Real-life CSI work puts Edmond investigator at top
Edmond detective to head international association

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BY DIANA BALDWIN

Published: January 14, 2009

EDMOND — Detective Boyd Mize doesn’t have to turn on the television to get his weekly fill of CSI.

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Mize is a crime scene investigator for the Edmond Police Department. Next month he will become the president of an international crime scene investigators’ association.

Association of Crime Scene Reconstruction is a group of almost 400 members across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Mize, a technical investigator for 15 years, will be installed as president Feb. 13 at the annual training conference in Denver.

The popularity of the association, whose members investigate crime scenes, perform forensic analyses and comparisons on evidence from crime scenes, has rapidly grown because of the CSI shows on television, said Mize and other police officers.

Even though today’s CSI programs aren’t exactly like real-life crime scene investigations, Mize said police investigators are paying more attention to the Miami, Las Vegas and New York crimes created for entertainment.

"CSI shows have a lot of effect in court,” said Mize, a 30-year police veteran. "This is what jurors know and what they expect. It is kind of crazy.

"On television, a lot of the sciences are the same as in official police work, but the methodology isn’t quite on target.”

Favorable reflection

Lt. Tom Custer, Edmond supervisor of the criminal investigations division, said the association isn’t about inventing new "gizmos.”

"They are about learning new techniques, setting protocols and maintaining professional standards that are the backbone of the profession and absolutely necessary in the real-world courtroom,” said Custer, Mize’s supervisor. "Boyd’s service and dedication reflects favorably on Edmond Police Department and keeps us on the cutting edge of this ever-growing science along with our partners in the field at Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and University of Central Oklahoma.”

During his yearlong term as president, Mize hopes to continue the association’s effort to create different levels of certification for the crime scene technicians.

Police officers, civilians, laboratory workers, private investigators and consultants make up the group.

"We go where the evidence leads us,” Mize said.