Research into the intelligence processes in two child murder cases shows that ‘information management is no longer simply an administrative support function or technical service, but an integral part of the strategy of the organisation’. Consequently, its importance must be demonstrated in the organisation’s structure and in the resources allocated to it. Problems were caused by the divide between information specialists and detectives. This illustrates the disadvantages of a detection system which fails to preserve either information or knowledge, the tensions between detectives and intelligence officers as members of separate, incompletely integrated teams, and the importance of incorporating tacit learning-by-doing into a knowledge base accessible to both detectives and intelligence staff.