The study found that more productive investigative thinking styles were linked with higher levels of "creativity," i.e., the ability to envision and use innovative and flexible methods for collecting and interpreting evidence. Just following standard investigative procedures will not solve complex criminal cases. The investigative "skill style" (driven by personal qualities and abilities of relating to people at different levels) and investigative "risk style" (driven by creativity in discovering and developing information into evidence) were both positively associated with creativity. The skill style is applied when the detective keeps an open mind when investigating a case, even when certain information suggests a possible suspect or course of action. The risk style is applied when the detective keeps an open mind and keeps exploring various angles in order to find evidence. In addition to measuring skill and risk investigative styles, the study also measured the "method" thinking style (driven by procedural steps and conceptual processes for gathering information) and the "challenge" thinking style (driven by intensity of the job, the victim, the criminal, and the crime). The instrument used Likert scaling as the measurement tool. Each of the four investigative thinking styles was measured separately. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 30 references