For Immediate Release
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net
NEMLEC Foundation Sponsors Criminal Investigations Training Program
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CHELMSFORD — The North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) Police Foundation sponsored a Basic Criminal Investigator Training Program at the Chelmsford Police Department from March 16-26, allowing municipal police detectives from many of the 61 cities and towns that NEMLEC represents to participate in a comprehensive, hands-on training program.
“We are proud to be able to support our police departments through programs such as the criminal investigators training,” said NEMLEC Foundation Director Sharon Crowley. “Continuing education and training is a vital to the success of these departments.”
The purpose of this program is to better equip law enforcement investigators in managing investigations, managing and reconstructing crime scenes, writing and executing search warrants, completing thorough reports, and preparing cases for prosecution.
Bill Powers, a renowned former Massachusetts State Police Detective Lieutenant, facilitated the program. Powers, who currently serves as Chief of the Wentworth Institute of Technology Police, trains police officers and detectives all across the Commonwealth. Retired State Police Sergeant Brian O’Hara and Watertown Police Detective Dave MacNeil also came in for the first two days of the training for intensive instruction on crime scene analysis, including fingerprinting, documentation, and procedures to ensure the preservation of evidence.
Ken Lavallee, Retired Superintendent of the Lowell Police Department and NEMLEC Foundation Director, also provided instruction on bank fraud. Several area police chiefs, Assistant Middlesex District Attorneys and Judge Robert Brennan, of Salem District Court, also participated, leading various modules of the training course.
Powers ended the two-week program with leadership training and procedures on how to handle officer-involved shootings.
Twenty-five police detectives were placed in groups of five, and each of them was assigned a case of robbery, stalking, auto theft, rape, or burglary in which they applied techniques learned in the classroom and from staged crime scenes. Detectives practiced lifting fingerprints, testing for blood, identification, documentation, preservation of evidence, and how to correctly photograph crime scenes.
“Programs like this provide a unique opportunity for members of our police departments to further develop important skills through hands-on training,” said Richard Raymond, the Chairman of the NEMLEC Foundation and CEO of Armstrong Ambulance. “Our foundation is pleased to be able to continue to offer the support they may not otherwise have.”
Participating detectives had the opportunity to tour the state medical examiner’s office and to practice role-playing interviews with suspects and witnesses with Middlesex Community College Performing Arts students playing various roles.
This was the ninth NEMLEC Foundation-sponsored detectives training session. Since 2007, 225 detectives from 61 cities, towns, and sheriff’s departments in Middlesex and Essex Counties have gone through this vital training.
The training was subsidized by the NEMLEC Police Foundation Inc. and cost departments just $500 per person for the entire two week program.
“Training sessions this in-depth can cost police departments thousands of dollars. Thanks to the NEMLEC Foundation, agencies big and small have access to advanced training resources at a fraction of the usual cost,” said Chelmsford Police Chief James Spinney. “We are proud to have hosted this fantastic program and look forward to working with our partner agencies for years to come.”
The training session included detectives from the Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Billerica, Burlington, Chelmsford, Concord, Danvers, Hamilton, Lexington, Maynard, North Reading, Reading, Sudbury, Tewksbury, Weston, and Woburn Police Departments.
About the NEMLEC Police Foundation:
The NEMLEC Police Foundation, Inc. exists to promote and pursue training, education, research, projects, and programs that benefit municipal police agencies and their communities in Northeastern Massachusetts. The foundation promotes the public’s understanding of their police departments. It receives gifts, contributions, and grants from individual benefactors or private organizations and distributes those gifts to benefit The North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council and its cities and towns. Follow the Foundation on Twitter @NEMLECInc or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NEMLEC-Police-Foundation-Inc.
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