On TV, when a gruesome crime is committed, some of the first responders to the scene are crime scene investigators, looking for clues invisible to the untrained eye and getting closer by the minute to solving the case.
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Rockingham County doesn’t have the glamour of a network crime show, but with a grant from the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission, it will have a county-wide crime scene investigation unit.
The Rockingham County District Attorney’s office was notified Friday that it would receive a portion of $62 million in grants from the state. District Attorney Philip Berger Jr. said the county is receiving a grant for $525,000 over two years with $290,000 being received the first year and the remaining $235,000 the following year.
The money, he said, will be used to create a county-wide CSI unit. A portion also will go toward gang prevention initiatives.
Currently, Eden is the only local municipality to have a CSI unit. Berger said the county’s cities and towns routinely have to share equipment and resources.
Eden Police Chief Reece Pyrtle said he was excited about the new unit, but anticipates the county’s entities will continue to share.
“In this economy, we’ve got to share resources,” Pyrtle said.
“Criminals have no boundaries,” he said, describing now suspects wanted in one city are often found in another within the county.
Berger said the unit would consist of a director, two technicians and an administrative assistant.
Having the unit would give “marked increase” to crime investigations, Berger said.
The gang prevention aspect of the grant would consist of three objectives. It would help identify gang members, provide education programs and share gang intelligence.
The program would be modeled after a program used in High Point, Berger said. Youth suspected of gang involvement would be subjected to programs and meetings with “a whole gamut of people” from law enforcement officers to court counselors who would dissuade them from gang involvement.
“They would advise them, pretty frankly, on the consequences of gang activity,” Berger said.
Pyrtle said he felt positive about the program and the opportunity to impact local kids.
“We’re going to straight shoot with them about the road they’re heading down,” he said. “Hopefully it will make a life-changing impact on these kids.”
• Contact Clayton at rclayton@reidsvillereview.com.
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