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10 VI. Investigation Review <br />2014 Annual Report · Police Department · St. Anthony Village, Minnesota <br />VI. Investigation ReviewVI. Investigation Review <br />Prepared by Captain Cotroneo <br />Television shows like the “NCIS” series, “CSI”, <br />“Forensic Files”, and several others, have become <br />very popular in the past few years. The shows have <br />entertainment value, and give a bit of a glimpse into <br />the different sciences being used in policing today. <br />What they also do though, is give a skewed perception <br />on how these sciences work in real life police work. <br />Some of these programs lead viewers to believe that <br />the lifting of fi ngerprints is possible off of any surface <br />the suspect may have touched. In reality, there are <br />many surfaces from which this is not possible due to <br />their makeup. Some of these programs also show <br />the use of facial recognition technologies, which are <br />tied to state records systems, allowing for immediate <br />identifi cation of a suspect. This makes for entertaining <br />viewing, but the real process isn’t as seamless. In <br />reality, facial recognition technologies used by <br />governmental agencies are not as advanced as those <br />used by some large commercial institutions. Also, <br />our form of government and criminal procedures don’t <br />allow for the seamless connections between private <br />and public systems. The access to some of these <br />technologies is only available after getting approval <br />from the courts (either by subpoena or warrant). <br />The use of DNA is the most recent tool added to <br />the investigators’ toolkit. When fi rst introduced <br />into the policing world, DNA testing was only being <br />used in serious crimes against persons. Advances in <br />technology, have streamlined the process, allowing it <br />to be used as a tool to solve various property crimes. <br />There are 3 forensic labs accredited to test DNA in <br />the State of Minnesota. They are at the BCA (Bureau <br />of Criminal Apprehension), Hennepin County Sheriff’s <br />Offi ce Crime Lab and the Tri County Regional Forensic <br />Lab at the Anoka County Sheriff’s Offi ce. When <br />DNA is found at a crime scene, scientists match it <br />to a known offender’s sample in CODIS, which is <br />the national DNA database. If a match is not made <br />at fi rst, the sample is re-entered multiple times in <br />Detective Tim Briski & Offi cer Mark Dokken