Crime investigator gets animated (6)
I believe the answer is:
piracy
'crime' is the definition.
(piracy is a kind of crime)
'investigator gets animated' is the wordplay.
'investigator' becomes 'pi' (I've seen this in other clues).
'gets' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'animated' becomes 'racy' (racy can mean animated or exciting).
'pi'+'racy'='PIRACY'
(Other definitions for piracy that I've seen before include "Copyright infringement" , "Buccaneering" , "Crime" , "theft" , "Illegal copying" .)