Extra Blog

So today on 12/14/2015  I received a bunch of unique, and rare experiences with my mentorship. Including an up close interview with a judge, and packaging more awesome evidence. Please refer to log for additional information.

• Today got to fill out evidence forms and packaged actual evidence such as a 9mm Smith & Wesson, a standard cutlery knife, and a cellphone. (More specifically a Samsung LG.). During this process I learned something new, which was "class" characteristics vs. "individualistic" characteristics. Basically what this means is that just like a crime scene, with evidence you start general, then work your way towards more specific identifiers, that make the evidence unique. For example if I had a soda can I would say here I see a 12 ounce soda can, unopened, brand Pepsi, flavor cherry. Then I might get more specific and say on the side of the upper lip of the can there is a scratch approx. 8cm long.

Extra Blog Post

   So the above photo is an example of a photo that would be acceptable in court and a photo that would not be acceptable in court.The left photo is clear and can be zoomed in to see other details. While the photo on the right is very grainy, and would be very pixelated if it was zoomed any further. These are photos that I took during mentorship during 12/9/2015 please refer to Senior Project Hours Link for additional information.

   So as you can see the two photos have different lighting, which reveal different details. This is essential for determining the depth of the show impression, which can determine weight, and so on. CSI Tony N. explained to me that for each shoe impression they take a minimum of 12 photos of varying angles and lighting.

Extra Blog Post

Mentorship has been pretty eventful late fully so I thought I might post some pictures here. *see captions for story*

Here are the two officials who were in charge of sorting the drugs. In the corner is the main detective (Detective Lange) overseeing everything. These drugs were only a portion of the surrendered drugs from the EDM festival in Pomona where two girls overdosed.{The two officials were British so it was fun to hear them speak, they cracked a lot of jokes on how the drugs looked like candy.}

Above are some of the drugs found, the capsules are mainly molly(ecstasy). The colorful ones are LSDs they vary on purity, content, and name. So each dealer will usually have their own logo so they become know. Some of the ones above are Pac man, Warner Brothers,  and Micky Mouse. (See if you can tell which one is which :) )

Above are more popular LSDs see if you can identify Superman, Green Lantern, two different forms of Tesla, Playboy, and Ups. Ups is one of the newest LSDs and is very, very strong. LSDs can also look like gum, or little strips placed on the bottom of the tongue.

Above are the two officers who came in with the bags of meth and a handgun.

Of Course Weed (Joints), and Shrooms were recovered from the EDM festival.

Side note: If you are a teen reading this, please don't do drugs, or take something someone gives you. Never leave your drink unsupervised, even with your friends, because you will never know how your body will react to drugs. (Even though they are pretty and colorful don't do it!)Unfortunately two young girls did die at the EDM festival due to overdose.

Extra Mentorship Blog

Above is the back of the Pomona Police Station where the police vehicles are stored. Also in the back there is an outside forensic lab.

The first day of mentorship was so eventful I thought I might write an extra blog post about it. Today I learned about what my mentor does and how it varies city to city. In Pomona where there are only three crime scene investigators my mentor was telling me how you really have to know a little about everything. This is because my mentor processes a crime scene from start to finish without any assistance unless she can get an approval to allow one of her partners to come. In any case my mentor and her partners still have to know how to do everything and that's what she likes about her job. This is different from Ontario or L.A. where they have about 10+ crime scene investigators. Working for a department like this is completely different because instead of having to do everything you will usually specialize in one area and that's all you do for each crime scene. For example say I am a CSI over in L.A. and I specialize in fingerprinting. What I would do is come to a crime scene fingerprint and that's it.  I would then past the rest of the work onto the next CSI to do their specialized area. I also learned that as a CSI there are several things you must be able to do. This includes photography, processing evidence, photoshop, and so on. You also get subpoenas from an attorney where you are required to make copies of files of evidence. It is very limited who gets to handle evidence so you need to keep track of everything including the DR#, the date, the person requesting the piece of evidence, what time you check out the piece of evidence and for how long you have it. My mentor also does a lot of community outreach programs such as teaching at seminars conferences, classes and the Police Explorers Program. My mentor then told me about how The City of Pomona is broken up into six beats and each beat will usually have 1-2 officers patrolling it, depending on how bad the beat is. She then told me about how they have one bloodhound used for missing people, and drug detection. Also three other K-9s used for apprehension. We then ended the day with a trip to Arroyo Elementary School where I saw her and several Police Officers work the Police Explorers Program. 

Above is one of the Police Officers directing the anxious children.