Video: Officers And Investigators Get CSI Training

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – This week, around ten Columbus Police Officers and Crime Scene Investigators are coming together for some intense training.

The department’s forensic director, Austin Shepard, says this training is a refresher course for many.

“Just getting them familiarized with the basics of crime scene response and kind of have an idea of where the investigation is going and what the crime scene personnel is going to require when they get out on the crime scene,” said Shepard.

One of the main focuses of the training is to take your time and pay attention to little details.

Popular crime scene shows often make it look like tough crimes can be solved quickly.

Shepard says they call this the ‘ CSI Effect.’

“You know everyone has watched CSI, everyone has watched NCIS so they expect really quick results and the reality is for the most part, forensic scientists, crime labs, investigators, everyone’s got a lot on their plate. So you focus as much as you can then you have to understand too that any type of investigation is really a long-term process. It’s certainly something you don’t want to rush through and miss important facts,” added Shepard.

As part of the three day training course, investigators and officers get hands-on experience as they analyze mock crime scenes.

For those taking part in the training course, they say it’s always best to stay ahead of the learning game.

“From day to day everything changes. No two scenes are alike so it just lets the officers be aware of what to do and the investigators to do when they’re on scene,” said Tabertha Hardin, CPD Investigator.

“Because I’m able to learn new techniques as well as use some of the older techniques that we weren’t using,” said Christopher Vanhouten, CPD Investigator.

This is the first time for the training but organizers hope to open it to other law enforcement agencies in the future.