough review the case files, one document at a time, is the only sure way to be certain that all the connections were identified, considered or examined. At the very minimum, if an entity of interest is mentioned during an investigation, it will have at least one connection to the case. Understand that additional investigation may discount the entities relevance to the case at a later point, but for the moment it’s best to be less interested in the strength or weakness of the association and more important that one or more exists to begin with.

Be sure to note where in the case file the entity of interest’s association appeared. You’ll transfer this information onto the Entities of Interest Worksheet.

One of the best ways to keep the association information for Entities of Interest organized is to use the Entities of Interest Worksheet. A copy of this worksheet is in the Course Workbook you downloaded previously. As you continue with your investigation, you can systematically add to your information in an orderly manner.

In addition to organizing your information, the Entities of Interest Worksheet can be used as a type of quick reference to point you to the location that the information was found within the case files or documents. Secondly, the worksheet can be used to verify that every entity of interest mentioned in the case files or documents is captured, and their connection to the investigation is recorded. It's worth remembering that at some point in the future, the information you collect, the assessments you develop and the actions you recommend, or pursue will be scrutinized and questioned by others. This worksheet will allow you to better respond to the questions of, "why did you recommend x?", or "How did you conclude y?" and similar questions.

Finally, this worksheet will help distance you from allegations of bias.

Before we can go on to step 2, Add entities of interest to the Matrix, you need to understand how the association matrix works. This is one of the most interesting and critical pieces of the investigative puzzle. Because once you've got it in the matrix, the analysis part is straightforward. I think it's worth remembering that because all of the data was extracted from existing information, there is little room for biased results as nothing "new" is being created or added to the investigation. This is merely a graphic representation of the existing information. In other words, it is what it is.

What is an association matrix? To add to the clinical definition I shared earlier, an association matrix depicts relationship between entities of interest using columns and rows. In this example the bottom letters depict the columns while the letters on the left of the matrix depict the rows. The coordinates are found by first reading from left to right, then from top to bottom. In this instance you'll note that the intersection of BD is the same relationship that is reflected at the intersection of DB. You’ll see why that is important in a moment.

To demonstrate how the location of the relationships work, consider a typical mileage map. Note: that the locations and distances here are fictional and illustrative only.

In this example you see that Oak is 573 from S.D. and that S.D. is 573 from Oak. The “zero line” clearly shows that the top of the matrix is identical to the bottom. The “0” simply depicts the convergence where the location is the same.

As a result, if we draw a line through the "0" convergences, and separate the top from the bottom of the matrix, you note that the information within the cells is unchanged and still valid.

By extending the lines upward we have room to enroll our entities of interest.

In this instance we move the entity of interest titles from one side of the chart onto the extended lines. Now we can remove the remaining duplicate copies of the entities of interest. What we have left is the same mileage chart information we started with reflected in a slightly different way. You can see here how the associations between the fictious cities remains the same on the association matrix as with the full mileage chart.

Returning to the sample case scenario. From your course workbook print out a copy of the Association Matrix worksheet with 21 slots – it’s the smaller of the two. We’ll use it in this scenario in a moment. When you transfer the Entities of interest from your Entities of Interest worksheet onto your Association Matrix worksheet, your results should look similar to this solution. There are a few nuances that you might notice. First, for ease of identification, I’ve color coded the entities so that names of people entities are in black while all other entities are listed in blue - feel free to use whatever color or convention you like. The intent here is to differentiate people from everything else in your investigation. The more complex the investigation, the more important this distinction will become for you. In this simple example there are only 6 entities of interest so the small Association Matrix is sufficient. However, in your investigations there could be more than 21 entities of interest in which case you’ll want to use the 105 slot (large) Association Matrix.

Next, we want to show the associations between entities of interest. We want to show them on the association matrix and to do so we used three simple symbols. A closed circle (color is not important) indicates a strong or confirmed association between entities of interest. An open circle to indicates a weak or suspected (or not yet confirmed) association between entities and the Plus sign indicates a Key individual in relation to the entity of interest. To simplify this designation, we typically look at the Plus sign as someone considered significant to the business, the CEO, Manager, CFO, etc., - as opposed to an employee; or the owner of a vehicle, weapon, boat, or other tangible form of property. This role can sometimes be challenging to identify.

When we revisit the Entity of Interest Worksheet, we can use the information found in the middle section to quickly identify an appropriate role or designation for the relationship convergence between each entity of interest. If you apply the three symbols just discussed, to the Entities of Interest worksheet recently prepared, we arrive at the following solution.

This is the first time where your interpretation of the facts will be tested. The good news is that your interpretation is based on the information that’s available. The existence of the relationship is not open to interpretation, only the strength, weakness, or nature of the relationship. More importantly, if there is no relationship between an entity of interest based on your documentation – one won’t be invented.

A frequently asked question is how do you differentiate a strong association from a weak one? The simple rule of thumb I follow focuses on how often an entity of interest appears in your case documentation:

"Once is incidental; twice is a coincidental – and while I don’t believe in coincidences; more than twice is a pattern."

So if there is only one mention of an entity of interest's connection with another entity of interest, it would be appropriate to identify that association as weak/unconfirmed for the moment. But if other information is developed or additional data reveals other associations, the association could be upgraded to strong/confirmed.

Another good practice to apply when you’re unsure as to whether a relationship is strong/confirmed or weak/suspected is to choose weak/suspected. The reason why is because you can always devote additional investigative resources to determine whether the relationship should be upgraded. What’s important is that the entity of interest was identified as being associated with the case in some tangible way.

Before we move onto the step 4, let's do a brief review and practice what you've learned already from the first three steps. In Step 1 you Identified the Entities of Interest related to your investigation and generated an Entities of Interest Worksheet; in Step 2 you used the worksheet to Add the Entities of Interest to Association Matrix; in Step 3 you used the worksheet to Show the Associations in the Association Matrix.

If you have as case that you're currently assigned, this is an excellent time to put what you've learned into practice. You can use the documents provided in your course workbook (or develop your own). Once you've brought your case up to this point, where you have included the associations between the entities of interest to the association matrix, proceed to step 4.

If you are not currently working on an investigation, I recommend you complete the following practical exercises before continuing to step 4.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE

The following practical exercise will give you an opportunity to practice the skills you've acquired in this course thus far. I strongly encourage you to repeat the exercise until you have a clear understanding of the process before moving on to the next step.

In this PE your task is to read the following scenario and complete an association matrix. The sub-tasks are to 1) Identify the Entities of Interest, 2) Identify the relationships (if any) between entities of interest, and 3) construct an association matrix to include the entities of interest and their relationships.

I recommend you download and use the Blank Entity of Interest Worksheet from your course workbook if you haven't done so already. This will assist you in capturing and organizing your case information.

I recommend you download the small blank association matrix from your course workbook.

Step 1: Identify Entities of Interest

Step 2: Identify Associations/Relationships between Entities of interest

Step 3 Construct an Association Matrix with Entities of Interests and their relationships

Using the various techniques you’ve learned - deconstruct the information in this Practical Exercise, and enroll it into an Entity of Interest Worksheet. Locate and highlight the key words or phrases that indicate the relationship between entities of interest and add them to the Entity of Interest Worksheet. Once you've completed your entity of interest worksheet transfer the information onto your Association Matrix. Ensure your Association Matrix contains the associations you captured in your Entity of Interest Worksheet.

Now using the various techniques for deconstructing the information in this Practical Exercise, and enroll it into the Entity of Interest Worksheet. Remember to identify and highlight the key words or phrases that indicate the relationship between entities of interest. Once you've completed your analysis of the information in the Practical Exercise and enrolled your findings in the Entity of Interest Worksheet, take the information and construct an Association Matrix. Ensure your Association Matrix contains the associations you captured in your Entity of Interest Worksheet.

Compare your Entity of Interest Worksheet with the Solution.
Did you identify all the entities of interest?
Did you identify all of the associations? If so, then you are to be congratulated on a job well done. If you missed some aspect then review what was missed before moving on.

Any changes made here will impact the final results of your Association Matrix, so feel free to revise your Entity of Interest worksheet results before continuing to the Association Matrix solution.

Compare your Association Matrix with the solution.
Did you reflect all the entities of interest?
Did you mark the associations between entities of interest? If so, then you are to be congratulated on a job well done!

Please recognize that the order in which you have your entities of interest listed may or may not be the same as the solution. What's important is that you have the entities of interest and their associations properly identified.

To better ensure you have the associations between the entities of interest in the correct location, here's a brief walk-through. In the case of Farmer and Henry, the Open Circle at the intersection indicates a weak or suspected relationship. When you follow the column downward from Farmer you will see that there are also associations with Moonshadow and the Unknown Male1. When you follow Henry's column across and down you see he has a suspected relationship with Farmer and Steele. You'll also note that Henry is a Key individual to Moonshadow and to D&H Travel /518 Finchley Rd. As you look across and down the columns of the remaining entities of interest you will see how the associations are marked in the appropriate intersections.

Did you miss any of the entities of interest?
Did you get all the associations?
If you found more entities of interest, that’s perfectly fine. If you identified additional associations, that fine as well. However, you should have found at least the 8 listed here.

You might be wondering why the Unknown Owner shows up for Alarmco Security. It’s simply because someone owns it, we just don’t happen to know who at the moment. Additional investigation may be warranted to find out. The take-away here is that every business, every car, house, or other property has at least one owner.

During the initial stages of an investigation, the owner’s identity may not be known, and their connection to they case beyond property ownership could be disputed. But unless you enroll them into the association matrix, you may overlook this lead and potentially miss something of importance.

If you’re satisfied with your results, move onto the next practical exercise.

The following practical exercise will give you an opportunity to practice the skills you've acquired in this course thus far. I strongly encourage you to repeat the exercise until you have a clear understanding of the process before moving on to the next step.

In this PE your task is to read the following scenario and complete an association matrix. The sub-tasks are to 1) Identify the Entities of Interest, 2) Identify the relationships (if any) between entities of interest, and 3) construct an association matrix to include the entities of interest and their relationships.

I recommend you download and use the Blank Entity of Interest Worksheet from your course workbook if you haven't done so already.

Next you should ensure you have a blank Association Matrix Worksheet from your course workbook handy as well.

Step 1: Identify Entities of Interest

Step 2: Identify Associations/Relationships between Entities of interest

Step 3 Construct an Association Matrix with Entities of Interests and their relationships

Again, use the various techniques for deconstructing the information in this Practical Exercise, and enroll it into the Entity of Interest Worksheet. Remember to identify and highlight the key words or phrases that indicate the relationship between entities of interest. Once you've completed your analysis of the information in the Practical Exercise and enrolled your findings in the Entity of Interest Worksheet, take the information and construct an Association Matrix. Ensure your Association Matrix contains the associations you captured in your Entity of Interest Worksheet.

Compare your Entity of Interest Worksheet with the Solution.

Did you identify all the entities of interest?
Did you identify all of the associations? If so, then you are to be congratulated on a job well done. If you missed some aspect then review what was missed before moving on.

Any changes made here will impact the final results of your Association Matrix, so feel free to revise your Entity of Interest worksheet results before continuing to the Association Matrix solution.

Compare your Association Matrix with the solution.

Did you reflect all the entities of interest?
Did you mark the associations between entities of interest? If so, then you are to be congratulated on a job well done! Remember that the order in which you have your entities of interest listed may or may not be the same as the solution. What's important is that you have the entities of interest and their associations properly identified.

To better ensure you have the associations between the entities of interest in the correct location, let's walk-through it.

In the case of Carr, the only confirmation available thus far in this case is that he is the owner of 209 Ellis St., St Robert Missouri, which is reflected as a "plus" sign. The fact that Hinson was seen entering the location is sufficient to create a Closed Circle to indicate an association or relationship with the location; however it is premature to indicate that Hinson has any relationship or connectivity with Carr. Similarly, Gregg owns an office at 17 West St., St Robert, Missouri which is reflected by a "plus" sign. however there is insufficient information available to connect him with White at this time. Hinson and Simpson have both been seen meeting with White and therefore have associations reflected as Closed Circle to indicate a Strong or Confirmed relationship. When you follow the column downward from Unknown 1 you will see that there is an associations with the Pershing Club.

So, how did you do?
Did you miss any of the entities of interest?
Did you get all the associations?
Again, if you found more entities of interest, that’s perfectly fine. If you identified additional associations, that fine as well. However, you should have found at least the 9 listed here.

As with the Unknown Owner of Alarmco Security in the previous exercise, there’s similarly an unknown owner of the Pershing club. In this exercise I introduced the potential for associations with people and places more so than previously. What I wanted you to consider was the factual, documented (by a source) or provable information, rather than conjecture. For example, you could have jumped to the conclusion that because White was seen going into 17 West St., that he was meeting Gregg – however, there is no evidence provided to validate that. In fact, there is insufficient information to draw very many conclusions in this case without additional investigative effort. A Google Earth review might give you the general layout of the various properties that were listed for example. That could be enough to validate your conclusions.

So what?

What value is the Association Matrix?

First it provide you with a fast, efficient and effective means of managing your investigation. It allows you to know who is involved in the investigation

Secondly, it provides with a graphic representation as to strengths and types of relationships that exist between entities of interest.

Third – within the examination of the relationships, you can see which connections, association, or relationships will require additional research or investigation in order to verify the information.

Here in step 4 you will learn how to prioritize your investigative resources to determine what might be considered the center of gravity for the investigation. This might be a person, a location, or a business, and once you discover it, you can determine what additional resources you might need to expend to bring your case to a successful resolution.

Here's how this works. Look at the various Entities of interest and count the number of entities with which they are associated.  For the Anderson entity, there are two associations; one with Michaels and one with M.A. Towing.
How many entities are associated with Michaels? If you said two, then you probably missed the first association between Michaels and Anderson. The second association is between Michaels and 5th Street used Cars. The third association is between Michaels and A-1 Auto.

Remember that if the cell is blank, then there is no known association between the entities if interest.

How many entities is 5th street used cars associated with? Three. For A-1 Auto there are three. For M.A. Towing it's three. For Fort Otan there's one.

One way to look at the analysis of the information reveals that Michaels is the center of gravity in so far as the Association Matrix is concerned. What this actually indicates is that Michaels has the largest number of associations or connections amongst the current list of entities of interest. As a result, if you were faced with the question of where you might direct investigative resources, you might add to your investigative plan activities such as surveillance, clandestine searches of properties, background checks, etc., you might first consider Michaels.

On the other hand, if you are looking to shore up areas of your investigation that seem to require more investigative effort in order to determine the relationship or associations between entities of interest you might consider examining the Ft Otan connection to the case. Questions might include whether there were previous complaints, other companies that operated in the area, or how the notification actually worked. You could take a look at the types of vehicles, the most common locations where they were called to, and whether there was any change in the number of calls based on a particular dispatcher. In other words, a simple examination and analysis could reveal a host of viable investigative leads that could assist you in bringing a case to a successful resolution.

Congratulations on your successful completion of Analytic Investigations (first steps)

Managing the Investigation with an Association Matrix

During this training you learned how to deconstruct and extract information from investigative files and related information and develop a viable investigative plan.

You were also introduced to the Entity of Interest Worksheet as well as the association matrix worksheet to identify the center of gravity within an investigation and identify investigative leads.

The keys to success in this field are workflow and discipline. Once you develop a workflow to streamline your actions and discipline yourself to use these tools and resources, you will begin to find more consistent success in your investigations.

In the advanced training you will discover how to use one of the most inexpensive and versatile software applications in the field of analytic investigations. Applying the application will help you maximize the effectiveness of your association matrix and find answers sooner, rather than later 

Good luck, best wishes on your investigations and I’ll see you in the Advanced Analytic Investigations course!

Dr. Matthews

Hello and welcome to analytical rules of the road in this short presentation I'm going to share with you some tips some tactics and some procedures that you can apply to your next analytic investigation or inquiry

Beginning with Sun Tzu The Art of War. Sun Tzu said

if you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles

but if you know yourself but not the enemy for every victory you will suffer defeat and then

finally, if you know neither yourself nor the enemy you're a fool and will meet defeat in every battle

The corollary to Sun Tzu's Art of War can be applied to crime analysis in crime analysis

if you know the criminal mind and your field you will prevail

however, if you know your field yet not the criminal mind for every success you will meet failure

and then finally if you know neither your field or the criminal mind you're foolish and will fail every time

Consider this. If you can find the answer to these questions you will solve every case

Who did it?

What happened?

When did it happen?

Where is the property suspect evidence?

How was this possible the crime conducive conditions?

And why did this crime occur what is the motivation of the perpetrator?

Here are seven keys to success I’ve broken them down into an acrostic prepare

P stands for pay attention to detail I'll elaborate on that in just a moment

the first R is for read everything don't assume or believe everything that you hear if you read it for yourself then you'll know also by

reading everything you'll be able to pick up nuances that may have been overlooked by whomever is filtering the information –

Expect to find answers don't simply go into a case or an inquiry with a closed mind along those same lines

Pursue leads don't simply gather them, collect them up to make up a thick case file or a file folder

always write it down in today's lexicon that might be recorded in some digital medium so that you can find it or locate the information when it's needed

Then repeat successful practices maybe not verbatim or word-for-word or item for item but there were several instances

where you were successful or have been successful in the past that you could apply some of those successful practice to future cases

And then finally educate yourself constantly learn don't be satisfied with taking a course reading a book or undergoing a seminar single one-off bit of information are helpful but they don't sustain

Here are some basic reminders and you'll see that one of them was repeated again first off remember that nothing happens in a vacuum there's always a reason simply because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it doesn't make sense at all it certainly made sense to the perpetrator or those who are under inquiry when they committed that offense or incident

Remember Edmond Locard theory of transference which says that when two or more items come into contact the longer the stronger the contact the greater the amount of transference the transference may be slight, or it may be robust, but there will be some sort of transference

whether that's evidence information or other types of substance you'll always be able to find that whenever two or more items come into contact

Third don't overanalyze or overthink whatever the information is and look for things that aren't there sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, that's a nod towards Sigmund Freud's theories and then

Pay Attention To Detail - because details are what can make us criminals if you look back in history you'll note that most many of the major criminal events that have happened to include the Oklahoma City bombing - the Boston City bombing and other types of egregious incidents were solved by the small overlooked details when they say the critical components were identified using those details.

Finally try to do the impossible - which is avoid personal bias during your analysis personal opinions can cloud judgment and impact your direction and your influence with regard to your investigative inquiry

The last bit of information is that when you've eliminated all which is impossible then whatever remains however improbable must be the truth this is a quote from Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but it's proven to be more true more often than not.

If you found this information useful or valuable feel free to learn more by scanning the QR code or share your comments.

Thank you, and I'll see you online.