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Colwell receives valuable law enforcement training
Colwell-school-picWEB
Law Enforcement Academy director Dr. Jeffery Lindsey, left and forensic scientist Dr. William Bass, right, present local District Attorney investigator Stuart Colwell with his diploma following completion of a 10-week investigative school sponsored by the University of Tennessee and U.S. Department of Justice.
Coming home with a wealth of crime-fighting education, District Attorney investigator Stuart Colwell hopes to use what he has learned to make Warren and Van Buren counties less comfortable for those who break the law.“It’s the best training you can get,” said District Attorney General Lisa Zavogiannis who sent her investigator to the 10-week National Forensic Academy sponsored by the University of Tennessee and U.S. Department of Justice.The 400-hour course, which was made up of 170 hours of class work and 230 hours of field practice, took participants through a wide array of crime-fighting techniques.“Law enforcement is evolving all the time and it’s important to keep up with the latest,” Colwell said, noting less than 1 percent of law enforcement officers are accepted into the forensic academy. “I hope to become better at what I do by participating in academies like this.”Colwell said he was taught by experts across the country as they covered areas ranging from DNA and latent print processing to blood stain analysis and forensic fire investigation. There was also a major emphasis on death investigation which brought him into several autopsies and even to the famous body farm overseen by renowned University of Tennessee instructor Dr. William A. Bass.