A plan proposed by the head of the Columbus Crime Lab would bring a whole new meaning to community policing.
Trained community volunteers would respond to property-crime scenes and help investigators by collecting evidence.
The city of Starkville and two cities in Arizona already have volunteer crime scene units, Columbus Police Department Forensic Lab Director Austin Shepherd said during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
And at least one of the board members is already sold on the idea.
Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem praised the idea at Tuesday’s meeting, calling it “wonderful,” and saying the city should “explore every opportunity.”
Shepherd said the unit would respond to such crimes as home and vehicle burglaries and collect evidence at the crime scenes, freeing up investigators to pursue suspects and speak with witnesses or residents. Shepherd said the unit would stick strictly with collecting evidence and would stay away from “personal crimes” and high-level crimes like assaults and armed robberies.
The unit will include individuals from within the city and will be on a volunteer basis.
“They will be carefully selected. They will go through background checks, have to complete a written essay, take an aptitude test and things of that nature,” said Shepherd, who is certified to conduct training for the unit. In addition to a comprehensive test, drug screening and background check, volunteers would practice on mock crime scenes and moot court. They also would take a driving course and train on using car radios and other communication devices
“I’d like to get 10 people. That would be the best goal,” Shepherd said in response to questions about how many citizens might be involved. “I think 10 would be a very solid group where they could rotate calls and no one would get burnt out.”
City officials expressed concern about Shepherd working overtime to train the unit. While Shepherd admitted it might result in some overtime during training, forming the unit eventually would cut down on investigators responding to property crimes, “because they can actually follow up in getting statements the next morning in regular business hours.”
Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin asked if the evidence collected at the scene by the volunteers has a better chance of causing the case to be thrown out of court.
“No. If they’re trained, they’re going to be trained under our evidence-collection policy and procedures. We have a very polished policy and procedures for evidence collection and maintenance,” Shepherd said.
City Attorney Jeff Turnage noted there is “no guarantee” a case won’t be thrown out of court, even if Shepherd collected it himself.
“Right. There is always the possibility,” Shepherd said.
The City Council tabled discussion on the matter and asked Shepherd to present more details on the proposed volunteer crime investigation unit.
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