CSI: Houston

Last night was the final formal class at Citizens Police Academy. Our speaker was a long-time member of the Houston Police Department’s Crime Scene Unit. His was one of the presentations I had been looking forward to most, and he didn’t disappoint. Part of his job was to set the record straight. To de-C.S.I. the CSU. The main message on this subject: crime scene investigators do not do the laboratory investigation, nor do they interrogate the suspects or make arrests. They don’t have a lot of the fancy gadgetry at hand that we see on television—and one would suspect that the Las Vegas PD is a smaller endeavor than the HPD based purely on population.

In many cases, patrol officers collect the evidence in non-homicide crimes, unless a scene is large and complex. Gun shot residue is not as important as we’re lead to believe, and it’s very easy to wash off. Complex scene recreations are rarely done, though they do occasionally get out the strings to map blood spatter to a point of origin, especially if the victim has been moved. Luminol is a pain to use because the room has to be completely dark for it to be observed, and there are several things—like vegetable matter—that can give false positives.

And much, much more. All very interesting. I recorded the entire 10-week class on my digital tape recorder so I can go back if it happens that I need to refresh my mind about something. Next week: graduation!

I only wrote about 1000 words this morning, but it’s my wedding anniversary, so I can be forgiven for being distracted. At one point I thought that maybe I’d be able to catch up on the weekend, but to get completely back on track by the end of Sunday, I’d have to write nearly 5000 words a day tomorrow and Sunday. Like that’s ever going to happen! I think I am going to have to accept the possibility that NaNoWriMo was a fool’s errand this year, while at the same time acknowledging that I’ve gotten a ton of work done on my novel in the past 10 days.