No stone is left unturned when Crime Scene investigates. Here, Senior Constable Hernan dusts a rear-view mirror for any trace of fingerprints.By Shaun Inguanzo
CRIMINALS beware – the Dandenong Crime Desk is hot on your tail.
This month, the Dandenong-based forensic investigation unit will celebrate two years serving the Greater Dandenong community.
The unit checks crime scenes for fingerprints and DNA samples, takes photographic evidence and searches for other traces that criminals unknowingly leave in their wake.
Crime Desk was a Victoria Police initiative first trialed in 2003, which was later established in Greater Dandenong in 2004.
Dandenong Crime Desk Sergeant Paul Aarons said the unit was responsible for attending ‘cold crime scenes’ and processing them for criminal evidence.
But the unit should not be confused with Crime Scene, a Victoria Police unit that forensically investigates more serious crimes such as murders and assaults.
Instead, Sgt Aarons said Dandenong Crime Desk was established to provide a better response to local crime, consisting mainly of thefts and break-ins, to detect patterns and provide admissible evidence for use in court.
Crime Desk Senior Constable Paul Algie said before the dedicated unit was formed, uniformed police were forced to process a scene, which could take up to three days, leaving the victim distressed.
He said uniformed police often had to interrupt processing a scene for evidence because of life-threatening call-outs that were of a higher priority.
The Crime Desk unit can now process a crime scene within 90 minutes, and is the face of Victoria Police for many citizens.
Sen Const Algie said the increased efficiency enabled Crime Desk members to discover real-time crime patterns that could be stopped before more harm was caused.
“We had a crook running amok and by understanding the way he did the crimes, we were able to build a pattern of the offender,” he said.
“This identified him to some 30 or 40 thefts on cars, and with forensic evidence we were able to prove him guilty.”
Sgt Aarons said the community should be aware of the effort Crime Desk members applied to their work.
Crime Desk members are easily identifiable by their navy blue Victoria Police uniforms, he said.
“From a customer service point of view, Crime Desk is excellent,” Sgt Aarons said.
“Each victim is traumatised by being robbed or having their house burgled.
“But a crime scene officer attends almost instantly and is able to put their mind at ease.”
