Features and issues of forest fires investigation

Introduction: article discusses specificities of forest fires. The authors prove the need for in-depth study reasons lowering comprehensiveness of the evidence during conduct of investigation and pre-investigation actions. Materials and Methods: to identify features of the given type of investigation the authors used comparative analysis in the methods of a fire place, specific approaches in fire investigation and arsons. The authors used the method of morphological analysis of regulatory acts to identify regulatory challenges in social relations that emerge in criminal detection and investigation of forest damage and destruction caused by careless handling of fire, arson or fire security regulations. Results: basing on the study the authors concluded that low crime detection of fire crimes relates to incomplete evidence. Discussion and Conclusions: According to the authors’ view the main reason is improper interactions between the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian Forestry Agency, the Prosecutor-General's Office, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters, lack of ongoing interagency crime scene investigation team. Lack of expertise of inquiry officers and investigators involved in fire investigation exposed the need for a specialized department for initial investigation of environmental crimes in the Investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its subdivisions.