CPCA - Criminal Investigation Overview - 030805

This was an amazing night. They told us to come prepared for having our outfits messed up with fingerprinting techniques, but we didn't get around to that -- at least, not to the extent that we thought we were going to do.

A couple of detectives shared their "war" stories in CID (the Criminal Investigations Department) of the Cedar Park Police Department. Amazing stories indeed and certainly that will be engrained in my head for years to come.

However, the most impressionable point of that evening was visiting the Crime Evidence Room. It was later told to us that no one, outside of the force, had had the opportunity to be in that room. I was amazed at their storage of an array of crime evidence storage areas -- including a lab room of sorts (not like CSI's), a enclosed area for storage of weapons within individual lockers, a mobile file cabinet to store various tapes and items in a compacted means, a desk area to type up various reports and a pass through system where evidence is locked down until it can then be logged in, processed (if need be for dna/fingerprinting/etc. testing), and stored for trial. Being of a paralegal background and having had to batestamp documents for trials, etc., I am very appreciative of the work that is involved in the processing of the evidence through the evidence room.

I would think that someone with my background could do well in that area, but would be improved upon by the Criminal Evidence Certificate that Kaplan University offers its students. Something that I am certainly going to have to look into myself.

Very interesting evening. I am glad I have been a part of the Cedar Park Police Department's Citizens' Academy Program.