A new investigative team has been created to examine traffic crashes resulting in deaths or serious injuries where impairment is believed to be involved.
Members of the Bartholomew County Fatal Alcohol Crash Team (F.A.C.T.) will be called in when deemed necessary by the law enforcement agency investigating the accident, the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department said.
The new team was created due to the increased frequency of these types of accidents, which can have a devastating impact on all individuals involved, according to the sheriff’s department.
F.A.C.T. will be able to utilize specific skills and investigative equipment from the eight involved agencies:
Columbus Police Department
Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department
Indiana State Police
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office
Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office
Columbus Fire Department
and the Emergency Operations 911 Center
By creating the new team, all of these agencies will be able to work together as one unit, according to the sheriff’s department.
The leader of the F.A.C.T. team will be Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputy Mark Helms, a retired Indiana State Police trooper who is a crash reconstructionist specialist.
Helms has served as the lead instructor in crash investigations for both the Indiana State Police Recruit Academy and the Indiana University Police Academy.
In addition to his experience as a crash reconstruction specialist, Helms has coordinated training and supervised equipment needs for crash reconstruction teams throughout Indiana.
