You work at a moderately sized agency providing services to individuals with both mental and physical disabilities. The agency consists of 2 day programs, a supported employment program, and an extensive residential program of group homes and supported living arrangements.

You have been appointed to the newly created position of Director of Investigations. One of your responsibilities is to create a policy with respect to appointing Certified Investigators to incidents requiring investigation. In a recent case the county criticized the agency for appointing CI's to situations where it was apparent that the person might not be able to remain objective throughout the inquiry.

You are writing a memo to your Executive Director. In that memo you want to identify at least three criteria for appointing investigators that must be considered to help avoid placing CI's in positions where their objectivity is likely to be compromised.

What criteria would you include? (Please be as specific as possible.)