You’ve been hired to investigate an incident that took place 3 months prior. Let’s say it’s a traffic accident. It occurred on a specific day at a specific time. How do you go about finding any witnesses to the accident, particularly if it happened some time ago. In a case like this, you go back to the tried and true old fashion way, you conduct a canvass of the area.
Time permitting, it’s very important that you conduct your witness canvass on the same day of the week and at the same time that the incident happened. Let me give an example of what I mean. An attorney hired me to investigate a traffic accident. The accident took place on a weekend night shortly after midnight. It occurred on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood. I went there on the same day of the week and began my canvass about a half hour before the accident occurred. There were a few stores still open, and I happened to find an employee at one of the businesses who happened to be looking out the window and saw the accident. Because he was a night time employee, I never would have found him if I had gone out in the daytime to canvass.
Another reason you want to go out at the same time as the incident is that you can see what the lighting in the area was like at the time of the incident along with the pedestrian and vehicle traffic. This gives you a much better feel for the incident scene similar to when it occurred. You also may find a witness on a delivery truck or other work related vehicle that happens to stop by around the time of your incident. As I’ve stated before on this blog, you only need to find one witness to break a case wide open.
