Currently, responsibility for investigating crime in most societies, as in Canada and Australia, rests with established police forces. A review of the history of criminal investigation suggests a noticeable shifting of external investigative responsibility from public police forces to other types of public agencies and to private police. Within public police forces, the predominant role of detectives in the investigation of crime has been challenged. The changes emphasize the investigative function performed by uniform officers. In Australia the evidence from a series of recent Royal Commission and other inquiries into the state of organized crime indicate that the Nation's police forces are not major participants in the movement toward the scientific approach to detective work. Yet, there are two encouraging signs: a growing number of officers within Australian police forces have begun to recognize the need to acquire a new range of skills and qualifications to manage modern law enforcement operations, including coping with the expanding technological aids to crime investigation; and an increasing number of college-educated applicants seek careers in policing. If these developments prevail, there may be a slow shift towards a more scientific approach to crime investigation. Another option is to establish a national crime commission to provide Australia with a powerful criminal investigation agency. Ten notes and 40 references are included.