Written by Jordan Jansen
Recently, 10 Algona and Garrigan students had the opportunity to go with Algona police officers Ben Gatton and Marc Bacha to Des Moines to check out the crime labs. They started at the ICAC lab, which is the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. There, they learned about what the job entails and about internet safety and internet crimes. After that, they headed to the DPS, Department of Public Safety, and met with a few employees there. Some of the people they met with were the head of DPS, the academy trainer, and the head of the civilian division. Then, they headed to the DCI Criminalistics Laboratory, where they learned about how to take fingerprints and store them.
This was a great experience for the students to learn more about what a job working in the criminal investigation field might be like. Chelsea Gomez, a student who went on the trip, said, “It was a fun and interesting experience.”
Students also got to visit the DCI Officer Memorial, which was an awesome opportunity.