Ranks of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) – crime scene investigators – within the Guyana Police Force benefited from a six-week training programme at the Officers’ Training Centre in the field of photographic, fingerprint and crime scene investigation.
Forensic science is a field forever evolving and advancing and as such, new techniques and equipment are constantly being developed to assist the law enforcement officer with the challenges of the “every scene, every time” concept.
The first module (photography) catered for the creation of crime scene photography, with the personnel commonly referred to as a forensic photographer or an evidence photographer.
The second module (fingerprint) focused on creating fingerprint technicians, who are responsible for identifying, developing, collecting, preserving, and evaluating prints (fingerprint, palm prints and footprints) as part of a crime scene investigation and submitting fingerprints to be compared with the fingerprint databases.
Finally, the third module (crime scene) centred on the reasons for most crime scene investigation failures and fixing one of the main issues of inadequate crime
Senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force pose with beneficiaries of the training programme on Monday
scene processing. Delivering the feature address was Deputy Commissioner (Law Enforcement) Lyndon Alves, who indicated that honesty should be first and corruption should never be etched on any rank’s mind.
The Crime Chief posited that every member of the public should be treated with respect, and equality and natural justice should always prevail. Training does not stop at this juncture but continues on the job, it was noted.
Alves mentioned that technology was now more important than ever, as “we must move away from the “big stick” method and rely on it.
All the participants were provided with vital information so that they can produce quality work in this department.
The programme highlighted the correct procedures to be followed in crime scene investigations and the participants were taught how to analyse unforeseen situations that could come up on scenes, and how crimes could be solved in an intelligent way.
