Forensics Anti-Gang Course Closes in ILEA San Salvador
July 30, 2008

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Forensics Anti-Gang Course instructor David Wulf, Deputy Chief of Mission from the US Embassy in El Salvador Robert Blau, and Salvadoran Vice Minister of Public Security and Justice, Astor Escalante.

The International Law Enforcement Academy, ILEA, in San Salvador closed its Forensics Anti-Gang course with a ceremony on July 25 that featured remarks by the Deputy Chief of Mission from the US Embassy in El Salvador, Robert Blau, and the Vice Minister of Public Security and Justice, Astor Escalante.
Members of the US Embassy, in conjunction with the US Department of Justice's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT), conducted the workshop at the ILEA.

Forty participants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras participated in the workshop which focused on the forensics of gang investigations.

The course, which took place from July 18 to 25, covered topics ranging from advanced investigative techniques to how to collect, analyze and utilize evidence in court.  Additional segments included how to use ballistics evidence to link crime scenes, how to analyze blood, how to derive clues from autopsies, and how to use forensic evidence to corroborate or disprove testimony. 

Special emphasis also was placed on information sharing and cooperation within and among the justice sector officials of each country.  Finally, the participants conducted a mock crime scene investigation and used evidence collected from the crime scene during a mock trial.