Features of the investigator's (inquirer's) activity before the criminal case initiation

The activities of authorised officials of state bodies to verify reports of a crime and to make lawful and justified decisions on initiating a criminal case are of the most important nature. They precede and cause the beginning of preliminary investigation and related investigative and procedural actions. The clarification of the role and place of the actions connected with the decision to initiate a criminal case is important, since the possibility to use the information obtained during the verification of crime reports in the proof depends on the solution of this question. Noteworthy are the serious changes in the role and the current state of this institution at the current stage of the development of the criminal procedural legislation of Russia. At the present stage of the Russian criminal procedure and knowledge about it, the question of the role and significance of the institution remains controversial and relevant. It is interesting that in this issue most authors, relying on the works of previous years, defend the idea of the criminal procedure nature of actions to verify reports of crimes and each time give a similar set of arguments, which is presented below. It is interesting that, in general, the usual arguments of positions, in one form or another, are used by supporters and opponents of identifying the initiation of a criminal case with the stage of the procedure, as well as by those who discuss the procedural nature of actions connected with the initiation of a criminal case. The authors come to a conclusion that the content of the activities on the verification of reports of a crime, which is the central and most important element of the institution of a criminal case initiation, should be a system of measures specified in law aimed at establishing the presence or absence of grounds for initiating a criminal case. Taking into account the above characteristics, it is necessary to recognise the activities for the acceptance, verification, review and decision on the reported crimes an independent direction in the work of law enforcement agencies, whose purpose and tasks are closely related to the purpose and tasks of criminal procedural activities at the stage of preliminary investigation, but not absorbed by the latter.

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