CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman Police Department recently congratulated Officer Zane Pounders for successfully completing Traffic Homicide Investigation parts one and two.
Chief David Nassetta said Pounders will now be assigned to the CPD Traffic Homicide Unit.
“The Cullman Police Department Traffic Homicide Unit is a specialized investigative unit that responds to and investigates life-threatening injury crashes and fatal crashes,” Nassetta said.
Pounders said he is extremely grateful and excited to begin the journey.
“Levels 1 and 2 are the beginning stages of the investigations of traffic homicide, and the course for that takes 80 hours to complete,” Pounders said. “Essentially, I started May 6 and finished on May 17. The biggest thing about the course is you need to have a desire to investigate crashes and understand what truly caused them.”
Pounders said this course was mostly about gathering applicable evidence from crash scenes.
“A lot of the evidence can be applied to formulas to give you information that tells the facts of what took place at the crashes,” Pounders said. “Obviously with formulas being involved, you need to be efficient in math as some of the equations are lengthy and can send you down a rabbit hole of other equations. They ensured your brain got a workout every day.”
Pounders said the transition to Traffic Homicide Investigation isn’t anything too crazy.
“All members of the THI team are still full-time members of their assigned shift,” Pounders said. “For me, that’s patrol. You’ll still find me answering every other call for service. However, the THI team is on call 24/7 to come out for certain crashes, typically those involving serious injury or fatalities. So regardless of if it’s our off day or if it’s 2 a.m., we will respond to investigate.”
Pounders said he was assigned to the unit upon completion of the course.
“These guys work extremely hard behind the scenes,” Pounders said. “I’ve been fascinated by it for a long time. I am glad to be able to join it for sure.”
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