Detectives keep up with the times

When Bruce Radomski began his career with Costa Mesa police as a crime scene investigator, the department still used century-old fingerprinting techniques. Now he heads the unit and it’s a whole new field, he said.

For starters DNA evidence has become a major factor in solving cases. The equipment has advanced as well and involves all sorts of gadgets. And as the responsibilities of investigators have increased, so has the workload, Radomski said.

“You never know what’s going to happen when you come in each day,” Radomski said. One day might entail analyzing prints in the office, another hanging out of a helicopter, he said.

The Costa Mesa City Council recently honored Radomski for his 35 years of work as a civilian investigator. Radomski, 57, started as a photographer with the department in 1972 in one of its only civilian positions. After four years he took a break from the job and went back to school, earning a graduate degree in criminology. Upon his return to the department, Radomski’s old position was absorbed into the crime scene investigation unit.

“In the old days we’d go out and take a couple of pictures and throw some fingerprint dust,” on everything, Radomski said. “Now there is so much more than that.”

On major crime scenes the team lugs out an arsenal of equipment including a laser for scanning three-dimensional spaces and chemicals such as Luminol, which causes blood traces to glow a vivid shade of blue.

This chemical literally brings to light what the human eye may not see and played a huge role in solving the 1991 murder of 23-year-old Denise Huber. After police found Huber’s body in a freezer owned by John Famalaro in Arizona, they needed to prove that the murder occurred in Orange County.

Radomski worked on the team that found traces of Huber’s blood in Famalaro’s Laguna Hills warehouse, allowing prosecutors to bring the man back into the state. In 1997 a jury found Famalaro guilty of murder and he was sentenced to death.

“[Radomski has] been involved in literally every homicide investigation this city has had in 35 years,” Costa Mesa police Sgt. Marty Carver said.

The job rarely sees that level of drama and holds few similarities to what people watch on shows like the CSI series, where investigators solve crimes within minutes. In reality, solving a crime takes much more patience and time, he said.

“[Most people] think you pick up a cigarette butt, look at it and say, ‘Oh, this is [some rare brand of] tobacco from Madagascar,’ ” Radomski said. In reality, “You pick up things and submit it and wait for things to come back. You don’t always find this fabulous evidence just lying around.”