ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the investigation process model and shows how incident investigation shares its nature with the scientific method. Investigation of ongoing and past events is a necessary activity. It enables individuals, organisations and communities to react, respond and learn, and it contributes to a safer and more secure society. Criminal investigation is an essential task for most law enforcement organisations, and a vital part of policing and crime-fighting. In the modern world, we cannot investigate physical crimes and other unwanted incidents without examining digital evidence. Equally, we cannot investigate digital events in isolation. The investigation model presented here views all incidents as equal and places investigations into context, details and visualises the various investigation actions and the relationship between them, and contributes to a greater understanding of the investigation process. The model also provides a framework for further research in an inherently multi-disciplinary field. [145 words]
