HEADLINE: Sheriff's evidence is in good hands 

Mike Campbell, a Rockingham County sheriff's deputy, recently met the criteria to become a certified property and evidence specialist.

Campbell, who has been with the sheriff's office about 12 years, has for about five years also been the department's property and evidence officer.

He is responsible for the receipt, documentation, storage, disposition and accountability for property and evidence that comes into the possession of the sheriff's office.

Campbell is a member of the International Association for Property and Evidence. He has completed training in managing property and evidence in law enforcement agencies and has achieved a satisfactory grade on the Certified  Property and Evidence Specialist Certification Test.

Sheirff Sam Page said, "By receiving this certification, he not only has improved his level of expertise, but helps keep our standards high in evidence control."

HEADLINE: Officer rises in ranks by giving "110%";
Investigator wins rare certification

BYLINE: AMY WOLD

DATELINE: DENHAM SPRINGS

About 12 years ago, Denham Springs Officer Lynn Connor was ushering children safely to school.

Today, she collects and organizes evidence as the Police Department's crime scene officer.

Although the city doesn't have a high murder rate - no one has been murdered within city limits since she became the crime scene officer in 1999 - Connor has responded to burglaries, fatal wrecks, suicides and the death of children.

Recently, she became the first person in the state to become a certified property and evidence specialist through the International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc.

It was a big switch for Connor, 55, who said she didn't expect to be doing this job.

"I raised three kids, and then all of a sudden I'm doing this," she said. Her children - now 29, 27 and 23 - also have told her they're surprised where her work has taken her.

She said she likes her job and the fact that every day is a new challenge.

Connor got started in the Police Department by volunteering with the police cadets, and then moved to a paid position as a school crossing guard. Connor then took on responsibilities as a full-time receptionist in the Police Department.

After a few years, she said, the police chief asked her to work as an evidence officer; she was sworn into that office in 1997. After a couple years, Connor said she was asked to be the crime scene officer and collect evidence.

Police Chief Jeff Wesley said appointing Connor to the position made sense.

"Every task we ever asked her to do, she gave 110 percent," he said. "She's probably one of the most-conscientious employees we have."

Connor, a civilian who was placed in the position of crime scene officer, has earned the respect of officers in the department and was voted officer of the year in 2001, Wesley said.

"It's probably one of the best decisions I've made in my 14 years as police chief," Wesley said about making her the crime scene officer.

As part of her training, she went on ride-alongs with a crime scene officer in Baton Rouge who used to work in Denham Springs. In addition, she said, Sgt. Shannon Womack of the Denham Spring Police Department has been a mentor to her.  Although she's usually on call 24 hours a day, when she does take time off, Cpl. Gerald Parker takes over, she said.

The first case she responded was a fatal car wreck involving a drunken driver. It was a different experience than filing and organizing evidence collected by other people.

"I had never been around the blood and guts before," she said.

She said she "sucked it up" and did her job. That job includes attending autopsies, taking pictures, dusting for fingerprints and responding to suicides.

"It pains you to see a teenager do that to themselves because you don't understand (why)," she said.

Responding to deaths in younger children is very hard, she said.

"When you have babies, that will send you over the edge," she said.

She said she doesn't have a way to unwind from the stress of the things she sees. "I try to keep it back here," she said patting the back of her head. "If you ever get used to this job, it's time to find something else to do."

She wears a cross and two guardian angel pendants on a gold chain around her neck, given to her by Jerry, her husband of 30 years.

"When I get called out in the middle of the night, it's the first thing I grab," she said.

There are also rewards to the job, she said.

One time, she said, she responded to a house break-in. One of the officers had already dusted for prints, so she took her brush and started smoothing out the fingerprint dust and found a print. She said she took that to the latent print lab, which found a match.

"They went and arrested him," she said, smiling at the memory. "I like my job. It's interesting. Every single time I go to a scene I learn something."

In addition to her work as the crime scene investigator, she is also assistant adviser for the Denham Springs Police Cadets - a law enforcement Explorers program of the Boy Scouts - and the department's evidence officer.

GRAPHIC: B.W. photo of Lynn Connor dusting a broken piece of Plexiglass for fingerprints outside the Police Department in Denham Springs (By Richard Alan Hannon)