CLARE — Michigan State Police put their forensic science division to the test, holding a mass casualty drill in Northern Michigan earlier Thursday.
Crime scene response teams from Grayling, Grand Rapids, and Lansing, as well as detectives from the special investigation section, were at Camp Rotary in Clare for the exercise at the Rotary Club.
MSP said the point of the exercise is to practice communication and evidence-collecting skills that were overlooked in the past.
Guy Nutter, with MSP, said when they started holding mass casualty training exercises, they were focused on the initial response to an active shooter, but now they have drills annually to test the crime scene response teams’ communication and evidence gathering skills.
“They always stopped after that initial threat was done. And we were like, ‘Hey, that’s when we come in and start working.’ So, we wanted to do that,” Nutter said.
Nutter said working an active mass casualty crime scene is very different than working a single crime scene.
“We’ve got three different crime scene response teams from three different labs responding to process the crime scenes and so they’re getting exposure to being separated and having to communicate and working interlapped,” said Nutter.
The exercise they were practicing was a real-time scenario involving General Motors executives who were there for a retreat.
During the drill, two disgruntled employees planned a coordinated attack, shooting several people.
One of the suspects was shot while the other escaped. He said communication is critical.
“We have these people spread way out. So, the people that are at the scene, one of the scenes over there, there may be information at this scene that would benefit them, and so we need to have that,” said Nutter.
Determining in a fast-moving situation what is actual evidence that needs to be collected and what is just stuff lying around, not connected to the crime, can be confusing, according to Nutter.
“If you have people leaving articles behind and things like that, it’s really a challenge to determine what we should collect and what is not really relevant for that for the actual crime that occurred,” Nutter said.
He said it’s critical to practice these skills, especially when time is of the essence.
“There’s more of a sense of urgency in these than in our typical crime scenes. And so that puts pressure on them to try to figure that out. That’s why we’re doing this to put them outside of their comfort zone,” Nutter said.
Michigan State Police said they were grateful to the Boy Scouts Camp Rotary for allowing them to use their facilities.