By SUSAN TEBBEN
Glasgow Daily Times
BOWLING GREEN — The Kentucky State Police Bowling Green post has a new way to fight crime that will expedite the processing time at the scenes of crimes.
According to a news release by KSP, they just received a 2010 Ford Super Duty truck that will serve as their new Crime Scene Response Vehicle. It has an 8-foot bed with a service body that holds more extensive processing and analysis supplies for major crime scenes.
“The CSRV coming to the Bowling Green Post will be instrumental in assisting our detectives in solving and working major crimes that happen in the Post 3 area. It will provide them with the on-site tools and technology that will make processing scenes more thorough and efficient,” said Captain William Payton, Bowling Green post commander.
“It is packed full. When I opened it to show what supplies we had, I had to re-adjust to hold all of it in,” said Trooper Charles Swiney, public information officer for the Bowling Green Post. “Everything is at your disposal.”
The trucks are being provided to the busiest posts as funds become available, Swiney said. The first was given to post 13 in Hazard. Bowling Green was told about a year ago that they would be receiving a response vehicle and the day the truck arrived, they took it to a crime scene investigation in Morgantown.
The truck makes crime scenes easier to process with more supplies — instead of maybe four to five evidence envelopes, the truck has around 10, along with packaging tape, generators, fuel gas cans and emergency lighting, among other things. Making these things readily available will allow them to identify causes and suspects of crimes much quicker and more accurately with more visual evidence.
“There’s convenience, but more importantly there’s speed [in processing a crime scene],” Swiney said. “It will just help us out tremendously in our investigations.”
The total vehicle package cost was about $30,000, and KSP used asset forfeiture funds to buy it. These funds come from the sale of property, vehicles, jewelry and other items seized by the state, local or federal law enforcement during a criminal investigation. Despite the budgetary constraints of every major state and local agency, KSP Commissioner Rodney Brewer set out to start the project as quickly as he could. He is currently seeking alternative funding sources to provide the vehicles more quickly.
“When the number of murders in Kentucky increases by 78 percent in one year, every possible effort must be made to utilize funds to assist a project that will make the Commonwealth a safer place to live,” Brewer said in the KSP release.
Kentucky has averaged 190 homicides annually in the past two years and KSP investigates about half of these cases, most in rural areas with limited access to crime scene support.
The new CSRV and the detectives in control of it investigate major Part I violent and property crimes, including aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder, robbery, arson, burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft.
Governor Steve Beshear inspected the new unit and promoted the project when the truck arrived in Bowling Green.
“Installing these new response vehicles in all post regions will not only be an asset to KSP, but will also be an additional resource for local law enforcement,” Beshear said. “Combining state and local resources, especially during these difficult times, will provide the Commonwealth with more efficient and effective crime solving methods that will result in decreased criminal activity in our state.”
