MNBG-E Soldiers Turn Forensic Detectives

Photo By Staff Sgt. Adeline Witherspoon | Pfc. Nathaniel Keefer, assigned to Multinational Battle Group-East, dusts for finger prints during an advanced crime scene investigation course on Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, Jan. 11. The training focused on investigative techniques used for collecting and processing evidence such as crime scene photography, lifting finger prints and interviewing suspects. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Adeline Witherspoon, 20th Public Affairs Detachment)  

KOSOVO

01.10.2017

Story by Spc. Adeline Witherspoon      

KFOR Regional Command East

CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo— In the U.S. military justice system, the Soldiers are represented by two separate, yet equally important, groups: the military police who investigate crime, and the Judge Advocate General’s Corps who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories. Sort of.
Military policemen working with NATO’s Kosovo Force got a chance to try their hand at some detective work during an an advanced crime scene investigation course.
The American MP’s, and a few of their Austrian counterparts from the Kosovo Force International Military Police, learned basic investigative techniques used for collecting and processing evidence such as crime scene photography, lifting finger prints and interviewing suspects.
“The goal of the training is for the MP’s to be able to implement what they’ve learned here when they respond to a crime scene,” said instructor Reed Van Wagoner, a special agent assigned to the 5th Military Police Battalion, headquartered in Kleber Kaserne, Kaiserslautern, Germany. “They know what steps to take and what the Criminal Investigation Division will need from them so that they don’t contaminate the evidence.”
This in-depth training is essential for military police because the Soldiers gained an opportunity to see, first-hand, how evidence is collected, and that proper handling of a crime scene could make, or break, a case.
“There’s so much happening that it’s easy for evidence to be overlooked,” said Van Wagoner. “If they contaminate that evidence when they initially arrive on the scene, then we lose that evidence in court, so it becomes harder to show exactly what happened.”
Soldiers put their skills to the test collecting evidence from a simulated crime scene and compared it to the dramatized scenarios seen on television.
“The equipment and skills that they show on TV are not always what are available to most agencies,” said Van Wagoner. “We can’t go process DNA in a couple hours. In reality it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of time to solve the cases that we do.”
But there’s more to collecting evidence than dusting for prints and snapping photos. Sometimes it takes a human touch. The Soldiers also learned how to question suspects and that sometimes it’s not what you ask, but how you ask it that makes all the difference.
“As far as the sexual assault training is concerned, it’s about knowing how to respond to a victim,” said Van Wagoner, who specializes in sexual assault investigation. “We don’t want them to feel any more traumatized than they already are.”
For Pfc. Courtney Reeves, a Soldier assigned to the 591st Military Police Battalion, the techniques she learned during the two-day course here will better prepare her to meet the demands as part of Kosovo Force and back home in the United States.
“We have a lot of calls that we go on back home at Fort Bliss,” said Reeves. “It will be really helpful for us to learn all this stuff now.”
After the training, Reeves and her fellow Soldiers said they have a much better understanding of their roles in protecting and collecting evidence when responding to a crime scene.

• Date Taken: 01.10.2017
• Date Posted: 01.18.2017 12:25
• Story ID: 220420
• Location: ZZ