by Mary Schenk

From left, Champaign County sheriff's investigator Jody Ferry, deputy Nicki Bolt and deputy Jonathan Rieches stand in front of the department's Crime Scene Unit van. Courtesy of John Dixon/The News-Gazette

Champaign County, Ill., Sheriff Dan Walsh can't wait for the day he can walk into his office, hold his hands up, and have the wall-size virtual computer screen appear that will instantly solve crimes.

Those are the tools of Hollywood studios that make for good television, not the reality of a county sheriff.

But Walsh is almost as proud of a used, full-size GMC van, once used to haul election materials around, that's been repurposed for his department's newly formed crime scene unit.

Rather than computers and instant DNA analyzers, the van is stocked with rubber gloves, brown paper bags, tweezers, swabs, crime scene tape and camera equipment.

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Source: The News-Gazette