WI DOJ Provides Vehicular Homicide Training

Over 180 Law Enforcement Officers and Prosecutors Attend Specialized Training on How to Investigate and Prosecute Vehicular Crash Case

STEVENS POINT - The Wisconsin Department of Justice's Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor (TSRP) Program recent conducted a training session that will provide law enforcement officers and prosecutors with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively and aggressively investigate and prosecute vehicular crash cases. The joint training approach allowed both prosecutors and law enforcement to learn from one another and recognize and appreciate the challenges faced by each discipline.

"Assisting local law enforcement and prosecutors is a constant theme in the Departments work and my commitment to public safety and fighting crime," said Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. "We do best what we do together. Their commitment to learn and the Departments determination to help is a good combination."

Topics discussed included:

• Crash Investigation Techniques
• Reconstruction Methodologies
• Crash Causation Issues
• The Role of Forensic Pathology in Collision Reconstruction
• Novel Defenses
• HIPAA
• The Legal Aspects of Crash Investigation
• Trial Preparation & Courtroom Testimony in Crash Cases

"Vehicular fatality cases are complex in nature and require a great deal of coordination between prosecutors and officers," said Van Hollen.

The training was made possible by a federal grant that the Wisconsin Department of Justice received through the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Safety.

Faculty included a diverse group of both state and national experts, including John Kwasnoski. John Kwasnoski has been a Professor of Physics for thirty years and is one of the most sought after accident reconstructionists and police-prosecutor trainers in the country. He has served as an expert in several cases of national significance, including: S. Carolina v. Susan Smith (a mother's drowning murder of her two sons) and U.S. v. Makharadze (the "Russian Diplomat" case), and has co-authored three best-selling books.