Two stars of television’s “CSI” Crime Scene Investigation” are making good on a promise to Henderson Police Department criminalistics administrator Rick Workman by using their fame to help him raise money for a new crime lab.
More than 300 people showed up to see actors David Berman and Jon Wellner from the popular CBS show, based in Las Vegas. Berman has played assistant coroner Dr. David Phillips in about 100 episodes and Wellner has played recurring character Hendry Andrews in 10 episodes.
The actors described what it’s like to be on “CSI” and told behind-the-scenes stories. Audience members got autographs and took pictures with them afterwards.
Workman first approached the actors with the idea for the new lab a couple of years ago while they were having lunch in Burbank, he said.
He met the two actors, who are also researchers for the show, while consulting the show’s writers on how real forensics is done. Workman has served as an advisor since the show debuted in 2000 he said.
He said he knew if he could harness their star power, raising the $37 million estimated cost for the crime lab might be possible. Workman said he is just launching the effort after more than a year of preparation and didn’t say if he’d garnered any substantial donations.
“The reason I had the guts to do this project was those two guys,” he said, referring to Berman and Wellner.
Workman is raising the money for the new lab privately and with no official backing from the police department, he said.
While the appearance was free to the public, Workman said, the awareness it raises in the community about the project is priceless. As more people become aware of the need for a lab, he said, it is more likely that it will become a reality.
“It’s almost self-perpetuating,” he said. “We went from tens of people, to hundreds, and now thousands of people who are aware of this.”
Berman said the show sends a good message to its audience. “I don’t think we make crime look sexy. I think we make solving crimes look sexy.” He said.
Unfortunately, Wellner said, most crime labs pale in comparison to the one depicted on the show.
“The lab on the show is the most well-funded lab in the world. We have every little gadget you can imagine,” he said. “Of course, in real life, no lab is like that.”
Workman said the real Las Vegas Metro Police crime lab, which handles most of the evidence in Southern Nevada, including Henderson, is overburdened. He said the lab in Las Vegas is the only one in Southern Nevada capable of doing complex work such as processing DNA evidence.
If Henderson had its own crime lab, not only could it process its own evidence, but it could share the Las Vegas lab’s burden, he said.
“They’ve been overwhelmed for years, and they’re still overwhelmed,” he said. “One lab is just not enough.”
Henderson police also often outsource evidence to labs in places like Texas, which is time-consuming and possibly destructive to sensitive materials, he said.
“The more handlers the evidence has, the more potential there is for evidence loss. Transportation is the No. 1 cause of destroyed evidence.”
Jenny Ormsby, a criminal justice major at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, said the presentation was more enjoyable than she thought it would be.
“I thought it was going to be more of a sales kind of push like, “We need your donations,” but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t,” she said.
Workman said the fundraising is still in its early stages and for now, he’s happy just to get the word out.
“My hope is that the people in this audience will tell somebody and someday I”ll get a phone call from the right person,” he said. |
