Young police officer a homegrown CSI
Brittney Parchman, Cayman’s newest CSI
(CNS): RCIPS trainee Brittney Parchman has been promoted to Scenes of Crime Officer (SOCO). Parchman, 26, who was born and raised in the Cayman Islands, said she knew when she was about 14 that she wanted to pursue a career in forensic science, pointing to the popular CSI television series as inspiration.
“It was CSI that first got me interested in it, it’s true,” she admits, chuckling, “but when I started studying forensic science in university, I realised that the work is nothing like what you see on TV. But I still loved it.”
Parchman attended the University College of the Cayman Islands and then transferred to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, from which she graduated in 2012 with a degree in forensic science with a minor in chemistry. One summer during college she interned with the RCIPS; after graduating, she returned to Cayman and was taken on as a trainee in the RCIPS Scenes of Crime Office in 2014.
“Forensic science is a broad area, while crime scene investigation is quite specific,” she explained. “I was definitely not ready to do this job right out of school; I needed additional training within this area.”
She has spent the last 16 months shadowing other SOCOs, learning their techniques, honing her photography skills, and gradually gaining enough experience to handle cases independently. Throughout her training, she said, “my fellow SOCO colleagues have been very encouraging and willing to assist whenever I needed them.”
The RCIPS also provided for Parchman’s participation in a five-day course on crime scene investigation last May at the CSI Academy of Florida in Gainesville.
Parchman’s hands-on training and regular mentoring by colleagues has paid dividends. The court recently commended the quality of her work in an assault case, in which the scene photographs and albums she produced helped secure a conviction.
“I am delighted that we have been able to provide both the opportunity and the mentoring for a young woman like Ms. Parchman to gain the skills and experience needed for her professional development,” said Police Commissioner David Baines. “I know we will be hearing more good things about her work in the future.”
Parchman added that her experience has only confirmed what she knew when she started out as an RCIPS intern in 2012: “I definitely chose the right career for me.”
Category: Police
