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A lesson in real-world crime solving

Move over CSI. The new criminal justice academy at Withlacoochee Technical Institute gives high school students a real taste of police and detective work.

By EDDY RAMIREZ
Published August 31, 2006

INVERNESS - Only three weeks into the school year, the students in Dave Miller's criminal justice class were solving homicide cases, drawing sketches of crime scenes and just dying to learn a few defensive tactics commonly employed by police.

"I need a volunteer," Miller said on a recent afternoon as he surveyed the eight students in the class.

A lanky boy jumped from his chair and walked to the front of the room. Miller, who was a sheriff's deputy before going into teaching, was about to demonstrate how to subdue an unruly suspect without using excessive force.

The student, playing the role of suspect, sat on a chair with his back to Miller. "I want you to watch his eyes," Miller told the students as he curled his hands into fists.

A second later, Miller's fists came down on the boy, landing on his shoulders.

Even though Miller had barely used any force at all, the boy seemed momentarily disoriented. He squinted and his face turned red.

"That hurts, doesn't it?" Miller asked. "Just imagine if I had cranked it up."

The students in Miller's class likely won't be using these defensive tactics any time soon. The class only prepares students for work as traffic crash investigators, community service officers and parking enforcement specialists. To become a sheriff's deputy or a corrections officer, the students must go through the adult criminal justice academy, as well.

But Miller still likes to inject a dose of reality into the new criminal justice academy for high school students at the Withlacoochee Technical Institute.

"CSI offers a tainted view of law enforcement," Miller said, referring to the popular television crime show.

The high school criminal justice academy gives students a real taste of police and detective work. Students who complete the yearlong classes, which meet daily for three hours, can enroll in the school's adult criminal justice academy upon graduation. The program is tied to an effort to increase high school enrollment at the vocational school.

The goal is to groom local students for careers in law enforcement with Citrus County agencies, including the Sheriff's Office.

Rachel Fults, a senior at Citrus High School, said she enrolled in Miller's class because she wants to work as an FBI agent one day. The 17-year-old participated in a citizens' academy class, which exposes students to the work of the Sheriff's Office, and she was hooked. She realized detective work is not as glamorous as the television show CSI.

"It's not as easy as it looks on TV," Fults said.

Fults and the other students in the class were learning last week how to draw crime scenes to scale. Their assignment was to go home and create a drawing of their bedroom. Eventually, the students will build three-dimensional models of crime scenes using a software program at school. They also will help sheriff's investigators develop a computer-generated drawing of a suspect's face that is based on testimony from an eyewitness or a victim.

By the end of the course, students will have learned forensic science skills such as taking tire and shoe impressions from crime and accident scenes. They will become familiar with criminal investigation procedures like taking witness statements and filling out police reports.

Miller, who also briefly worked as a federal investigator, likes to pepper his lectures with tales of grizzly homicide cases he helped crack. In 1990, he was part of a team of investigators that solved the murders of University of Florida students, including one who was beheaded, by serial killer Daniel Rolling, who was later sentenced to death.

Last week, Miller told his students that they would watch a video on witchcraft in the coming weeks. In the mid 1990s, Miller helped send to prison members of a vampire cult who had killed a couple and reportedly drank each others' blood and practiced black magic. "If somebody practices and believes in it, then you are going to have to investigate it," Miller told the students.

Miller's students are generally fascinated by the stories, which is evident from the flurry of questions they toss his way.

Jeremy Creel, a senior at Citrus High, said he enrolled in Miller's class because he wants to become a member of the Citrus Sheriff's SWAT team. Ever since he participated in a hostage negotiation training with members of the sheriff's emergency response team, Creel has wanted to go into law enforcement. The captain of the football team at Citrus High, Creel said he enjoys the responsibilities of being a role model.

"Some people say, 'I love animals, I want to be a veterinarian,' " he said. "I like taking charge and to try and make bad situations good."

For now, he is content to draw the scene of a crime for a grade, even if the crime is make-believe and the scene is his bedroom. "I want to learn how to think like a cop," he said.

For more information about the high school criminal justice program, call Miller at 726-2430.

Eddy Ramirez can be reached at eramirez@ sptimes.com or 860-7305.

[Last modified August 31, 2006, 06:20:06]