Trooper learns latest in homicide investigations
Trooper learns latest in homicide investigations
By Layla Aslani, Daily Mining Gazette, Houghton
CALUMET — While some area students were cooped up in summer school classrooms, Tom Rajala was running around East Lansing solving a crime as part of a different type of school homicide school.
Rajala, a Michigan State Police detective sergeant from the Calumet post, solved the “crime” during a four-day homicide scene preservation and investigation training session that he recently completed.
The homicide school was hosted by the MSP Training Division and Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice for law enforcement officers from across the state.
Veteran detectives and forensic scientists taught detectives about methods of forensic anthropology, evidence collection and homicide investigation. Trainees then participated in a mock crime scene scenario, which Rajala said was “as realistic as you can get to the real thing.”
Rajala said the scenario was designed for trainees to make mistakes there so they will learn from them and not overlook anything at a real crime scene.
Overall, Rajala was pleased with the amount of information taught at the school.
“This isn’t necessarily just for homicides, it’s for death investigations,” he said. “It’s going to help in all the death investigations that we handle up here.”
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