Army to put civilian in charge of criminal probes, add staff

[qazplm135]

1. The problem with CID

is not who runs it, but who it uses to conduct investigations.

To become a CID agent they seek out E4s and E5s. Train them, and turn them into "special agents."

There are a few warrant officers sprinkled in, but primarily it is an enlisted/NCO run organization.

Now, we have great, smart and high speed enlisted and NCO in the Army. But quite frankly, if I have someone working as a CID agent on a sex assault or murder case, I don't want it to be low level NCOs doing the investigating. They need to at least make it like pilots where you have to be a warrant officer to be a CID agent. Require a bachelor's degree. Make the training last a lot longer. Have an age cutoff or years of service minimum, or make it an MOS where you pick the high achievers on the ASVAB and send them off to a year of training.

I spent too many years a military prosecutor or defense attorney lamenting the poor job done by CID agents in the initial investigation stages. And it wasn't because of interference from on high, it was because it was Specialists and Sergeants who were 22, 23, 24, 25 years old, no degree, and not nearly enough training doing the initial crime scene stuff and interviews. Attorneys are always having to step in and do basic investigative work on both sides.