By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
Limestone residents may have noticed an additional police vehicle around their community recently, the 2006 black 4-wheel drive Ford Explorer is a new addition to the police fleet and is the LPD designated crime scene unit.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
Limestone Police Officer/Investigator John Deveau stands in front of the a newest addition to the Limestone Police Department fleet — a 2006 Ford Explorer that will be used help officers with evidence collection and processing at the scene of the crime.
The vehicle allows Limestone Police Officer/Investigator John Deveau to collect and process most evidence at the scene. “We have had a number of burglaries over the past month and having the necessary gear right at hand enables me to process it on-site,” said Investigator Deveau. “Having a designated vehicle as a crime scene unit of this type makes our work much more efficient, developing results quickly and effectively,” he added.
Through an applied grant the department is looking to purchase photography equipment to be used in documenting evidence collected and eventually to facilitate a computer link to a printer and Internet access.
Officer Deveau commented that in the future, with this type of equipment in place the department would be able to process photos of evidence collected at the scene of an incident, including blood, fibers and finger/foot prints that would be processed immediately at the scene, as well as send out the necessary information to other departments and personnel.
“It’s obviously more effective to get this evidence data out there to other agencies as well as cutting down on the time we have to wait for results from other crime scene labs, he said.” “Having a complete mobile crime lab in this primary vehicle creates the opportunity to complete everything that needs to be done at the scene.”
Officer Deveau, a member of the Limestone Police Department since January of this year, completed a two-week evidence collection training in April at the Police Academy, part of ongoing training to be crime scene certified through the International Association of Investigators.
