The work of the Dauphin County CID Detectives is as diverse as the suspects that they investigate. As an intern I have the fortunate benefit of being able to experience an array of criminal cases that happen in county.

For example, a suspected arson in the Harrisburg area of the previous summer had come to trial this past week. The Detective that was working the case shared the details of the case with me in order to brief me as to how the trail was expected to proceed. Through a joint operation of County and Federal authorities, evidence was produced that gave the District Attorney enough confidence to press a case against a suspect. Over a week of court the defendant was not found guilty. However, I had witnessed the process of transfer of information form the Detectives that had investigated the case, the formation of a case against the defendant by the DA, and the entire process of the court system from jury selection to verdict. Although not a victory for the Dauphin County DA, it was for the Fire Investigation Detective and his ATF K9. The ATF often works in joint operation with one of the CID Detectives in order to isolate the cause of many of the counties suspected arsons. The fire investigator, along with his trained K9 is dispatched throughout the county and even nation wide to determine the source of suspected arsons. If the K9 alerts to a suspected accelerant that was used in setting the fire, evidence will be collected for lab analysis and may be used as evidence.

During that same week, I had observed the tactics of the Dauphin County Crisis Response Team in training. In the event that a county emergency should occur such as a hostage situation, a terrorist threat, major civil unrest (such as a riot) as well as other special operations such as anti-narcotic raids, the CRT is on call 24/7, 365 to handle such situations. The CRT keeps active in their training by running drills regularly at different locations preparing for different kinds of situational emergencies. One day may be hostage rescue; another may be raid of a major drug location. As with other aspects of county policing, the Dauphin County CRT often shares jurisdiction with other agencies in a joint task force. The CRT was formed in 1992 for the need the have a local emergency response team at the ready for hostile situations. Before this time if a department needed help from a tactical team, they’d have to call the Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team. Being that this team was composed of state police spread out across the eastern end of the state, a need developed for a local emergency response team. Some members would have to travel two or more hours to get to an incident, whereas all of the members of the CRT reside in county.

-Travis R. Stotelmyer, Intern, Dauphin County CID