Parallel construction

The State does not limit itself to lawful means in its investigations. Parallel construction is a law enforcement process of building a parallel, or separate, evidentiary basis for an investigation in order to conceal how an investigation was actually conducted.

For example, an intelligence agency collected incriminating digital evidence from a phone without a warrant, so a house raid is conducted to obtain the phone, where this evidence can then be “discovered”, so that it is not thrown out at trial because it was obtained illegally.

A particular form of parallel construction is evidence laundering, in which one police officer illegally collects evidence and then “washes” it by passing it to a second officer who develops it and turns it over to prosecutors.

Used in tactics: Incrimination