First-year Sacramento Kings Dance Team member Clarivel is proud to be part of Maloof Sports & Entertainment. Along with the other dance team members, she entertains Kings fans, cheers for the team, and, most importantly to her, participates in community service events sponsored by Joe and Gavin Maloof. But when she’s not at ARCO Arena, she’s performing another type of community service at her full-time job as a forensic specialist with the crime scene investigation unit of the Concord police department.
CSI: Concord

“It’s not like you see on TV,” Clarivel explained. It’s usually the first thing she says when talking about her job—and it’s something she’s said numerous times. Most misconceptions revolve around duties performed and image. “Detectives, arresting officers, they don’t do CSI,” she explained.

“We’re a specialized unit, trained specifically to process crime scenes.” And it never fits neatly into a one-hour segment. “It’s time-consuming, meticulous work,” she said. “And it’s not at all glamorous.” One call may require digging through a dumpster, while the next puts her in close quarters with a corpse. Cases range from the mundane, like dusting a car for fingerprints after it’s been burglarized, to the gruesome complexities of a double homicide. And there is no time limit for Clarivel’s duties; she stays until the job is done, and done thoroughly and correctly. “The double homicide crime scene just before Christmas took more than 18 hours to process,” she noted. “But we only have one shot, so we have to get it right.”

The work of the CSI team often plays an integral role in the capture and conviction of suspects. “You can’t get away with it,” Clarivel cautions. “You always leave something behind—and we’ll find it.” The job of a forensic specialist is a civilian position within the police department. Clarivel and her colleagues work with detectives, patrol officers and often the county coroner. She has excellent rapport with all her colleagues, from the dispatchers to the patrol officers and detectives. It’s just another part of her attitude that teamwork is essential to be successful. “We all play a part,” she noted. “We need each other to be successful.”

The forensic specialists respond to a variety of calls, including residential and commercial burglaries, vehicular burglaries and all deaths. “Any time there’s a body, we investigate,” she explained. “We can help determine if there was any foul play or if it was natural.” Clarivel’s unit also documents graffiti, which is especially helpful in tracking local gang activity, and all domestic violence calls.

At a crime scene, Clarivel’s responsibilities include the detection, collection, preservation and documentation of all physical evidence. This includes photographing the crime scene, identifying and collecting fingerprints, assessing blood spatter patterns and collecting and documenting physical evidence, such as blood and hair samples, tissue samples, weapons and any other physical evidence found within a crime scene. Everything is then logged and detailed in a case report.

Being meticulous and disciplined is essential; there is no margin for error. “Our job is to help find who did it, and prove it with evidence,” she said. But every scene is different, with a different set of clues to assess. For Clarivel, the challenge is part of the appeal. “It’s like piecing together a puzzle to find the answers,” she noted. Part of her job is to help reconstruct the crime, but she’s always thinking about how to prove who did it, and how. “We’re used to looking at things from every angle,” she stated. “I often have to think like the criminals when I survey a crime scene: how did they get in and out, why did this happen, how they perpetrated this action.”

Others in Clarivel’s unit excel at fingerprint analysis and chemical analysis, but Clarivel thinks her strength is working the crime scenes and interacting with victims. Most importantly, she knows she is often speaking for victims who can no longer speak for themselves. “I take my job so seriously, because I’m that person’s voice who can no longer speak,” she explained. “Knowing that people are relying on me to find who did this, or why, or how it was done, is so worth the job. So worth it.” Although she jokes there is some pressure involved, she gets a lot of professional satisfaction from helping to solve crimes, bringing justice to some, and closure to others. “It’s so satisfying when our work helps in the arrest and conviction of a suspect.”

Although she often sees the worst of what humanity can perpetrate, she is not desensitized to the things she encounters on a daily basis—she simply has a professional approach. “This is my job, and to do it well I have to maintain focus,” she explained. “I am driven by knowing I can speak for those who no longer can speak.”

Clarivel’s versatility and contributions to the Concord police department extend beyond crime scene investigation. Fluent in Spanish, she is a certified translator, and often is called to help translate at crime scenes, assisting victims and gathering witness accounts—as well as translate for suspects. She also is available as a public information officer in cases where the police need to reach out to the community through the media.

Training, Hard Work and More Training

Although the job comes naturally to her, it takes many years of training and field work to become proficient at crime scene investigation. She also knows she has a lot to learn. The more she learns, the more valuable she is to her unit, her department and her community. To that end, she is continually updating her present certification and working toward additional proficiency, such as becoming an expert at using AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System).

Clarivel began her career with an entry-level position in Ceres. The Ceres police department put her through extensive training, both on the job and in the classroom. She took specialized courses, often through the FBI and Department of Justice, and became certified in crime scene reconstruction, emergency vehicle operation and fingerprint detection and recovery.

As a forensic specialist, Clarivel served four years with the Ceres police department and one year with the Pleasant Hill police department. She recently completed her first year in Concord. “I always knew I wanted to do police work,” she explained. As a child, Clarivel was influenced by positive interaction and experiences with the police in her hometown of Modesto. “If I can give back, provide the same sense of comfort and safety that I felt,” she explained, “it makes it worth doing the job every day; that to me is payment enough for doing my job.”

As rewarding as police work can be, there are always risks. Clarivel knows this unfortunate reality firsthand. “My first mentor, Sergeant Howard Stevenson of the Ceres PD, was killed in the line of duty on January 9, 2005,” she stated reverently. That personal loss deeply affected Clarivel, and every day she wears a pin to commemorate Stevenson’s life, and his ultimate sacrifice, to remind herself why she does this job. “I got more driven when he was killed. There’s no way I would ever not do this job. I not only do this for myself, I do this for him—he made me believe in myself.”

And she’s grateful for the opportunity to serve. “This is where I want to be,” she emphasized. “I’m happy to wake up every day and come to work; I’m proud to wear this uniform, to represent the city and the entire department.”

Dance Fever

Clarivel also is proud to wear another uniform— that of the Sacramento Kings Dance Team. Although being on the dance team is diametrically opposite to her work as a forensic specialist, it’s a welcome release. “Dancing lets me be me,” she explained. “That’s my escape.” In addition, spending time with the girls on the dance squad provides balance for Clarivel’s gritty, maledominated world of law enforcement. “There’s a lot of girl talk,” Clarivel giggled. “Make-up tips, shoes, the usual. I’m having a blast.”

Clarivel is having fun because she loves to dance—Latin, salsa, hip-hop—she always has. “My mom says I took my first steps because I was trying to dance to a Spanish song.” Although she has no formal dance training, Clarivel has always wanted to try something like this. So she auditioned. She admittedly was intimidated by the skills of her competitors. But it takes more than good dance moves to earn a spot on this squad. The women must be professional, personable, entertaining, and passionate. “We’re looking for women who are professional, outgoing, athletic, and good role models,” explained Leslie Bow, Manager of Event Presentation for Maloof Sports & Entertainment. “Clarivel is the epitome of what we’re looking for as an ambassador of the Kings.”

As the only Spanish-speaking team member, Clarivel helps the organization reach out to Spanishspeaking Kings fans. “We help bridge the gap between the team and the fans,” she said. “We are ambassadors for the team, for the entire organization. I’m thankful to represent such an outstanding organization that contributes so much to the community.”

Thankful—and somewhat in awe. “I still can’t believe I’m on the team,” she said. “I’m so proud, so grateful to be a part of it. That makes me feel so good; I’m glad that I have something to contribute.”

A Study In Contrast

Clarivel is not a complicated person; she knows what she wants and how she wants to do things. But that is not to say she is not complex. She is, to say the least, a study in contrast. Although she has two main themes in her life right now, she has one approach: professionalism.

Clarivel represents the Concord police department and the Sacramento Kings. She is a reflection of each organization, an asset to both. Her professional approach, tempered by her gregarious and effervescent personality, exemplify the qualities and characteristics advocated by Maloof Sports & Entertainment.