Surprise exercise tests readiness

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Zachiah Roberson
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Senior leaders with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations here recognize the need to keep their agents' skills sharp and to avoid complaceny.

To that end, the OSI staff conducted a surprise exercise June 21, 2012, involving their agents and multiple base agencies to test response and investigation capabilities.

Response teams were only notified they were part of the exercise upon arrival at the "crime scene."

"This is to incorporate ways we can improve base agencies' response with OSI's and preserve valuable evidence within a major crime scene," said Special Agent in Charge Richard Blair, who supervised the exercise.

Two volunteers acted as "victims" who were involved in a fatal domestic dispute. To make the scenario as realistic as possible, "blood" for the event was crafted by an OSI forensic science consultant and make-up was created and applied by the 319th Medical Group.

Upon arrival, 319th Security Forces Squadron personnel were tasked with clearing the area of any immediate dangers or hazards before medical personal could provide assistance and OSI agents could begin their investigation.

"Initially it went off pretty much like clockwork," said Blair.

Adding to the complexity of the exercise was a mock methamphetamine lab in the basement of the house. This presented a chemical threat that would spark questions for response teams and show exercise evaluators if they knew the appropriate agencies to notify and procedures for preservation of the crime scene.

Once the scene was secure, OSI began their delicate and time consuming work. This included removing the "bodies" from the scene for further analysis, blood stain testing, blood splatter analysis, collection of evidence and most importantly the detailed documentation of the crime scene.

"When we are processing a crime scene we can't just run through it," said Blair.

Every exercise is going to reveal areas where additional training is needed, said Blair. Therefore, he considers no-notice exercises more beneficial than pre-planned exercises.

"When people are notified early about an exercise, you respond with that mentality that 'this is an exercise,'" said Blair.

While the location chosen for the exercise prevented an even more realistic environment, Blair was pleased at the performance of the OSI agents and first responders and thinks the lessons learned from this exercise will be invaluable in the future.