This is no ordinary sport utility vehicle.
The 2008 Dodge Durango unveiled last week at the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department Headquarters comes equipped with digital video system, laptop computer with a mobile data terminal and a vertical weapon system for a patrol rifle – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The SUV, which will be used as a Crime Scene Technician (CST) vehicle, along with six patrol vehicle computers, was secured with funding from $38,300 in grants secured by State Sen. Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie) and Assemblyman Joel Miller (R-Poughkeepsie).
As Captain Paul Lecomte Jr., the head of the department’s CST unit, explained, the unit was initiated in 2001 and is manned with 12 technicians and four patrol squads. Time is of the essence in securing a crime scene.
“It is important that the first officer or Crime Scene Technician on the crime scene properly protect the evidence. The investigation hinges on that first person being able to properly identify, isolate and secure the crime scene. The law enforcement officer who protects and searches a crime scene plays a critical role in determining whether physical evidence will be of use in solving or prosecuting the crime,” said Lecomte.
The new SUV is equipped with the latest in crime scene tools, including fingerprint equipment, photographic equipment, evidence packaging supplies, blood collection supplies and a biohazard kit, as well as numerous other tools.
“By equipping the Crime Scene Technician with his own fully equipped 24-hour-a-day/seven-day-a-week response vehicle, he now has the tools readily at his disposal to collect preserve, package, transport and document the physical evidence left at the scene,” said Lecomte.
Town of Poughkeepsie Supervisor Pat Myers was appreciative of the grant money used to purchase the equipment.
“Assemblyman Miller and Sen. Saland have been great friends of the town and we are most appreciative of all the support we are given, particularly the many, many grants and monies that we have been given to enhance our police department,” she said.
Both Saland and Miller said law enforcement and public safety are the backbone of government.
“We are living in tough times from the standpoint of public safety, because we never know when a man-made disaster can strike, so we definitely need to keep our police on the cutting edge of technology,” said Miller. “What could be worse than to catch the perpetrator of a crime, but not have the technical capacity to collect evidence?”