Download Ex-Cop still Teaching by the Book - Practical Homicide Investigation

Ex-cop still Teaching by the book
By JOHN MARZULLI
NEWS STAFF WRITER
FOR A NEW generation of homicide detectives, retired NYPD Lt. Commander
Vernon J. Geberth is still on the job, which is bad news for bad guys. Geberth, 62, recently
published the fourth edition of his massive textbook, “Practical Homicide Investigation;
Tactics, Procedures, and Forensic Techniques (CRC Press), which is considered an
indispensable bible in law enforcement.
Vernon J. Geberth
In the first edition in 1983, there wasn't anything about [experience with]
DNA, because it did not exist," Geberth said.
But the former commander of the Bronx Homicide squad isn’t sitting back
waiting for enterprising detectives or police agencies to plunk down $89.95
for the book.
He was a speaker in June at the NYPD chief of detectives, homicide
investigators course, presenting case histories that can form a frame of
reference for gumshoes who haven't personally probed or consulted on more
than 8000 death investigations, as Geberth has.
The sensational murder of John Jay College student Imette St. Gillen in February was a topic
of discussion at the course
'What's ironic about that case is you have a kid who studied to be a CSI [crime scene
investigator] and she becomes the subject of a CSI investigation," Geberth told the Daily
News.”
"The department is light years from when I performed as a commander [in 1987], 1 know
that from speaking to people in the field about the assistance they get from the police
laboratory and the equipment they have”, he said.
"You can have all the technology in the world, but if you haven't done the basic police
procedures, you have nothing."
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