CSI Wildlife Training
Successfully concludes in Giritale
The Serendipity Wildlife Foundation successfully completed its first Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) training for selected local rangers recently. The training was conducted at the Wildlife Training Centre in Giritale. The training team flew down from the US amidst Easter Sunday bombings and ensured the smooth running of the programme. The team comprised of many experts who have been involved in CSI fingerprinting and other areas connected to cracking cases related to human and wildlife crime for quite a long time. Upon its completion the team is looking forward to conduct Phase II later this year before setting up Sri Lanka’s first Anti-poaching Task Force.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror Life, Ravi Perera, Founder of Serendipity Wildlife Foundation, Magda Perez, CSI Fingerprint Co-ordinator at the Foundation and Nancy Martinez representing Santa Ana Police Department shared their experiences with us.
Q WHAT ACTIVITIES WERE INCLUDED IN THE TRAINING PROGRAMME?
Ravi Our main goal was to train the Rangers to collect evidence involved with wildlife crimes and present them in court in a proper manner. They were also taught the collection of fingerprints, recovering DNA, identification of footprints and tyre tracks, and crime scene photography. In addition, training was provided on building searches and vehicle searches, personal safety, and surveillance.
Q WHY DID YOU CHOOSE A LOCATION LIKE GIRITALE?
Ravi The Wildlife Training Centre is located in Giritale, and has great training facilities, instructor bungalows, and accommodation for the students. Practical exercises can be conducted in the adjacent jungle. The location was selected by the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
Q HOW DID THE DWC PERSONNEL RESPOND TO THE ACTIVITIES?
Magda They all have experience and were handpicked for this training. They were competent enough and will only become better with their investigations. All of the activities were critiqued, deficiencies were addressed and lessons learned were applied. By the time of the final set of practicums, they worked as an organised cohesive group and accomplished their objectives. There will be more training as this was only “laying a foundation” training phase.
Q DO YOU THINK THE INFRASTRUCTURE WE HAVE IS ENOUGH TO FAVOUR AN ANTIPOACHING UNIT? IF NOT, WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED?
Magda Infrastructure and/or policy is being addressed as it comes up. There has been positive feedback and support by everyone.
Ravi When anti – poaching is mentioned, people always think of tusks and horns. In Sri Lanka the biggest problem is ‘bush meat’ - the killing of deer, wild boar, and other animals for human consumption. We teach the rangers how to gather evidence to support the charges filed, and also teach them arrest and control techniques and surveillance. Upon completion of Phase II later this year, the Anti Poaching Task Force will be formed.
Nancy In Phase I, the students already learned the basics on fingerprints and how to dust for, and lift fingerprints off various objects that poachers leave behind and criminals handle. They will be taught more advanced fingerprinting techniques in Phase II. They have already been taught how to swab and recover DNA in the field, so that once (criminal) DNA technology is introduced in the not too distant future, they are good to go.
Q HOW CHALLENGING IS IT TO WORK ON A WILDLIFE CRIME SCENE AS OPPOSED TO A CRIME SCENE INVOLVING HUMANS?
Ravi The human or city crime scene is often restricted to a small area or even a single structure. It is easier to work in, and is often protected from the elements. It also can be well secured with crime scene tape, to avoid contamination. The wildlife crime scene is much larger and can sometime be as large as one square mile. While the evidence or carcass can be found at one location, tyre tracks or shoe/foot prints can be located in softer soil quite a distance away. Cigarette butts (which contain valuable DNA) can sometimes be located quite a distance away. One of the major problems is contamination, in a wildlife crime scene, where animals will disrupt or consume the evidence before our team can reach it.
Magda Educating the public on preserving their precious resources and how important they are to their tourism for example is something that would not apply to a crime scene involving humans. Crime scene preservation and the investigative skills are similar. Most of my experience has been in the urban (concrete) jungle, where I had to adjust to a real jungle. But the lessons and basic skills are still applicable to the jungle, when seeking forensic opportunities.
Q THOUGHTS FROM THE US TEAM ABOUT OUR RANGERS AND THEIR PERFORMANCES.
Magda I was very happy with the selection and their performance from day one. They were eager to learn and have the experience level to immediately incorporate what they learned. This was one of the most rewarding experiences for me and I know the US team as well as the rangers were very pleased with the real life practical/s. Having taught different groups of individuals and groups, they were like sponges. We were able to focus on deficiencies and fine tune their skills in a short period of time.
Nancy The Rangers completed some extremely difficult practical exercises. Searching for evidence in the jungle is much more difficult to what we as CSI’S do in the city. I found the students very respectful to the instructors. For instance, standing up when the instructors enter the class every morning, which is never seen in the US.
Ravi There were some minor hiccups the very first day, when the students found it hard to fine - tune to the foreign accents of the two female instructors, but by the start of the second day, their ears were adjusted. We also had the services of our Instructor’s Assistants
– Iresha Perera and Ashani Hangawatta, who were excellent translators, when the need arose.
Q MANY COUNTRIES HAVE NOW IMPOSED BANS ON POACHING. THE LAWS IN FFPO (SRI LANKA) ARE RATHER WEAK AND FINES ARE NEGLIGIBLE. WHAT ARE THE IMMEDIATE STEPS THAT NEED TO BE TAKEN TO STOP PEOPLE FROM POACHING ACTIVITIES?
Ravi Yes, I do agree that the laws are weak and the fines are negligible, and it is up to the authorities and the various conservation/wildlife associations to work together and update these fines. With the completion of Phase I, the rangers can immediately go into the field and put their newly learned tactics and knowledge to good use. I am confident that there will be an increase in arrests and proper handling of evidence to support the case and obtain a conviction.
Q WHAT WILL BE INCLUDED IN PHASE II OF THIS PROGRAMME?
Ravi Phase II will be later on this year, and will give the students a more advanced level of training of what they received in April. We will also introduce electronic forensics to this phase, where cell phones and computers will be analysed for crucial evidence. Presently, when cell phones and computers are recovered, very basic information is obtained from the device. We are still trying to determine if the cell phone can be plugged in to a computer in Sri Lanka, and we can extract and analyse its data in the USA. If this is possible, we have certified forensic investigators who can use advanced and sophisticated software to obtain the information we need.