Special to the Journal

Law enforcement officers from Hamlet, Rockingham, Albemarle, and Oakboro police departments honed their crime scene documentation skills in a Richmond Community College Continuing Education course on forensic photography. Taught by H.W. “Rus” Ruslander with the Palm Beach County’s Medical Examiner’s Office in Florida, the course provided students ways to use the equipment at hand to do the best job possible.

“When working a major crime scene, lots of problems can occur when you get a confession from this person who says he shot and killed someone. The investigation is not over. You need to follow through with the other investigative techniques so that if any one item gets thrown out of court, the case is still going to stand on the merits of the other items,” said Ruslander.

In March, Ruslander taught a week-long course at RCC on crime scene investigation that taught how to process crime scenes and evidence. The photography and video course adds to the skills learned in that course. Another plus is that officers are now very familiar with their department’s digital and video cameras.

Hamlet Police Captain Bob Steele has learned a lot about using a flash and particular lens to bring out details on a fingerprint.

“You can look at something and not see it with the naked eye, but once it has been put into a solution, you can use different light sources to show a finger print on a tin can, bottle, or glass,” he said.

Rockingham Police Detective Donavan Young said he better understands the importance of digital photography as it relates to prosecution of criminals.

“When you don’t have a confession, you have digital proof to show the jury,” said Young.

RCC Vice President for Continuing Education Richard Garrett said the college is offering a series of crime scene investigation courses this year for law enforcement officials and is exploring a partnership with the district attorney’s office to offer more courses in the future.