LAPD Detectives Share Investigation Techniques With Chamisa Elementary School Students

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on November 15, 2014
- 8:24 pm

Det. Sgt. Oliver Morris shares with Chamisa’s third and fourth graders how Los Alamos police conduct investigations. Photo by Kateri Morris

Cpl. Adele Girmendonk. Photo by Kateri Morris

CHAMISA News:

Members of the Los Alamos Police Department Detective Division headed by Det. Sgt. Oliver Morris were out in full force Nov. 7 at Chamisa Elementary School. Fortunately, the detectives were not securing a crime scene at the school.

In keeping with Chamisa’s theme this academic year, “Chamisa Investigations Academy”, the detectives were sharing with Chamisa’s third and fourth graders how Los Alamos police conduct investigations and the schooling necessary to be a detective.

Morris and detectives Ben Hinrichs, Joey Robinson and Cpl. Adele Girmendonk engaged the students with many examples of the types of forensic work performed by the detectives. Student fingerprints were taken from aluminum cans held by students. Shoe prints and fingerprints on surfaces came to life after a fiberglass filament brush was used to dust surfaces with a fluorescent powder. Metal containers to hold evidence and specialized boxes to store weapons encouraged students to think how evidence collected has to be stored – sometimes for years in the future.

Donning specially tinted glasses and using flashlights with different colors of light, the students could see dried fluids that were otherwise invisible to the eye. Serial numbers that had been filed off metal were restored and could be read almost like magic.

The presentations generated many student questions, which the officers answered before the dismissal bell rang and the students left for home to tell their families about the tools the LAPD detectives use in their work.

LAPD Det. Joey Robinson. Photo by Kateri Morris