Criminal investigation and its foundation, the Criminalistic Agency, is not widely addressed in our country's academic or theoretical discourse. Instead, it is often encountered through media portrayals and public imagination. Aside from fictional scenarios crafted for movies or books by imaginative crime story authors, the Criminalistic Agency and criminal investigations are not the focus of attention among the scientific and professional community. Rather, they are grouped under what is referred to as police crime investigations, implemented through powers prescribed in positive legal acts, typically with the force of law. This is surprising, given the fact that investigating criminal activities is a core mandate of the Criminal Agency and criminal investigation. Despite many equating it with police work, it is not, or more precisely, it only resembles police work to the uninformed. Until the end of the 20th century, criminal investigation in our country was a specialized activity entrusted to the Crime Suppression Department. The primary goal of this study is to initiate a discussion on reinstating or introducing the structure of the Criminalistic Agency to its rightful place. Today, criminal agencies, from national to local levels, and criminal investigations are established in many countries. This is of paramount importance for the effective fight against crime, particularly in securing evidence. The criminalistic agency is essential for understanding crime and conducting investigations into criminal events. It serves to bring together experts in their respective fields to address critical topics, structures, processes, crime practices, and the management of criminal investigations.
Hakić et al. (Thu,) studied this question.