The 'Investigative Trilogy' Explores Its Roles
In August and September, groups of prosecutors, investigators and forensic scientists from the Attorneys Generals' Offices of the Mexican states of Baja California, Durango, Guanajuato, Morelos, Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Zacatecas learned about working together as a team to bring a case to trial, with the participation of experienced US investigators and litigators from Arizona, Nevada, and Rhode Island.
|
| |
Las Vegas Group, with Attorney General Laxalt
|
Mixed-Model Distance Learning
Simultaneously, teams of US instructors shared the live lectures via videoconference in the Mexican cities of Ensenada, Baja California, and Puebla, Puebla, and conducted practice sessions on site. The teams participated in a series of practical exercises from investigation through trial with experienced investigators and litigators from Arizona, California, and Oregon.
120 Mexican law enforcement personnel and a dozen US instructors participated in this quarter's Exchanges. The presentations from the Interdisciplinary Exchanges were also streamed live to viewers throughout Mexico via Internet, and the recordings are available online here.
|
| Conference to Conference: CWAG and CNPJ
CWAG Attorneys General Mark Brnovich of Arizona and Lawrence Wasden of Idaho attended Mexico's National Conference of Attorneys General (CNPJ) Annual Meeting in Mexico City, Mexico. CWAG staff with Generals Brnovich and Wasden addressed the gathered Attorneys General to present an overview of the binational collaborations the CWAG Alliance Partnership has facilitated over the years, and extend an invitation to the July 2016 Binational Attorney General Exchange in Sun Valley, Idaho.
|
Attorneys General Meet in Arizona  On Wednesday, July 8th, CWAG Attorneys General Adam Paul Laxalt of Nevada and Mark Brnovich of Arizona hosted a delegation in Phoenix of attorneys general from various Mexican states. The meeting was held to discuss the ongoing initiatives to combat transnational crime. Baja California Attorney General Perla Ibarra Leyva, Guanajuato Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre, and Sonora Attorney General Carlos Navarro Sugich were among those in attendance to meet with the two U.S. attorneys general. "Cross-border coordination and communication remains crucial to responding to and combating transnational crimes in a unified manner," said General Laxalt. "On behalf of Nevada, I welcome collaboration from our law enforcement partners in Mexico, and look forward to continuing efforts to further the rule of law." General Brnovich added, "The ongoing dialogue with our counterparts in Mexico is critical in developing long-term public safety strategies and successful law enforcement collaborations between our countries." |
|
DNA Analysis Project Solves Another Mystery
 In 2013, CWAG was awarded a grant from the US DOJ's National Institute of Justice for DNA Analysis to assist in identifying missing persons from Mexico in the U.S., and missing U.S. citizens in Mexico. We are pleased to report two successful missing persons identifications under this project.
In late 2014, a decomposing body was found in Rosarito, Mexico. A Missing Persons Detective from the San Diego County Sherriff's Office in collaboration with the Baja California Attorney General's Office, collected samples from the deceased person and submitted them under the authority of the grant, to the California Department of Justice for analysis, resulting in a match to a US Citizen missing in Mexico.
In June 2015, a family reference sample from the Baja California Attorney General's Office was associated with a body found in Imperial County, California, resulting in a match of a missing Mexico Citizen.
Under this project, the participating Attorney General's Offices in Mexico and our other grant partners hope to continue identifying many more missing individuals, providing closure to the missing persons' families. |
