CRIME SCENE UNIT

The Crime Scene Unit responds to all major crimes where there is a possibility of the collection of physical evidence.  Evidence can consist of blood, fibers, fingerprints, or about anything that could potentially be introduced as evidence during a trial.  These detectives receive a considerable amount of specialized training to aid in the proper collection and preservation of evidence collected, as well as training to enable them to conduct certain examinations of the evidence recovered.

The Crime Scene Unit processes evidence that has been collected and turned in by other members of the department for a variety of offenses.  Many forensic examinations are conducted in the CPD lab.  Some of the more advanced examinations, such as DNA, are sent to the WV State Police Forensic Lab in So. Charleston, WV for testing.

In any major crime, the Crime Scene Unit is an integral part of the subsequent court proceedings.  They have to account for how the evidence was collected, handled, processed and stored from the time it was collected until the time of trial.