Forensic Friday full of fun, suspense for Wall youth

WALL TOWNSHIP — A collaborative camp Wall Township kids couldn’t wait to get their hands on was the Wall Township Police Department’s (WTPD) inaugural Forensic Friday held late last month. The interactive event offered an informational look inside the minds and operations of detectives solving a crime scene.

In collaboration with some Wall officers and Monmouth County’s highest ranking investigative officials, some 25 kids were grouped together at tables inside the walls of Wall Youth and Community Services to learn and display techniques of fingerprinting, interviewing, scene analysis, communication and more. 

“This was a combination of (ideas) from the youth center and Chief (Sean) O’Halloran,” Ptl. Karleigh Cacciatore — who serves as one of WTPD’s public information officers — told The Coast Star on Friday, Aug. 30. “We took that idea and ran with it.” 

For the first hour, the children did fingerprinting; they rolled their own prints, focusing on ridges or leaves and their uniqueness, followed by learning how to dust, all done on paper provided by WTPD. 

Ptl. Cacciatore said, “They put their oily fingers on a piece of paper, they use the powder for dusting their prints and then they would get into interviews.” 

One of the high ranking officials of WTPD, Lt. Det. Michael Steitz, gave the class tips on how to interview suspects during a case, most importantly body language. The students played a game of charades in order to fully understand body language, which could be detrimental in charging a suspect. 

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