What are the criminal procedure on investigation and powers of the prosecutor to press charges in California?

fendy: What are the criminal procedure on investigation and powers of the prosecutor to press charges in California?
Specifically,1) procedure on criminal investigation by the police, the function of police officers and 2) what are the scope of duty of the prosecutor and whether they are involved in criminal investigations?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Bob B
In a Common Law state like California, criminal investigation is the police’s job. Police officers will investigate crimes and gather evidence. They then give this information to a prosecutor, who decides whether or not to charge anyone. The police might liase with a prosecutor during the investigation, to talk about how much evidence they have, what they need to do, etc, but the prosecutor usually isn’t heavily involved in the investigation.

In Civil Law countries, mainly found in Europe (except the UK), prosecutors play a much larger role in the investigation itself.