domingo, 6 de octubre de 2013

Beckley Police officer's domestic violence work has statewide impact - Beckley Register-Herald

BECKLEY — As National Domestic Violence Awareness Month continues, one local police detective will be continuing life as usual.

But for Cpl. Morgan Bragg, 28, of Beckley Police Department, and for victims of domestic violence, the detective's work is anything but the norm.

Bragg, who began his career at BPD in 2008, was a domestic violence officer for the city for two years. Although he recently stepped out of that position, his work with domestic violence is continuing to impact the city and the state.

Bragg is a member of the Raleigh County STOP Team (Family Violence Task Force), which is being awarded the 2013 U.S. Attorney's Law Enforcement and Victim Assistance Award.

He was recently appointed to the Governor's West Virginia Domestic Violence Fatality Review team, a Charleston-based group that reviews domestic fatalities from across the state and works on prevention.

Bragg was one of several officials from the area to receive an Incite Hope award Saturday, given by the Women's Resource Center of Beckley.

"It's an honor to me," said Bragg. "I was quite surprised, to be honest."

Bragg said he had an interest in a criminal justice career since childhood.

His parents, Melody and George Bragg, co-author and publish the popular "Unsolved Murders" books that focus on unsolved cases around West Virginia.

"I feel their tenacity toward research and attention to detail encouraged me to carry on that approach with my own investigations," Bragg said.

"I think from childhood on, I always had the interest in law enforcement in general, but I think focusing on those kind of cases made me more interested in the actual investigation side of things," said Bragg, who joined the detective bureau in 2011.

A graduate of Concord University and the West Virginia State Police Academy, Bragg said he enjoys the challenge of detective work.

"It's kind of the idea of having to figure things out, finding new approaches to getting the information, kind of piecing together the puzzle," Bragg explained.

He said that during his first year as a detective, there were six murders in Beckley.

"I think I was the lead detective on three of the murders and was lucky enough to play a role in all those investigations," recalled Bragg. "As far as large investigations, those were probably my first ones.

"You remember each one, that's for sure."

Bragg said the feelings for the victims' families can motivate detectives to solve cases.

"Probably more than anything else, you want to help the family that suffered through the tragedy in some sort of way," he said. "I think the first focus is on the family that's suffered."

When asked about his judgment of the perpetrators — are they monsters or could anybody commit violent crimes? — Bragg replied, "I don't know what I'd say about them and think about them; it's probably not good things. I think everybody has the ability, in my opinion, but I think you kind of have to condition yourself to do it.

"Some of those investigations are tough," he added. "You deal with situations a lot of people never see in their lifetime. You have to approach that with conditioning and be prepared for what you're going to see and what you're going to find out."

Bragg said he gained a mentor in former Chief Detective Jeff Shumate, who now serves as special investigator and security adviser for the Raleigh County Prosecutor's office.

"When I came into the detective bureau, it was under Jeff Shumate," said Bragg. "I would credit him with a lot of my abilities because he was the most talented and skilled investigator I have ever seen."

Bragg said Shumate took the time to walk the rookie detective through the investigations, offering insight into how to approach various aspects of the investigations.

"He is probably the main reason I focus more on the families of the victims," said Bragg. "Just because he was always teaching me to treat everyone with respect and dignity and always try to help each person, regardless of what walk of life they come from."

Bragg said a case that stands out to him is also one that involved domestic violence — the murder of Teresa Wilson, a 48-year-old Beckley woman who was beaten to death by 44-year-old Arthur Agnew, her live-in boyfriend of five months.

Wilson died June 5, 2012, at Charleston Area Medical Center, after Agnew beat her severely, causing damage to her brain.

Agnew pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Wilson's sister, Tonia Thomas, worked with the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence at the time Agnew murdered Wilson.

"The reason that one was so interesting to me is it showed how the system can work and can work properly (following a domestic violence crime)," said Bragg, who was the domestic violence officer for the city at the time of the murder.

"Patricia Bailey with the Women's Resource Center actually called me ... and let me know what had occurred. Because of that, I was able to come out immediately and begin the investigation," he said. "We had the suspect under arrest ... in a very short period of time."

Bragg said the case showed that special police response teams, such as those used in cases of domestic violence and sexual assaults, can speed investigations and lead to the arrests of dangerous criminals.

He also currently serves on the board of directors for Crime Stoppers, where he could be following in his parents' footsteps as an "unsolved murders" investigator since "cold case" files are being periodically revived for tips on the Crime Stoppers website.

Bragg added that he's been privileged to work with a dedicated number of local law enforcement officers during his career and that he hopes to continue his work as a detective at BPD in the future.

"I've had a lot of great opportunities here," he said. "To land where I've landed and be able to do what I love to do ... is a tribute to the fact that I've met a lot of good officers here, made a lot of good friends.

"I feel like we have a good crew here, and we work well together and make a lot of good friendships."

— E-mail: jfarrish@register-herald.com

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