The Criminal Investigation Division consists of .....

 

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Detectives

 

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Technical Investigators

 

 

 

The Criminal Investigation Division is headed by Captain Craig Akard. He can be reached at (580) 581-3240.

 

Captain Akard grew up in Lawton and obtained his degree.  He was hired by the Lawton Police                           

Department in July 1984.  During his years with the department Captain Akard has worked in patrol            

but the majority of his time was spent in the Special Operations Division as narcotics investigator,

criminal intelligence, and K-9.  He also spent time as the Crime Stoppers Investigator.  Captain

Akard was also a member of the initial Gang Task Force of the department.

 

Captain Akard has been a departmental Firearms Instructor for over 12 years and is also an Advanced         

Instructor with CLEET.  He received his Advanced Law Enforcement Certification from CLEET.  He

graduated from the Texas Department of Public Safety Polygraph School in 1998 and is currently one of

three examiners for the department.

 

He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in November of 1999 and served as a supervisor in patrol and

 investigations.  He was then transferred to Professional Standards in 2002 where he was in charge of that

 unit until his promotion to Captain in April of 2007.    

 

 

 

 

Lieutenant Larry LaFrance and Lieutenant William Grimes supervise sixteen officers assigned to detective duties. These detectives have the responsibility of investigating all felony crimes except those involving vice or narcotics. They are divided into two groups: crimes against persons (crimes including homicides, rapes, assaults, etc.) and crimes against property (burglaries, larcenies, forgeries, auto thefts, etc.). All detectives are cross-trained and work any type of investigation when needed.  Ten Detectives have received extensive training in collection and preservation of evidence. When performing this function, they are known as Technical Investigators or TI's. At a major crime scene, their function is primarily to collect all evidence while their counterparts assigned as lead investigators conduct interviews and interrogations and focus on developing a suspect. The TI duty is rotated among those qualified to ensure they stay fresh and have equal opportunity to utilize their training and develop their investigative skills.

The Criminal Investigation Division also has a secretary, Mary Odum. She takes messages for detectives who are out of the office and takes care of divisional bookkeeping. She also serves as the recording secretary for Crime Stoppers-Drug Busters of Southwest Oklahoma board meetings. 

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