Law enforcement agencies within Kosciusko County have combined resources by creating the Kosciusko Major Crimes Task Force.
According to Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Hampton, “This task force creates better time management for law enforcement investigations. It allows patrol officers and detectives to remain on their assigned duties while trained specialists collect the evidence at major crime scenes.”
The law enforcement officers who qualify to be a member of the Major Crimes Task Force are those officers who are assigned to Kosciusko County and have received specialized training as evidence technicians.
The appointment to the task force is decided by the specific agencies’ command officer and the Kosciusko County prosecuting attorney.
The officers who are currently appointed to the task force are made up of the following agencies: Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, Warsaw Police Department, Winona Lake Police Department, Syracuse Police Department and Indiana State Police. Most personnel assigned to the Kosciusko Major Crime Task Force will rotate, on a weekly basis, as the supervisor/on-call crime scene technician for the designated time of their rotation. The supervisor can determine if additional technicians are necessary to process a crime scene and can then call for assistance from other members of the task force.
These crime scene technicians will be responsible for the processing of crime scenes.
The processing may include detection of latent fingerprints, crime scene photography, crime scene video, preservation/collection of physical evidence and crime scene sketching. The technicians may be responsible for the collection and processing of evidence at all major crime scenes including homicide and death investigations, suicides, robberies, rapes, fire scenes, battery with serious bodily injury, autopsies, child abuse, burglaries, assisting the Fatal Alcohol Crash Team, processing searches of vehicles, computer-related crimes and certain types of drug cases.
The projected date for implementing the Kosciusko Major Crimes Task Force is September.
