REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (WHNT) — A training exercise began with several staged fires Tuesday morning as agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) prepared a scene for students to investigate.
The class was made up of law enforcement and members of military members who traveled from around the country to learn about how to examine a scene and build a case after a disaster.
The ATF staged the area used for training on Redstone Arsenal to look like a market, with mock vendors, witnesses and first responders. After the scene was set, participants went back and reconstructed the blast sites.
“The way they describe it is a cradle to grave,” Huntsville Police Officer William Curl said. “From the start, to the middle, to the very end with prosecutors, lab work and everything like that.”
Curl, like all the course participants, has attended training with the ATF before. He has experience investigating the site of an explosion, but this exercise is designed to teach additional skills.
“Throughout the week, they’ll respond to more bombing incidents that will occur here on Redstone as a training exercise,” ATF Post Blast Investigative Techniques Course Program Manager Brian Taylor said. “Once they complete that, they’ll be able to formulate a case and actually be able to do a grand jury presentation at the end.”
The course lasts for two weeks, and once it ends, participants are meant to take the skills they acquire back to their organizations.
“That’s going to definitely going to build confidence on how things are going to work because l can bring this back to our crime scene and bomb squad,” Curl said.
Curl said Huntsville’s bomb squad is a regional unit, so the training has the potential to reach outside of the city’s jurisdiction.
The ATF holds periodic training, but this advanced class usually only takes place once a year.
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