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Massachusetts State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit

Internship
As summer 2015 winds down to an end, I have had a lot of time to
reflect on my time as an intern under Lieutenant Zipper of the Massachusetts
Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit. Words cannot describe how grateful I am
for this opportunity to work with such an amazing group of people. In the
days approaching my first day as an intern I was filled with mixed emotions. I
was excited to start a new chapter of my life but nervous because this was
my first internship in the field of my major. I had all sorts of questions before
I started that I couldnt wait to get answered. Would I be out in the field at
all? Would I be in an office all day? What type of work would I be given?
Would I just be used for busy work like some of the horror internships I have
heard about before? It was also with the Massachusetts State Police which
was a little more official than I had initially expected but Nichols College and
my amazing professors definitely prepared me for this once in a lifetime
opportunity.
The first day on the job answered my number one question: Would I be
out in the field at all? As I reported to 96 Stedman Street in Lowell, MA I knew
that I was in for a great summer internship. My first day as an intern and I
was already in the field shadowing the State Fire Marshals during an
investigation of a fire that occurred on May 9th. I was introduced to
Massachusetts State Trooper Justin Pledge who was also once an intern for
Lieutenant Zipper. This immediately grabbed my attention because if I do an

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exceptional job as Zippers intern I might also have the chance to become a
state trooper and work under him once again. Justin explained to me that
while he was an intern all he did was work hard, be polite and personable,
and be available to service anything that Zipper needed. It was my mission
to do exactly that and work so hard that it set me apart from all the other
interns. My dress code for days I was at a fire scene was comfortable clothes
that could get dirty, a pair of Timberland boots and a baseball cap to keep
the sun out of my face. Luckily I had a pair of old jeans and a pair of steel
toed boots I would wore. I had great experiences seeing what it was like to
work in the field but I also got a glimpse of what the office work for this job
entailed. My office was located in the Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit
section of the fire academy located in Stow, MA. For days I was in the office I
wore khakis, a polo shirt, and a pair of Sperry shoes giving me a professional
look. Each day a different trooper was assigned to the front desk to answer
any phone calls and dispatch them to whomever the caller needed to speak
to. While in the office I would fill out paperwork on cases and enter
information into the computer database. On slow days in the office I could be
doing many different things such as recording old VHS cassette tapes onto
DVDs which at times was agonizing but the movies or documentaries always
had something I could take away from it. I also helped Lieutenant Zipper
create the test final for his Juvenile Law class he teaches at Northern Essex
Community College. We met at the college on days we would work on the
121-123 East Cambridge Street case because if need be, we were only

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minutes away from the scene. Here we would organize documents into the
United States vs Jason Givens binder that was given to the prosecutor
assigned to the case.
The fire academy has much more than just offices and conference
rooms. It has its own classrooms, garages, cafeteria and a multiple different
training facilities. You must complete the fire academy in Stow in order to be
a firefighter in the state of Massachusetts. Students in the academy take
their classes in the upper level classrooms. They are provided with a full
functioning caf and grill which I often bought lunch from. The training
facilities are used for physical training and practice. There are replications of
houses, busses, business buildings and much more. These structures are set
on fire in a controlled environment and mimic real life situations to get the
first hand training needed before going out into the field. The garages are
filled with all the different fire trucks and is located next to the training
facilities.
The most important lesson I have taken away from Lieutenant Zipper
and this internship is that communication is key. The ability to communicate
with one another holds much more meaning that one would think. In the field
of criminal justice you must be able to communicate with every type of
person no matter what the situation: an arrest, interview, interrogation, and
your peers. He taught me that you have to have some sort of understanding
of where the other person is coming from such as theyre background, where
they live, and what theyve gone through. Once you have that understanding

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you can make a connection with whoever you are talking to and once that
connection is made communication starts flowing smoothly. During
interviews and interrogations communication is especially important to
receive clues or evidence about the case. I have learned the correct way to
approach a person during an interview and many interrogation techniques. I
have also learned how to tell if someone is hiding something or lying in their
interview just by focusing on their body language and the tone of voice they
use. More often than not if the person being interrogated repeats multiple
questions directly after they are asked, it usually means they are stalling
trying to buy time to answer the question. Another example is if the person
simply avoids a question and talks around it but wont directly answer, they
are attempting to hide something.
In the field of criminal justice team work is used every day. During my
internship I worked with 4 other interns only having one thing in common, we
were all criminal justice majors. No matter how different we may be, we must
come together and work the in the most effective way to get the job done
which is exactly what the Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit does. My
experience with the other interns was great! We all shared laughs and did
side projects with each other for either Lieutenant Zipper or Sgt.
Cunningham. Communication played a huge role when working with the
other interns on and off the job. Through my internship I was afforded the
opportunity to volunteer at and work within the Massachusetts State Police
compound at the Esplanade on the fourth of July in Boston, MA. I spent the

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3rd and 4th of July grilling food for 184 law enforcement officials from all
sections including the MA, CT, and NH state police, bomb squad, ATF, FBI,
CTS, DEA and local law enforcement. They called me Chef Jake as I grilled
chicken, steak tips, hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages and four, ten pound
pork roasts which was a crowd pleaser. I started grilling after roll call was
finished, then law enforcement officials were teamed up and placed into
smaller units of 5 people. Each team had an allotted time period to complete
sweeps of the area assigned to them. They lasted about 45 minutes each
and there were 6 groups out at a time to cover more ground. These sweeps
were put into place to pick out any suspicious person, bag or object. On each
team vehicle there were explosive sniffing devices that beep anytime a
chemical used in explosives is within a 15 foot radius. The compound was
enclosed by a chain link fence draped with a dark green tarp that made it
difficult to see through. There were over 100 law enforcement vehicles from
cruisers to quads and everything in between. Three trucks the size of an RV
is where the center of the compound was located. It felt good giving back to
those who serve to protect us here in the United States. During my internship
I learned that all the different law enforcement agencies work together to
achieve their common goal instead of working separately and withholding
information from each other.
Along with learning new techniques for interrogations I also learned
how to use a new technology called A.C.I.S.S. which stands for Augmented
Criminal Investigative Support System. A.C.I.S.S. is basically a huge database

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that saves any information entered into it from a criminal case. Information
entered into A.C.I.S.S can range from a persons drivers license to their
criminal record. A.C.I.S.S. is linked up with the DMV so if the person entered
into the system has a drivers license their information will automatically be
pulled up for the user to see. This system saves information by case number.
I was first taught how to use this system by the MA State Fire Marshal
Technician. If I entered a specific partys name that was involved in the case
as a victim, witness, or suspect all the information from a previous case will
be pulled up. I look at it as a massive networking system that keeps track of
everything entered into it that can be used for ongoing and/or future cases.
This is a useful technology for me to know how to use because I will already
be one step ahead of the game if I ever have to use a similar system in my
future career.
Throughout my internship I worked with the K9 handlers and their
dogs. They were present at each fire scene and even the Arson Watch Poster
Contest. At a fire scene in Lawrence I was able to watch the handler and his
K9 do their everyday training. While the dog was still in the car, the handler
walked around the scene placing drops of an accelerant the size of a tip of a
needle in 8 different places. The dogs are trained by food so whenever he or
she finds the accelerant they have to put their nose directly where it was
dropped and they will receive a tasty treat. During training is the only time
the dogs will eat all day so being fed is their incentive. All of the dogs in the
Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit are extremely well trained black labs. The

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dogs live with their handler 24/7, 365 days a year as a household pet but
once they leave the house it is all work. It is incredible how accurate these
dogs are when finding the accelerant. They are also trained in high pitch
voices commonly referred to as the voice. They are trained this way so that
only their handlers can direct them to do something.
My internship offered me many different opportunities. One of my
favorite things I did for the internship was take part in an undercover
underage alcohol sting operation. On Wednesday May, 20th, Stig McElhinney
and I reported to the Haverhill Police Station at 6:30 pm. There we met with
two Haverhill detectives that we were going to ride with for the night. After
all the paperwork was filled out Stig and I were off to our first alcohol sting.
Our job was to walk into the liquor store and grab a six pack of Bud Light. We
were not allowed to bring anything in our pockets except for the twenty
dollar bill given to us by the detectives. At the cash register we were to hand
the clerk the six pack and the twenty dollar bill. If the clerk asked us for
identification we said Im sorry I left it in the car and walked out of the
store empty handed. However, if not asked for an ID and the clerk sold to us,
we walked back to the car and gave the detectives the six pack. They would
then write a violation form for the clerk who sold to us and a separate
violation for the liquor store itself. Whether we were able to purchase the
alcohol or not either outcome was just as good. If the store checked for an ID
then they were doing their job the right way but if they did not, they received
a slap on the wrist which would hopefully make them think twice about

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checking for an ID the next time. Some of the stores we visited were
previously given a violation for selling alcohol to a minor the week before.
Two of which sold alcohol to both us back to back. At the end of the night
seven out of the fourteen stores and bars sold alcohol to Stig and me.
On gear day, four interns including myself met at the Massachusetts
State Fire Academy. Sargent Cunningham took us to the locker room which
was home to miscellaneous items. In the back left corner there was a
clothing rack with old, but still in good condition, fire fighters gear. We each
received firefighter pants, a State Fire Marshal jacket, a helmet, and a pair of
boots. As I tried on my new outfit I understood why many firefighters need
medical attention due to heat exhaustion. The jacket and pants weighed
much heavier than your average snow pants and winter jacket because they
were loaded with numerous layers of padding and heat protection. The
helmet is made from a hard plastic to protect the head of any falling debris
from a fire. That alone weighed about 5 pounds. The boots were made of
thick rubber and had a steel plate running inside the rubber that was under
our feet from the heel to the big toe. This steel plate protects the feet from
being pierced by a sharp object such as glass on the floor or a nail sticking
out from a piece of wood. After just 5 minutes of wearing the whole uniform
inside an air-conditioned room my body was covered from head to toe in
sweat. We were told to put all of this gear in a box and keep it on our cars at
all times in case we got called out to a fire in the middle of the night. I never

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actually got the chance to wear it to a scene because all the fires I visited
had already been put out.
I was the only intern that reported directly to Lieutenant Zipper which
meant that I not only had to perform my duties well, but also go above and
beyond to make a statement. At the beginning of the summer he was my
just my boss and supervisor, someone I would report to and do work for. But
as the days went on, he became much more than that. Lieutenant Zipper
was my teacher, my mentor, my role model, my Mr. Miagi, and my friend. He
showed interest in me and took the time each and every day to teach me
something new whether it was a new technique, a statistic about cases, or
even a life lesson. He wouldnt tell me Hey, go do this, go do that, he
would pull up a chair beside me and tell me why I was doing the certain task
at hand and why it was important or how it affects the case. He had begun to
call me Jakey, a nickname only used before by my mother and family, and
now Lieutenant Zipper. I think we are able to have this type of work
relationship because he sees the passion I have for criminal justice which is
the same passion that has been part of him for a very long time. Zipper
demonstrates true leadership qualities each day at work. He is a natural born
leader and reminds me much of Professor Charbonneau in a way that
everyone acknowledges their presence as soon as they walk into a room. I
was told numerous times that Lieutenant Zipper was the best at what he
does and can deduct the tiniest bit of information from an interview and this
was proven multiple times over the course of my internship. One thing that I

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loved about Zipper was his ability to make the whole team a family. I was
immediately treated as family by Lieutenant Zipper and the whole State Fire
Marshal team. In fact, it seemed as though they were my first family because
I would see them more than my own. They took me out for lunch on
numerous occasions and refused to let me pay for it which got annoying but
was extremely generous of them.
At the beginning of the summer Lieutenant Zipper came up with a
work schedule where I would work for the internship every Monday and
Tuesday. Since it was an unpaid internship he suggested I find a part time job
to earn money. On Wednesday to Friday I worked for a friends dad at a
company called Mini Computers to make a couple bucks on the side.
Lieutenant Zipper was aware that I played in a collegiate summer baseball
league. Although I told him my internship was my number one priority he did
not want me missing any games because of work. This showed me that
Lieutenant Zipper did not only care about the internship, he cared about my
other passions and interests too. This meant a lot of me knowing that I was
working for a boss that showed an interest in me outside of the work
environment. As the summer continued, he saw more of my leadership skills
and gave me a heavier workload that included putting me in charge of
organizing a few things during my internship. Lieutenant Zipper made me
the head of sending out emails and rallying as many interns as I could for the
Boston Pops Fireworks Extravaganza and an emergency evacuation drill at
Northern Essex Community College. He also put me in charge of collecting

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money from the other interns and ordering apparel from the 4th of July. He
saw that I was fully committed to this internship and had the drive to make
the most out of this incredible opportunity.
My duty as an intern was not only to gain experience in the field of
criminal justice but also to represent Nichols College in a professional manor.
I was on time, prepared, and ready to assist at each event and every day of
work. I was at work 15 minutes early and put in more than eight hours most
days. I dressed and acted professionally each day on the job in a serious
work environment. Personally, I looked forward to Mondays and Tuesdays
because my goal was to learn something new about the field of criminal
justice every day. There is a saying that my parents have told me over the
years, If you love what you do, you wont work a single day in your life.
This saying held true to this internship because it didnt feel like work. The
goal of the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit is
much more than just solving an arson case. It is helping serve and protect
the citizens of Massachusetts. I never want to sit at a computer all day
working for a company that is in it for the money and profit. I have always
known that helping others is my calling in life and this internship has opened
my eyes to a whole new world of public service.
Just like all jobs, the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion
Investigation Unit requires people with certain skills and characteristics. For
this particular job you must be dedicated and show a burning passion to help
others. You have to be professional and personable at the same time with the

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ability to go above and beyond in all circumstances. Putting others before
yourself is a major characteristic that makes someone a good candidate for
this type of career. This is not a job for self-centered people because they will
not last. High level communication skills are one of the most important
aspects not only for this job but also in the whole field of criminal justice.
This sounds simple but is in fact, quite complex. I have learned that you
cannot hold any biases or personal judgement against people and treat
everyone with respect. Law enforcement officials are held to a higher
standard when treating people with generosity and respect. I have seen and
learned in depth what it takes to make someone a great leader from this
internship. A leader is not the person that talks the loudest or has the best
ideas. A leader is the person whose actions speak louder than their words,
the person that puts the wellbeing of others before themselves and the
person who inspires others to promote kindness and care to all. This
internship has taught me the ins and outs of being a leader and someone
that the public can count on in times of hardship and agony. This job does
not get paid the big bucks nor does it receive the recognition it should but, it
does require the kind of person that doesnt look for a thank you or praise
at the end of the day and that is why it takes a special type of human being
to work for the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosive Investigation
Unit.

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