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CSI Palm Springs: My Involvement with the Palm Springs Citizens Police Academy (Part 1 of 7)

By
Real Estate Agent with Teles Properties

This situation happened to me a few month's ago:

I was driving across town to preview a home in Palm Springs for client, and I was in a hurry to make my appointment. I came to the intersection, but did not make a complete stop. I did what is called a "California stop", looking both ways to make sure there weren't any cars and kept driving. I didn't see the Palm Springs Police car sitting on the side of the road, and he proceeded to pull me over and issue me a citation.

After a expressing a few expletives inside my head, I was thinking to myself:

Doesn't the Palm Springs Police Dept. have anything else better to do?

I have been living in the city of Palm Springs for the last 9 years, but I really did not know anything about the Police Dept., including the name of our Police Chief. So I decided to do some research, and that's when I learned about the Palm Springs Citizens Police Academy.

The Citizen's Police Academy was started by the Palm Springs Police Dept. 15 years ago, in an effort to get the community more involved with the Police. The class is held 3 times a year, and each class lasts for about 12 weeks. The course is designed to teach citizens of Palm Springs about what police work is all about. The emphasis is to portray the reality of what the men & women of the police force encounter day & night, not what you see on TV.

The topic this past week: Crime Scene Investigation & Evidence Collection.

Shows like CSI and Law & Order make you believe that the police collect evidence at a crime scene, send it off to a lab, and all the answers who committed the crime are solved in 60 minutes.

This scenario is fantasy and not reality. The truth is that many police departments across do not have their own crime labs, and that the blood & trace evidence that is collected at a crime scene is sent to the DOJ (Department of Justice).

This process can take weeks, if not months to get the results back.

 

Officer Troy Castillo was our instructor for this week's class. We were able to study the actual crime scene photos from a murder that took place in Palm Springs in 1997.

The crime was brutal & the photos were graphic. This class was not for the squeamish.

Based on the evidence, we were given the opportunity to figure out what had happened to this 59 year old woman. Through an hour of discussion, we learned that this crime was committed by someone she knew and this person died before he was sent to prison. I was impressed how the police worked the clues and was able to solve the case.

This class has been an enlightening and eye-opening experience on what the Palm Springs Police Dept. experience on a daily basis. They do so much more than giving out traffic tickets.

Stayed tuned for part 2 of CSI: Palm Springs

Same article posted on Blog of the Desert

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About the Author:

Harold Watts of Lyle Realtors has been a REALTOR in Palm Springs since 1999.  Focusing on the 2nd & Vacation home market, Harold has been helping Real Estate Buyers and Sellers in Palm Springs achieve their real estate goals.   If you want to know what is happening with the Palm Springs Real Estate market, give Harold Watts a call at 760-778-6200 or email him at Harold@LyleRealtors.com   You can also search for your dream home via the Palm Springs MLS through Harold's website, GreetingsFromPalmSprings.com 

Photos courtesy of Flickr

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About the Author

Harold Watts of Scott Lyle Realtors has been a REALTOR in Palm Springs since 1999. Focusing on the 2nd & Vacation home market, Harold has been helping Buyers and Sellers achieve their real estate goals. If you want to know what is happening with the Palm Springs Real Estate market, give Harold Watts a call at 760-218-8209 or email him at Harold@HaroldWatts.net

Website:  www.PalmSpringsCityLimits.com

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