The marijuana was dark green and rolled into what appeared to be little balls. The cocaine was white and powdery, similar to the way flour feels and looks.
Citizens Police Academy members met Tuesday night at the Bloomington Police Station to learn about illegal substances and the detective division at the station via a PowerPoint presentation.
Lt. John Kovach, who oversees the BPD detective division, lectured on what detectives at the department do and what he looks for in hiring one.
Kovach started off by explaining how detectives work with the media.
“We are the face of the department,” Kovach said. "I’m representing the department any time I talk to any kind of media.”
Kovach said that more than any other position in the police department, being a detective is tied closely to popular media. For the most part, they are the ones who speak to the media about ongoing investigations.
Detectives are different from patrol officers. Patrol officers are immediately dispatched to a location when a 911 call is made.
Kovach assigns detectives to cases after patrol officers take the initial report. The detectives then follow up on possible leads, even if an arrest is made.
“Once they put someone in jail, it doesn’t just end," Kovach said. "There is still a lot of follow up to do.
When hiring new detectives, Kovach said he looks for qualities such as high motivation and strong organizational skills. The detectives working at BPD are on call every night and weekend.
Many of the detectives have specific types of crimes that they work, called a specialty. Some specialties BPD officers have are violent crimes and special investigations units.
Detectives can choose whether they want a specialty, or they may be assigned to one if they have a particular skill. Detectives take a number of core classes once they are assigned a specialty, to prepare for what they may see on the field.
One job special investigations unit detectives have is to monitor trends in substance abuse and overdoses.
Later in the meeting, two of BPD’s special investigations unit detectives, Mike Baker and Blake McCamey, came in to talk to the class about their job and the types of narcotics in Bloomington.
They showed the class photos on a PowerPoint of the different types of drugs, weapons and paraphernalia they have seized from people in Bloomington. Some drugs they monitor are cocaine and methamphetamine.
The detectives wore jeans and a sweatshirt, explaining they wear plain clothes to blend in with other people.
Methamphetamine and LSD were among the drugs they showed the police academy students.
While passing each piece of evidence around, the detectives explained their uses and the dangers of these types of drugs to the class.
“People think because we live in Bloomington, everything is safe and civil, but it’s not always like that,” Baker said, after showing the class a photo of an AK-47 he had seized from a drug-related crime in Bloomington.
