Earlier this year the DNA Project held its second roadshow, this time conducted in KwaZulu-Natal, to further disseminate our DNA CSI message.

Our KZN Trainer Rhys McColl, who facilitated this year’s roadshow, briefly looks back at his experience…

As a Durban based trainer I have been predominantly involved with workshops in and around the Durban area.  In order to spread the DNA projects message around the KZN province, a “DNA Project Roadshow” was organised from the 8^th – 11^th of April 2014.  These workshops were held in Ladysmith, Newcastle, Ulundi, Richards Bay and Port Shepstone.

Newcastle

The first workshop was held at the town hall in the historically important city of Ladysmith.  A number of uniformed officers and members of the flying squad were in attendance to gain important instruction in terms of crime scene management.

The second workshop took place in the Newcastle farmer’s hall.  A very good turnout was seen thanks in part by the organisation of our workshop co-ordinator, Maya Moodley, and the enthusiastic approach by the Newcastle police trainers.  The audience was made up by a large number of police as well as paramedics and security personnel.  All those in attendance were eager to learn and the workshop was a great success.

Ulundi

On the third day of the roadshow, members of the Ulundi police force met at the IFP caucus room in the legislative building in Ulundi.  Once again there was a very good turnout.  On a very hot day in central KZN, a great workshop was had with everybody involved gaining insight into the importance of DNA evidence.

The penultimate talk was held at the Flamingo community hall in Richards Bay.  Once again there was a very good turnout on a hot and humid day on the coast.  Over 100 people attended the workshop with members of the police, paramedics and security companies present.

Richards Bay

The final stop in the roadshow was at the town hall in the South Coast town of Port Shepstone.  This final day would in fact turn out to be the most rewarding with a phenomenal attendance of over 250 people.  Of the 250 odd people, a large majority were police officers, however, a number of paramedics and community policing forum members were also present.

All in all the roadshow was a great success with over 550 people attending the 5 workshops and the success of this event has hopefully laid the foundation for many roadshows to come.

~ Rhys McColl (KZN DNA Awareness Trainer)

This entry was posted on Thu, Nov 13th, 2014 at 5:16 pm and is filed under DNA Detective, Past Projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.