Just like ‘pieces of a puzzle'
FBI trainees at UCO say crime scenes are ...
FBI trainees at UCO say crime scenes are like 'pieces of a puzzle'

By Dawn Marks

Published: September 25, 2007

EDMOND — Methodically, FBI agents surrounded the crime scene and slowly closed into a tight circle — taking pictures, collecting fibers and looking for DNA.

Every fiber could be evidence and nothing should be lost or contaminated. Within the circle, agents could find the link to the criminal.

Though they were just practicing at a two-week evidence recovery team training at the University of Central Oklahoma, 24 agents from across the country took the crime scenarios seriously Monday as they went through their tasks.

"I just find it fascinating. I just like to put the pieces of a puzzle together,” said Brenda Walker, an evidence recovery team member based in Tulsa.

The UCO Forensic Science Institute partnered with the FBI to host the course for agents. The course is one of 17 training seminars the institute has conducted, said Dwight E. Adams, director of the university's Forensic Science Institute.

Walker's job Monday was to catalog the evidence gathered from one of the cars and create a database.

"We do a plethora of logs. We record the weather, lighting, who comes and goes,” Walker said. "We keep track of everything.”

Walker, who has worked in evidence recovery for about three years of her 12-year-tenure with the agency, said many people have the wrong idea about how crime scene investigation is done.

"Even a simple search can take all day,” she said.

As Walker typed data into a laptop computer, Megan Riddle, an evidence recovery team member based in Oklahoma City, donned white crime scene coveralls and a hat so she could vacuum the car for trace evidence.

"I don't want to have any fibers on my body to transfer into the car,” Riddle said, explaining the suit.

Adams said the benefits of the course will go beyond the agents who took the course. Videographers recorded their efforts for a training DVD to distribute to law enforcement agencies across the country. Once the DVD is finished, law officers can obtain it from FBI offices in their areas, Adams said. The training DVD will help officers learn to process evidence, especially evidence that is not visible, Adams said.

"If you don't properly collect and preserve it, it will never be analyzed in the lab,” Adams said.

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