Texas Criminal Justice Division grant will fund CSI training for 300 investigators

COLLEGE STATION – The Texas Criminal Justice Division has awarded the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) $299,000 to provide crime scene investigation training for law enforcement personnel in small, rural and mid-sized law enforcement agencies in Texas.

The grant-funded crime scene investigation training will be conducted by the Texas Forensic Science Academy to approximately 300 law enforcement officers and non-commissioned personnel responsible for violent crime investigations in the state.

“This grant represents a continuation of funding received from the Governor’s Office to expand access to the Texas Forensic Science Academy program here at TEEX,” said Texas Law Enforcement Extension Training Director Cullen Grissom.

“These small agencies often suffer from a lack of funding and a lack of comprehensive in-service training, which prevents investigators from learning sound, current forensics techniques and methodologies,” said Christine Ramirez, Coordinator of the Texas Forensic Science Academy. “This in turn can lead to ineffective crime scene investigations, case backlogs in crime laboratories and even wrongful convictions.”

The goal of this science-based training is to increase the effectiveness of crime scene investigations by providing cutting-edge technology and hands-on field exercises to include the proper collection, packaging, storage and analysis of physical evidence.

“The proper processing of crime scenes is critical, and crime scene investigation is the basis of criminal casework that determines verdicts of guilt or innocence,” Ramirez said.

Training contact information:
Phone: (979) 845-6677
[email protected]