Page 44 - 2020 A Year in Review

The Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) is tasked

with processing all crime scenes and seizing, cataloging,

and storing all evidence obtained from those scenes.

Member also process all evidence seized at a crime

scene, including fingerprints, blood, or DNA evidence, as

well as any other evidence which may be present. The BCI Unit works closely with the

Rhode Island State Crime Lab, the Medical Examiner’s Office and on occasion, the FBI

Crime Lab at Quantico for support in processing evidence.

In addition to collecting, processing, and storing evidence, members of the BCI unit

carry out many other duties. Those tasks include, but are not limited to, conducting

fingerprint processing for childcare workers, teachers, school bus drivers, and anyone

else deemed by law to require fingerprinting as a condition of employment. They are

also responsible for: destroying all evidence that cannot be returned to its owner or is

no longer needed for prosecutorial purposes, registering sex offenders who are

required by law to register with police departments of the city / town in which they

reside, attending autopsies for all death investigations and cataloging, storing, and

returning all weapons held by the police department. The unit itself is led by Sergeant

Michael Patnaud, who is the evidentiary custodian and the direct supervisor of the

unit’s five detectives. In early 2020, the unit added a new civilian clerk, Ms. Laurie

Chapman.

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Cranston Police Department Year in Review 2020