Behind the Yellow Tape: On the Road With Some of America's Hardest Working Crime Scene Investigators by Jarrett Hallcox, Amy Welch Page A

test on it,” she said feistily, on our way out the door. In the end, all any prosecutor can do is to work hard, understand what it is he or she is presenting, and present everything in the best light to get as solid a conviction as possible. But the reality is this—doing good means pissing some bad people off. Tragically, the threat of retribution is real. And in this line of work, you don’t view your life in years but in lengths of sentences.

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    Thunder Snow, Aye
    DULUTH POLICE DEPARTMENT, MINNESOTA

    Duluth, Minnesota—the county seat of St. Louis County—sits on the banks of Lake Superior. Before it was a city, the land of Duluth was inhabited by the Dakota and Ojibwa tribes, who grew wild rice, still a staple in many households throughout Minnesota. Founded in 1679, Duluth was once a thriving industrial town that boasted a steel plant and the leading port in the United States. In the early 1970s, the city had to shift its economic focus from industry to tourism. Today Duluth shares its port with Superior, Wisconsin, which together make Twin Ports, one of the major ports on the Great Lakes system. Duluth is known for its year-round cool temperatures, but especially its lake-effect snow, which comes in handy for the yearly dog-sled marathon every February. The Duluth Police Department is the third largest in the entire state of Minnesota, with 175 employees.
    Duluth, Minnesota. The Scandinavian Americans who dominate this semi-arctic climate pronounce it “Doo-looth.” Essentially, Duluth has two seasons—winter and July. On the one hand, winters in Duluth can be unbearable. It has been known to get so cold that a man can urinate outside and the stream will freeze before it hits the ground—not to mention, it’s hell on the penis. But on the other hand, July can be gorgeous, with people jogging around Lake Superior, enjoying a homemade root beer at Fitger’s Brewery or a malt down by the shore, and some folks even daring to surf the near-frigid waters. Just don’t stay too long, or you might get snowed in.
    On March 1, 2007, the 151st anniversary of the founding of St. Louis County, whose county seat is the City of Duluth, we were far from the balmy days of July. Sitting in the Comfort Suites Hotel, we anxiously awaited our second continental breakfast of the day. Sounds good, right? Except that this second continental breakfast was being served at seven thirty p.m., during the worst blizzard in the history of Duluth. Hurricane-force winds, two-plus feet of snow, thunder, lightning—all combined to close nearly everything in the entire city. Fortunately, we were saved from starvation by a few hard-boiled eggs, a waffle each, and some questionable breakfast meats.

    The outside of Fitger’s Brewery.
HALLCOX & WELCH, LLC
    We had been summoned to this bounty by the few brave hotel staff who remained stranded with us. And as the smells of maple syrup and thawing meat wafted into the air, we could hear the hotel staff talking among themselves. “Ya, dey say dere’s thunder wid da snow,” one of the staff explained to the other in a thick Minnesotan accent. “Ah, ya don’ say,” the other replied, neither remarkably moved by the unbelievable weather unfolding.
    That’s how it is in Duluth. It’s snowy; it’s cold; and, maybe because of the weather, people just don’t seem to get that excited about anything—it’s as if their blood is frozen. Most cope with the harsh climate by spending hours on end in their saunas (pronounced “sa-oo-nas”), in keeping with their Scandinavian heritage, or eating a “hotdish” full of meat, vegetables, and a binding ingredient such as canned soup. A hotdish is essentially a casserole popular in Minnesota. Pop the concoction into the oven and bake for thirty minutes—simple and Scandinavian. We later ate an authentic hotdish in the house of an authentic Scandinavian family. And, although we realize that everyone everywhere has had a hotdish of one kind or another,