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Attorney General Mike DeWine…
DeWine
Unveils New BCI Forensic Dive Team
(CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio) – Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today
that the newly formed Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) Forensic
Dive Team is now available to help Ohio law enforcement agencies
recover criminal evidence in water.
"BCI's investigative capacity will no longer be limited to the water's
edge," said Attorney General DeWine. "Criminals may run, but we hope
they'll no longer be able to hide evidence used in their crimes in the
water. The Dive Team is really an extension of our BCI Crime Scene
Unit. Now, we have the capability to go after criminal evidence
anywhere."
Attorney General DeWine attended a team training exercise at the
Circleville Twin Quarries today, observing members of the BCI Forensic
Dive Team. The team is available to assist any hour of the day to
recover any criminal evidence located in water such as human remains,
weapons, clothing, or tools. The team, however, is not a search and
rescue team and will not rescue people stranded in water or recover
bodies of suicide victims.
Members of the BCI Forensic Dive Team have been training since January
for what is often a dangerous job in dark water with zero visibility.
When asked for assistance by any Ohio law enforcement agency, BCI's
Forensic Dive Team members will search the water, identify and document
evidence, and properly recover the evidence as well. Any item recovered
would then be sent to the BCI Laboratory for analysis.
The team will also work closely with the Ohio Environmental Protection
Agency to assist in their investigations of crimes such as illegal
underwater tire or barrel dumps. Those investigations will include an
Ohio EPA diver.
"With the expertise of the dive team, we have the ability to uncover
evidence of environmental crimes that are obscured under water," said
Ohio EPA Director Scott Nally.
The BCI Forensic Dive Team will also conduct research experiments
involving underwater evidence preservation.
"With professional evidence collection and work of our lab, we hope to
advance the science of underwater evidence collection and processing,"
said Stephen Schumaker, Deputy Attorney General for Law Enforcement.
The BCI Forensic Dive Team is part of BCI's Investigations Division,
which opened 1,463 criminal cases during the last fiscal year,
conducting investigations for 422 law enforcement agencies in all 88
counties.
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