Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Chief Deputy compares reality with television investigation

The Clark County Sheriffs Department's chief deputy told Rotarians this past week about the difference between television and reality when it comes to investigating serious crime.

Clark County Chief Deputy Wes Sossamon has been involved with the Criminal Investigation Division of the sheriffs office since 1995 and has been in law enforcement 25 years.

"Things are different in reality than on television with things like timing as to how long it takes to get DNA results back," Chief Deputy Sossamon said.

"Of course, a lot of the televison published techniques can be successful in an extremely ideal and well controlled environment. This is usually not the case."

Sossamon said crime scene investigation and evidence take time to analyze.

It starts, he said, with gathering physical evidence and being able to detect its existence.

"Even cigarette smoke can be considered physical evidence," Sossamon said. "We work to connect a triangle of relating the crime scene to the suspected offender and putting them in the vicinity when the crime occurred."

Sossamon said once the link is made, they go with the Locards Theory of Exchange, which asserts if you were at the crime scene, there is something there that will connect you to that place.

"Once weve got an offender suspect, timing to interview that person is critical. And some of the evidence, like the smoke we mentioned, has to be discovered in a hurry while the proof is still there," he said.

"The interview part could be quick, or it could take hours. Our next step is to take a lot of photographs. I like three officers to do our photos so we get three perspectives of a crime scene."

Sossamon said it is not unusual to investigate 12 hours, 48, or even 72 hours at a crime scene. Investigators are looking for prospective blood or other body fluids.

They are also looking for fingerprints.

"We collect evidence in bags to preserve integrity," he said. "We must answer the questions as to what happened, how it happened and why it happened in some cases.

"We have to be ready because attorneys try and get us to paint ourselves into a corner."

He said detectives realize everything is not possible and the impossible verses the possible must be examined.

On ths subject of crime scene reconstruction, Sossamon said he looks for consistency verses inconsistency.

"The idea is to arrive at the most probable thing that could have happened," Sossamon. "To do that, we have to reduce things to the basics and identify the pieces of the puzzle."

He called it a scientific method and the standard for police analysis.

In the biology or DNA analysis part of the investigation, Sossamon said he is looking for latent prints and trace evidence toxicity.

"Blood can be seen, as it weaves into things and can be revealed if it is wiped into something," he said. "Really, one of the important things to criminal investigation is to let the evidence guide you as you go along."

On the timetable of DNA analysis, Sossamon said the reality is it takes 30 to 45 days to get those kind of results back from the Arkansas State Crime Lab.

"We have a lot of burglary investigation. Sometimes we get palm prints or latent prints and things sometimes get easier," he said.

Sossamon holds the senior level certification which is the most advanced as established by the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training. He is also certified by the commission as a professional law enforcement instructor.