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Academy students collect evidence from a "stolen" car during classes at the Erie Community Police Academy. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)

Crime scene investigation work is not nearly as fun in real life than how it is depicted on television shows, but that does not mean the work is not important. It means that paperwork does not make for good television.

The Erie Community Police Academy, which meets weekly on Wednesdays at the Erie Police Department, gives residents the opportunity to delve into the world of police work, understand police procedure and build relationships with the police force.

Public Information Officer Amber Luttrell said that the community academy, which met Wednesday evening, is the most in-depth and impactful community outreach event the police department holds. The community police academy is a 10-week, annual course that covers topics from code enforcement, officer safety, critical incident management and S.W.A.T, to name a few, said Luttrell.

We like to say this is your police department and people should know what is happening in their police department, Luttrell said.

Cmdr. Mike Haefele has been with the Erie Police Department for more than 25 years and had been teaching community and official police academies for over 20 years. He said that community police academies are an abridged version of real police academies.

Sgt. Robert Vesco said that while he enjoys the occasional police show, it is not accurate to the real work at all. He said that a majority of the job includes paperwork. Vesco added that for the amount of time hes on a scene, he will spend double that completing reports on the event. Having accurate reports is important as oftentimes it can takes weeks, even months for a case to go to trial. He equated accurate and thorough reports to accurate and thorough court testimony.

The class went through different crime scene investigation and mock scenarios that police encounter. Vesco explained how to dust for fingerprints by carefully brushing over the area with just the right amount of dust and then transferring that dust to some lift tape where it can be preserved.

CSI (the television show) brought expectations of us way up, to a point where it is not attainable, Vesco said.

He explained that while dusting for prints, pushing the brush down too hard will smudge the print. Too much dust might render the print useless and there is only one chance to transfer the print to the lift tape, so it better be done right. He added that it also takes months to get results back from fingerprints. Not nearly as easy as what is shown on weekly police shows.

Detective Greg Turner gave a brief lecture of forensic DNA and explained how evidence can help but DNA does not solve a case. He also said that sending DNA to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to get results back could take months.

Turner lead a group of academy students through a mock recovered vehicle scenario and explained that a majority of investigating is documenting and reporting. Turner explained the process of taking pictures of everything, deciding what is evidence and what is not, how to document the evidence found and putting it away. He said that because it could be months for a case to get to court, being specific with evidence documentation is important.

Turner said that the community police academy gives residents a window into our world of policework.

Academy students got a small taste of the evidence collection process. They put on their gloves and started looking through the car, finding fake money, fake drug paraphernalia and weapons. He said that the course is a glimpse into the reality of the situation and while the students spent 15 minutes investigating, it could take hours for detectives to examine the scene.

Detective Shannon Crow lead the academy members through a mock crime scene death investigation. A fake living room was set up with a dummy lying on the floor, bullet casings in the floor and a bloody fingerprint on the door handle that would be missed if not fully paying attention. Crow explained how to properly document the scene: taking various pictures of evidence; placing number and measurement markers of the evidence to take pictures again; bagging evidence; drawing a map of the crime scene; keeping a list of who enters and leaves the crime scene and at what times.

During the mock investigation, one academy member asked how officers and detectives complete so much paperwork in such a dynamic environment. Crow said that one person gets assigned per task and each task gets done with precision.

Luttrell said that the nine-week course has new and different members of the Erie police department join every week to teach something different so that at the end of the course, academy members will have met the majority of the police department. Valerie Greenfield, victim services and restorative justice manager, spoke to the community academy Wednesday about victims rights.

Deputy Chief Lee Mathis said that if people choose to go into law enforcement, the best way to be a good officer is to be a human and be smart.

More information about the Erie Community Police Academy and how to join can be found on the Erie website.

Originally posted here:
Erie police connect with residents through Community Police Academy - Boulder Daily Camera