Page 61 - 2022 A Year in Review Final

The Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) is

tasked with processing all crime scenes and

seizing, cataloging, and storing all evidence

obtained from those scenes. BCI detectives 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, the evidentiary custodian and the direct supervisor of the unit’s five

detectives. Our BCI Detectives are assisted by a civilian clerk, Ms. Laurie Chapman.

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Cranston Police Department Year in Review 2022