Investigation

Until the late nineteenth century investigative work was done by the officer that responded to the call of a crime. As department grew, patrolmen were assigned as detectives. The investigation units were expanded as the population and related crime grew. By the early twentieth century, detective departments formed special units. Automobile Detectives, a group to investigate stolen cars and related crimes, was one of the first such specialties.

Scientific investigation methods such as the use of fingerprints and the development of identification bureaus had a major impact on law enforcement. The growing complexities of law enforcement led to a growing number of lawmen that were trained in the new methods and technologies of police work. The FBI initiated training programs for local law enforcement and FBI special agents led training sessions across Tennessee that included investigative techniques.

The Tennessee Bureau of Criminal Identification was created in 1951 within the Department of Safety in response to the need for a statewide criminal investigation force. The TBI was divided into two divisions, one for field investigations and one for scientific analysis of evidence. Law enforcement agencies grew to depend on the resources of state investigators. In 1980 the TBI was established as separated agency of state government under Director Arzo Carson with the name Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

TENNESSEE LAWMAN

Honoring the Men and Women behind the Badge

man behind camera with two flash attachments

Chattanooga Detective H. H. Sully was in charge of the Identification Bureau in the 1940s, and demonstrated the use of a new camera equipped for photographing prisoners.

man in long coat and derby hat with bloodhound on leach with another dog in street

Knoxville Detective Edward M. Haynes, the department’s first full-time investigator, in 1910 with his bloodhound and tracker. (Photograph courtesy of Barbara West, his granddaughter.)

composit photo of five men in suits and hats

The Nashville Detective Department in 1897. Detectives Robert J. Sidebottom and Allay Hiram Dickens at the top, Chief of Detectives, Lieutenant Samuel Fields Turner in the center and Detectives Benjamin Anthony Crockett and Daniel Lynch at the bottom. Robert Sidebottom served briefly as chief of police in 1898 and for many years afterwards as chief of detectives.

The Memphis Detective Department in 1912.

man in vest in visor with swinging panels of photographs

The Nashville Police Department Rogues Gallery contained the photographs of all felons known to the department and was a central element of the Identification Bureau in the twenties. Bertillion expert Robert Cummings updated panels that turned like pages in a special cabinet at police headquarters. (Nashville Banner photo)

two men beside car with door open and briefcase containing equipment on rear fender

TBI Agents William Kelly “Bill” Whitehurst, wearing hat, and Ambrose Moss in the field with an evidence collection kit open. The ability to perform a scientific investigation at the scene of a crimes was the reason the TBI was created.

man to right connected to equipment and two men looking on

TBI Director Bud Hopton, standing at left, looked on as Crime Technician Judson Gann demonstrated the polygraph machine on Crime Technician Archie Hamm, seated at right.

Criminal investigative work grew in complexity and specialization over the past century and a quarter. Officers with special investigative talents moved into detective bureaus in the late eighteen hundreds. Keeping records on crimes and criminals began and developing technologies were implemented by investigative units.

Memphis Police Department accident investigation squad in 1941 with the scientific equipment used for traffic accident investigation.

three men, one in uniform, beside marked van with equipment chest

The Knoxville Police Department’s first mobile crime unit was put into service in 1974. Inspecting the equipment used to collect and preserve evidence were from left to right Mayor Leonard Rogers, Captain Felix Maupin, and Sergeant Bill Smith.

two officers beside marked station wagon making plaster cast of footprint

Memphis officers assigned to the new MPD Crime Scene Squad gathered evidence as a specialized part of crime investigations.

man in suit seated at desk with microscope and camera apparatus in rear

TBI Agent Bob Goodwin set up the TBI’s first firearms laboratory. Goodwin trained with the NYPD in one of the few firearms and ballistics training programs.

two bearded men standing on either side of bales of marijuana

TBI Agent Jimmie Van Leach, left, and Jackson-Madison County Metro Narcotics Investigator Dennis Mays confiscate 200 pounds of marijuana and arrest the dealer in a motel in Jackson. This December 1984 seizure was the largest quantity of marijuana not in transit ever taken in Madison County.

two men in suits and hats looking at automobile engine

Nashville Detectives Howard Deck, left, and Harry Mott get the engine number from a stolen automobile they recovered in 1948. (Nashville Tennessean photo)

man at desk holding phone and looking in card file cabinet

Nashville Detective Sergeant H. Allen Murray, head of the auto theft bureau in the 1940s, checked the card file of automobile transactions to get information on stolen vehicles. (Nashville Tennessean photo)

two men, one standing and one seated on stool, working between two rows of filing cabinets

TBI Crime Technician Steve Cole, foreground, organized the backlog of fingerprint records under the supervision of Archie Hamm, head of the identification section.

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