Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - Nestled between the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola lays the Republic of Haiti. With over 8.7 million people, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with over 80 percent of the people living below the poverty line, and 54 percent of those people living in abject poverty, Haiti's crime rates are soaring.

That's how Aric Dutelle, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, got involved with the U.S. Department of Justice and their International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program.

ICITAP's mission is to serve as the source of support for U.S. criminal justice and foreign policy goals by assisting foreign government in developing the capacity to provide professional law enforcement services based on democratic principals and respect for human life. There are currently more than 26 countries involved with ICITAP.

Dutelle was chosen by the DOJ for his specific skill set in crime scene investigation and processing. Dutelle was in Port Au Prince, the capital of Haiti, from Aug. 8 to 18 and again from Dec 8 to 15. While there Dutelle helped to train the Haitian Scientific Police and United Nations Stabilization forces in crime scene investigation and processing, as well as techniques for forensic photography. He taught the police force the correct methods for collecting, documenting and preserving evidence. Dutelle also worked with the lab personnel, performing a walk through of the current lab, and then providing floor plans for a possible upgraded laboratory.

"This is one of the best missions there is to have. It is not military based, in fact, it is helping to improve the quality of the lives of people," Dutelle said.

Due to the fact that Haiti's economy is very unstable the United Nations has had a stabilization force to help keep civil order in Haiti since 2004. In fact, the U.S. has issued several travel warnings to Americans planning to travel abroad to Haiti. These warnings remind Americans of dangerous situations, including a high risk of kidnapping.

Dutelle will be returning to return to Haiti a third time in the summer of 2008 to continue training the Haitian police force in advanced forensic photography techniques.

Contact: Aric Dutelle, lecturer, UWP Department of Criminal Justice, (608) 342-1596, dutellea@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: Nicole Eggebeen, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, eggebeen@uwplatt.edu