Criminal justice course offers real-life glimpse

Christian Giggenbach
Register-Herald Reporter

April 13, 2008 11:18 pm

— LEWISBURG — Why would a criminal justice major want to study bugs and play with remote-controlled robots?
For the same altruistic reasons that help law enforcement officials in West Virginia solve tough crimes and keep the public safe on a daily basis.
State Police 1st Sgt. J.L. Cahill is teaching the last two weeks of a “special topics” criminal justice course at the Lewisburg campus of the New River Community and Technical College.
Cahill has called upon friends and colleagues in his profession to visit his class and speak first-hand about their experiences in the field so students can get a real-life glimpse at potential jobs.
At the end of the semester, students must also spend a day in the shoes of professionals by “shadowing” them on the job.
“It gives kids exposure to different types of jobs our there. I wish I had taken this class 20 years ago,” Cahill said of the unique course being offered for the first time. “Dean Roger Griffith, the school’s criminal justice director, Jerry Dale and I put the course together.”
Speakers this year have included FBI agents, Secret Service, Capitol Police, U.S. and Air marshals, public defenders, parole officers, lawyers and others.
Last week, Korri Powers of the State Police crime lab and Cpl. A.W. Webb of State Police special operations lectured the class on their respective fields.
“If you burn it or blow it up, then that’s my passion — fire,” said Powers, the section head of lab’s trace evidence division. “Fires are extremely difficult to clear. I can tell you that it’s arson, but I can’t always link the person to it that did it.”
Powers told the class how some popular television shows have shaped public opinion on how crime labs operate. She calls it the “CSI effect.”
Powers is grateful for the media attention and the subsequent increase in grant dollars for her office, but less enthusiastic about how her counterparts portray solving crimes on TV.
“Prosecutors and lawyers watch the shows and see crimes being solved in 40 minutes and wonder why we can’t do the same,” Powers said. “We have to give them a reality check on letting them know we aren’t on TV.”
And some of the techniques used on the show don’t exactly follow the protocols of her office.
“What I’m jealous of is that they use the same instrument for everything,” Powers, a 2001 Marshall graduate, jokingly said. “Some of their techniques are the same as putting something in the refrigerator in order to cook it.”
Powers said because of the backlog of cases and manpower shortage, a sex crime case searching for a DNA match may take up to 18 months to complete. And that’s with six full-time analysts. She believes the lab has enough work to support another two dozen DNA scientists.
And how do bugs solve murder crimes? When a body is dumped in the woods, different bugs come during different stages of decomposition. That helps determine the approximate time of death, she said.
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After a short break, Cahill took the students outside and introduced them to Webb and his $140,000 hazardous-duty robot. The remote-controlled, 400-pound aluminum robot can be used for a variety of situations, such as handling bombs or hostage negotiations.
The robot has video and audio capabilities and can be used to gain access to areas that are too dangerous for officers. For instance, a few years ago in Kanawha City, the robot helped police gain entry into a hotel room during a stand-off.
“It can perform the same duties that a human can,” Webb said. “It’s very reliable and can also render bombs safe by stopping their mechanisms.”
Since 2002, the robot has been used about seven times, he said, in hostage situations and the discovery of suspicious packages.
“At this time of the year, my day usually starts out with someone cleaning out grandpa’s old barn and finding blasting caps or some type of explosives. Twenty years ago, if a farmer wanted to blow up a stump, then they went out and bought some dynamite.”
Unfortunately, Webb said, some of these explosives are disposed of in creeks and rivers, where he eventually has to fish them out. However, he will take the explosives off your hands if you call the State Police.
“Call the local State Police and we will come and take care of it free of charge,” he said.
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Cahill, who has taught at the school the last five years, said the course will probably not be offered every semester, but he looks forward to instructing the course soon.
“The overall theme is to give young kids exposure to these jobs so they won’t be intimidated by them and not enter into that field,” he said. “There’s a bit of an inferiority complex associated with certain jobs for some people.”
— E-mail:
cgiggenbach@register-herald.com

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