TWO SENIOR officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) were yesterday confirmed as members of the International Crime Scene Investigators Association (ICSIA).

Detective Inspector Cecil J. Clarke and Detective Inspector Lloyd L. Crawford were presented with their credentials by ICSIA executive director Hayden B. Baldwin at the Major Investigation Task Force headquarters, down-town Kingston.

According to an ICSIA statement, Clarke and Crawford "successfully met all the requirements" for certification.

Getting better

Clarke, a 34-year veteran of the JCF, also heads forensic training at the police academy at Twickenham Park. He says recognition by the ICSIA shows how serious the Police High Command is about monitoring crime scenes.

"We've been getting better results at crime scenes and this can only help improve on those results," Clarke told The Gleaner.

Last year, Clarke attended three major forensic conferences in Seoul, South Korea, Louisville, Kentucky and Orlando, Florida. Crawford was also at the Orlando seminar.

Handling crime scene

Proper maintainance of crime scenes has been a sore point for Jamaican police, who have been criticised by human-rights groups for their handling of key evidence in high-profile cases, such as the Braeton Seven in March 2001. In this case, seven youth were contro-versially killed at a house by a police squad.

Accusations of police tampering with crime scenes were also made during the May 2003 Kraal incident, when four persons were killed by the police at a house in that Clarendon district. Overseas experts were brought in for both cases.

The ICSIA, which offers extensive crime-scene training, is based in Orland Park, Illinois.