With modern technology police investigators have instant access to mountains of information in their efforts to solve crimes. Even so, investigations still come down to common sense and persistence, said Lexington Police Sgt. Stan Sharpe.

“It is still basically the same thing. People have new ways of doing old crimes. The investigations have not changed. We just have new ways of keeping up with criminals,” Sharpe said.

When investigating a crime, the responsibility of the investigator is to find all the facts and determine who did the act.

Jay Phillips of the Lexington County Sheriff’s office said common sense and knowing the law is essential. He said he appreciates modern technology, but he said people skills are still the most important aspect.

“Usually there is someone out there who saw the crime or has information. It is a matter of finding that person and getting that person to talk,” he said.

In property crimes they look for things people may have left behind, or finger prints, or things like tire tread marks. Sometimes the tire marks can be traced to a car.

Computers help them do their job in the sense of having access to information quickly.

Without computers it might be months before a pattern would be noticed, but with computer printouts it is much easier to see patterns or commonalities between crimes.

Phillips said most thieves look for a certain item, and they usually stay in a certain area.

“If a person knows how to get rid of VCR’s, he will probably be stealing those in a certain area. Often if you solve one burglary, you solve several because it is the same person,” Phillips said.

Property crimes such as burglary remain the most common crimes in the area, but police are noticing more “white collar” crime with things such as forgery and credit car fraud.

Sharpe said the advent of computers and the internet is opening new avenues for criminals.

“With printers that are out there today, people can print a check that looks very realistic,” he said.

In those cases police use things like a store’s surveillance camera, and are able to trace a lot of things through the computer.

Sharpe said there has been a rise in fraud cases, where people steal someone’s credit card information, or just something like a social security number. With that information a person can make a lot of charges and ruin someone’s credit very quickly.

Even so, the technology helps police keep up.

Phillips said there is always an electronic trail whenever a computer is used.

“Really it’s better than a paper trail,” he said.

Often police will seize a criminal’s computer, and they are able to get information from the computer about the activities of the person. Phillips has done a lot of computer investigations, and he said investigators are able to find things on people’s computers that they have deleted.

This has helped with things like computer fraud and cases of child pornography.

He said they are able to get into protected files as well, and that has led to some arrests.

“You do need computer skills. There is always new technology,” he said.

McNair said the crimes that are committed are not new, it is just a new method of delivery that criminals are using. He said he does not believe there are more crimes because of computers, it is just that there are new ways of doing things.

As technology increases, the ways of doing things and the speed of doing things change, but the basic things that people do have not changed.

“Criminals are more computer literate than we are, but we are trying to keep up,” he said.

Captain Carlisle McNair of the sheriff’s office said the modern technology helps them keep up with criminals. Even though criminals are able to use technology to their advantage, it also helps police at least keep up with them, he said.

The key to being a good investigator is being able to talk to people, and being able to think like a criminal, Jake Knotts said.

Knotts was a police investigator in the City of Columbia for many years, and he often had to resort to trickery to catch a criminal.

He investigated hundreds of crimes, and he said common sense and fairness are the keys to any successful investigation.

He began his career as a beat cop in Columbia in 1968. In those days he had more freedom than police do today in carrying out his duties.

Now a member of the state legislature, Knotts said the key to being a good cop is having a desire to be a public servant.

Over the years he used the street smarts he gained growing up in the Columbia area, and often used those smarts against the criminals he was battling with.

Knotts said it takes time to adapt to one’s community as a police officer.

“You need good common sense, the ability to communicate with people in their language, and you must be willing to be fair and to have stamina.”

Knotts spent several years working on narcotics investigations. He always tried to catch the big drug dealer, instead of settling for someone who could be arrested for simple possession.

While working the streets Knotts had a good group of informants. He said he had a knack for talking to people, and getting people to talk.

“An investigator is only as good as his informants are. It still comes down to fairness, and communication skills. All the equipment can verify it, but still you have to get people to open up to you,” he said.

Knotts also believed in thinking like a criminal in his efforts.

Once, in Columbia he had information that a shipment of 30,000 hits of LSD was coming into the Columbia area. He knew where and when, but could not get a warrant because that particular informant had not yet proven to be trustworthy.

Knotts resorted to some trickery that did not result in an arrest, but did get the drugs off the street.

He arranged to get six police cars to surround the house with their lights flashing. He had brought a photo of a runaway teenager with him. He approached the house and banged on the door.

“When I banged on the door I could hear commodes flushing. I knew they were flushing the drugs.

When they came to the door I just asked them if they had seen this little girl who had runaway. He didn’t have to tell me anything. I could tell by the look on his face that he had flushed the drugs,” Knotts said.

Later, Knotts did get a warrant on that particular dealer and made an arrest.

“It is a cat and mouse game at times. You have to think like they think, but still a good cop can outsmart criminals,” Knotts said.

In another case, he was after a heroine dealer named Pinky.

In those days there were no conspiracy laws. A person could only be arrested for selling the drugs. Pinky had a system where a customer came to his door, someone else took the money and Pinky gave the buyer a password. The person would take the password to a blind lady who would give them drugs. Pinky could not be arrested because he did not sell or distribute the drugs.

“The only person we could have arrested was the blind lady and that would not have accomplished anything,” Knotts said.

They got an officer to buy some of the drugs to get the password. Later that day that same officer made repeated visits to the blind lady and before the day was gone had taken her whole supply of drugs because Pinky had forgotten to change the password.

Later, in anger over the situation, Pinky shot at someone, and was arrested for assault.

That situation eventually erupted into somewhat of a drug war between dealers, and that helped slow down the drug traffic in Columbia for a time.

Another time Knotts had a dealer he could not make an arrest on, so again he resorted to trickery.

For about a week leading up to a planned drug sweep, Knotts went to see that dealer repeatedly.

“I made sure people saw me talking to him. It looked like I was his best friend. I went to places where I knew he wasn’t, and left notes for him, with a few dollars in the envelope. I knew people would read the notes,” Knotts said.

Finally when the big drug sweep came, many people were arrested. Those who were arrested soon realized the man Knotts had been friendly with was not arrested. Those people decided that the man must have told on them, so they were all angry with him.

“The next day people started making bond and they were all trying to kill him. He had to leave Columbia. He moved to Pittsburgh and was never able to deal drugs in this area again,” Knotts said.

Knotts also served several years as deputy coroner, and still investigated crimes. Common sense and good observation skills continued to be the key.

He recalled a case where a young woman was reported to have committed suicide, yet upon reviewing the case Knotts became convinced it was not suicide, but murder.

“The investigators were going to let it go, but I knew she had been killed,” he said.

The angle of the bullet was what got him started. He realized it would have been very difficult for her to have held the gun at that angle to shoot herself in the face. Then on further investigation, he found her fingernails turned backward, which meant she was trying to defend herself and the bullet had pushed her fingernails back.

He then found, while examining gunpowder under a microscope, that the powder on her hands had tohave come from the barrel of the gun and not from the side of the gun. She also had no residue on her hand from the shooting of a gun.