Afghan National Police Receive Training in Crime Scene Investigations

According to Coalition Joint Forces, a month long training course was being taught to Afghan National Police from Nangarhar Province. The course is supposed to give the basics on police investigations after an explosion has taken place.

Explosive ordnance disposal technicians, contracted police trainers, and a tactical exploitation team were all on hand to help the officers through the training.

Army Major Sean O'Brien mentioned that the training involved learning how to evaluate a scene, mark, log, and bag evidence. In addition they were shown how to interview witnesses and fill out paperwork. Real devices are not used in training. Major Sean O'Brien is with the Mobile Training Team out of Nevada.

Afghan National Police are new to explosive investigations and it is hoped that the training will help the Afghan Police build a group of investigators that it can rely on.

The goal is to learn enough about explosions after the fact to be able to figure out who is building and setting the bombs. If more bomb makers are captured due to this class, then the training accomplished its mission

"If all goes well, we plan on training police officers from each province in our
In other areas of Afghanistan, Airmen have joined together to run 'care strikes' to build up morale between members of the military. The 'care strikes' have been going on for about two months.

The project was started by Captain Ken Valardi and Staff Sergeant Aaron Smith, his assistant. Both are members of the 455^th Air Expeditionary Wing. The first mission was to take frozen snacks to Airmen on a hot day, however, as the weather has gotten cooler new deliveries have consisted of coffee and hot chocolate. The items are well received by all, but even more so by those that have to work at night.

"It accomplishes a lot of things," said Valardi, who added that the operation usually reaches between 50 and 60 people each time. "It boosts their morale, it lets them know people care and it allows us to meet them and get to know them."