ROCKLAND — The Knox County Sheriff’s Office requested and received from the Knox County Commissioners the release of $14,995 to host training and equipment purchase for forensic mapping and accident reconstruction. Sheriff Donna Dennison and Chief Deputy Timothy Carroll delivered their request Tuesday, April 8, at a regularly scheduled commissioners meeting in Rockland.

“We have to call on these services from other agencies that have the training and equipment to do it,” said Carroll. “The last fatal crash that we had in Warren we were fortunate enough to get Lincoln County down here. Otherwise, we would have a two, two-and-a-half hour wait to have this forensic mapping down at the crash scene. The other agency that has one is the state police and they were already at a fatal crash scene in the northern part of the state.”

Carroll said the mapping gives a better computer generated rendition of what happened at a crash scene. Carroll recalled the Port Clyde crash and said they had to call on Kennebec County to assist them in reconstruction.

“It just brings us up to date and into the future as to what we can do to help the district attorney’s office and the victims of these crashes, too,” said Carroll.

The sheriff said it was being used more and more to process crime scenes and not just crashes. The information provides a better idea of what’s going, or had gone on, she said.

Commissioners considered two options for funding: Spend $23,520 and send four staff members away for training and purchase equipment, or host the training and invite others to train with Knox County deputies. Carroll noted that with the Knox Public Safety building, the county now has the facilities to host and get a reduction in the costs.

Carroll said there are departments in the northern part of the state that want the training. Carroll said four membes from the sheriff’s office would receive the training. The request for the $14,995 included all the equipment and the training for four.

“Kennebec has the equipment, but the person who was trained is currently at the state police academy,” said Carroll. “The sheriff and I discussed this and decided that at least two of the four people being trained would be tenured, so there’s a pretty good chance they’ll be sticking around.”

Knox County Commission Chairman Carol Maines said that having deputies to deal with an accident scene would entail less of a waiting time when a road is closed and darkness falls.

Commissioner Rick Parent, Jr., asked whether the equipment is operable at night and Carroll responded that it is.

Commissioner Roger Moody, of Camden, asked who benefits from the forensic mapping. 

“Specifically, the district attorney’s office benefits from this because it gives us a better idea of what happened at the scene,” said Carroll. “Because of recent events the district attorney came to the scene of this last fatal crash. We told him we were going to do a forensic mapping and he was in full support of that happening. Route 1 was actually closed during this last fatal crash in Warren.”

Dennison said she saw the training as a good addition to the sheriff’s office.

“People still need to do arithmetic and math, but I’m always open to new techniques and it will make us a lot more accurate,” she said. “There are other applications it can also be used in. Crime scenes, burglaries and domestic violence are just some of the examples.”  

The training is done with Collision Forensic Solutions, LLC, of Papillion, Nebraska. The company has trained agencies and personnel since 1988. CFS does training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.

The commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the expenditure of the funds. Carroll said he would try to get the training scheduled as soon as possible.