In the final episode of the Inside Counter Terrorism Policing podcast hear about the intricate and complex work of a forensic expert.
“All the time you’re constantly looking, listening, watching, and seeing how things are changing, seeing how people are reacting….is there something more than meets the eye?”
‘Cassandra’, whose true identity has been protected, is a Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) Forensic and Digital Investigator who discusses her 40 years of experience piecing together evidence to give a voice to those who no longer speak for themselves.
She describes her job as ‘sorting out a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces are the same colour, the same shape, and the same size till you manage to flip them over and start to connect them together.’
Cassandra began her career as a response officer where she built a foundation for her policing career before moving on to various roles in CID as well undertaking covert police work.
She then made a move to becoming an investigator where she had a passion for ‘giving the victims a voice’.
In this episode she explains how important dignity for the dead is, something she prides herself on as someone who serves and protects the public.
Since joining CTP her work has been completely different to anything she has experienced before; from the nature of the investigations to collaborating with colleagues.
She describes one of her proudest moments as finding a piece of evidence from a low-profile suspect.
“He was filming himself, sort of recording items on a table that would be very good for use in an attack. The daft so and so, he put his finger in the way – he was filming this stuff, you could see the finger. ‘We’ve got the chance of a print!’”
Inside Counter Terrorism Policing is a chart-topping podcast sharing the unheard stories of women working in Counter Terrorism Policing.
The Inside Counter Terrorism Policing podcast has featured five women who for the first time have shared what it’s like to work in counter terrorism and national security:
- Emma: the woman recruiting our covert human sources
- Jo: from a rural town to banning extremist groups
- Jess: the woman leading counter terrorism investigations
- Heidi: Secondary school teacher turned intelligence analyst
- Cassandra: 40 years of forensics and CSI, giving a voice to those who no longer have one.
You can listen to Inside Counter Terrorism Policing wherever you get your podcasts.
Check out the latest vacancies at Counter Terrorism Policing and join the thousands of officers and staff working night and day to keep the public safe.