A unanimous vote by the Richmond Community College Board of Trustees this month ensured a program at the college designed to equip law enforcement with the latest cutting-edge training in the field of forensic investigations.

The International Forensics Institute is the brainchild of North Carolina Prosecutorial District 20 A District Attorney Michael Parker and the office’s Forensic investigator Laura Pettler, and has already held three week-long courses on RCC’s campus this year.

“This is an idea that spawned from the work I’ve done with an investigator in my office, who is actually the first forensic scientist ever hired by the State of North Carolina,” Parker told the college’s trustees. “For those of you who ever watched CSI on T.V. you need to understand that is the modern day equivalent of Star Trek in the 1960’s. We can’t do what they can do on that show, which is causing problems for us, really all over the United States.”

He said there are prosecutors who make a living purely off consulting with other prosecutors “to de-CSI potential jurors.”

“Well, that is one way to approach the problem,” Parker continued. “My way of approaching the problem is to look at what they’re doing on television, and recognize that that has practical application in some our cases, and in the courtroom when we try those cases.”

He said the core concept of the Institute “involves us bringing internationally recognized figures form all over the world to Richmond Community College to offer these training courses to our local law enforcement agencies.”

The first three classes offered this year featured courses in overall forensic investigation, blood spatter analysis and crime scene photography. Parker said a fourth course in buried body location and excavation will be offered this year, and a course in crime scene reconstruction is being planned for the Fall semester.

“In North Carolina, we don’t necessarily have certifications in crime scene reconstruction,” Parker said. “I think this opens up a world of possibilities for our law enforcement officers.”

Parker said in a previous interview with the Daily Journal that he’d used crime scene reconstruction in preparation to prosecute one violent crime in his district, but once the defendant’s lawyers saw the elaborate lengths the District Attorney’s office went to in preparation for trial they elected to plead guilty in hopes of a lighter sentence.

“At the new courthouse in Richmond County, my office will actually have a suite devoted to crime scene reconstruction,” Parker said. “And we will be willing to allow the suite to be used as a laboratory for the training.”

RCC Trustee Dale Ormsby asked Parker how this program will be publicized, and Parker introduced the Forensic Association of the Carolinas.

He and Pettler started the organization to help spread these investigation techniques, and membership has grown to more than 400 since the first meeting in May.

“At one of our recent classes, we had a guy who came here from England to take the course,” Parker said. “He said that this type of cutting-edge, world class training is just not being offered anywhere else.”

In other business:

n The trustees unanimously approved a resolution against North Carolina Executive Order 22, introduced by RCC Trustee Glenn Sumpter.

Gov. Bev Perdue issued this order asking for all state agencies to remand 5 percent of their budget allotment.

The resolution notes community college funding is already in arrears, and this order is, in essence, a cut on top of a cut, which is especially difficult in a year with 10 percent growth.

RCC Spokeswoman Anne Morris said all 58 of the state’s community colleges are expected to pass a similar resolution.

n The college received a $500,000 grant from the Department of Education Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education.

The focus of the grant is to integrate WorkKeys certification into curriculum programs, and to assist working students and displaced workers in developing new skill sets.

n RCC President Dr. Sharon Morrissey told the board the college will begin advertising for the position of Small Business Center Director.

The position became vacant after the retirement of Lowery Ballard earlier this year.

“We’ve held this position open long enough, and hope to have it filled by Jan. 1,” she said.

In addition, she said an Information Technology position at the college has come open, and the essential nature of the position most likely means it won’t be subject to the hiring freeze.

“We’ve got a lot of networks and computers on campus, so we need someone in this position,” she said.

Two other positions will also be filled in the near future, Morrissey said, an English as a Second Language Instructor position at Morrison Correctional Institution and a nursing instructor position.

n Morrissey also provided the trustees with an update on construction on RCC’s satellite campus in Laurinburg.

Construction on the F. Diane Honeycutt Center is underway. It should be ready for occupancy in mid-June.