Give detective more information.

[Pacmandevil]

As it is now, Detective plays like a CSI without Forensics access, and the only thing that they, as a detective can do, that a random grayshirt can't. is have an office, and a gun with lethals.

Detective, as a concept, is based around information, however, 99% of the physical information the detective can get comes from forensics, which I feel is "meh" at best, as the detective can't even get access to do it if there's no CSI.

I'm of the oppinion the detective generally should be provided with more information - ideally stuff the CSI can't access, such as a shoe-pattern database, to get what type of shoe it was, logs from cameras (Presumably cameras should be able to output logs - ideally vague due to low spess resolution) or other machines. things like that.

I'm actually planning on doing this eventually, I'd just like more feedback on what information detective should be able to get that a CSI wouldn't.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

How are you playing detective? You are not forensics without access or a greyshirt. Yeah you get forensics from the CSI, but that's not all that you do. I barely have any free time when detective when crimes happen because there's a lot more than you can do than run around a scene. Question witnesses, reconstruct the scene in your head, use the evidence from the CSI to rebuild what happened. Your goal is to make a case report that can convince security that X or Y did the crime. There's more to investigating and being sleuthy than waving a scanner over everything and having machines hold your hand. You gotta use a basic level of deductive reasoning and be able to justify your findings and piece together the CSI's findings.

[Pacmandevil]

I don't see how whoever's playstlye with detective matters at all, as the suggestion is giving them more ways to aquire information.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

The playstyle does matter because it is CSI's lane to gather forensic information, while the detectives' lane is to build a case report using the information from the CSI as well as his/her own investigation of witnesses, crime scene, etc. Giving these tools to detective would reinforce the mindset that they are a generic, bootleg CSI.

[Pacmandevil]

None of the above suggested changes are within the range of "forensics", and would only add more things for the detective to investigate in a crime scene, that are not forensics related. instead of "oh yeah there's blood that's nice" and "well I guess they died here". none of which are particularly useful.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Shoe prints(?) are forensic evidence the same as a thumb print. Getting logs from security cameras could be a detective thing, but it is also impossible code-wise if I recall.

[Pacmandevil]

According to Wikipedia's definition of "Forensic Investigation" It has no mention or even hints at Footprints being in the scope.

And you shouldn't say something is impossible, I already have it planned out.

[Azande]

Source: The Crime Museum

"Footprints. For years, criminal investigators and forensic scientists have used fingerprints to determine identity"

Both detectives and CSIs use footprints. When I play detective, I always have enough to do.