Proper Understanding of the Results of Operational-Search Activities as the Key to Solving the Problem of their Use in Proving in Criminal Cases

The authors continue the cycle of their joint research related to the problems of using the results of operational-search activities in proving criminal cases. Based on general methodological approaches to the essence of proof, the results of operational-search activities are examined in the epistemological aspect, namely, as information products that are of great cognitive value for the needs of law enforcement practice. At the same time, attention is drawn to the legal uncertainty of the category «results of operational-search activities» that is caused by the mixing of all items, documents or information obtained by operational-search means, into a single array, regardless of the methods of origin, that is, specific forms of cognitive interaction of law enforcement officers with different sources of information.

In this regard, the conclusion is drawn that the criminal procedural doctrine and criminal procedural legislation need their own (sectoral) narrower understanding of the results of operational-search activities as certain information products to be used by an inquiry officer, investigator, judiciary, and, if necessary, by other participants in a criminal case to ensure the possibility of correct application of the criminal law and resolution of a number of related issues.

It is substantiated that such an approach requires introduction into law enforcement practice of criteria that make it possible to single out the results of operational-search activities in the criminal procedural sense from a variety of other information obtained by law enforcement officers in the course of operational-search activities, namely: a) their irreproducibility, i.e., impossibility of re-obtaining the relevant information by the investigator and (or) the court; b) potential verifiability for legal goodness through the criminal procedural toolkit. Based on the foregoing, the authors’ definition of the results of operational-search activity in the criminal procedural sense is formulated.

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