Tom Orzechowski
New Castle County, Del., Police Department
Presentation: The Effectiveness and Successes of BodeHITS, A Localized Databasing Program
Sgt. Orzechowski has been with the New Castle County Police Department since 2002, first as a patrol officer before joining the Criminal Investigation Unit as a detective in 2006. He has investigated active and cold-case homicides, sexual assaults, robberies, serious crimes against persons, burglaries, fraud, high-dollar thefts and more in his career.
In 2016, he began supervising the Evidence Detection Squad (Crime Scene Unit) and became DNA Administrator Supervisor. Sgt. Orzechowski also implemented a Local DNA Database system through Bode Cellmark Forensics, which to date has seen 3,434 DNA hits that have assisted in 1,115 cases.
In 2017, he implemented a Rapid DNA program, which has processed more than 2,000 samples that have returned 643 DNA hits. And in 2022, Sgt. Orzechowski implemented a database sharing program that shares DNA profiles with Pennsylvania, resulting in 36 cross-agency hits.
Sgt. Orzechowski has received numerous awards through his career, including Sons of the American Revolution Investigator of the Year and Crime Stoppers Investigator of Year for Delaware.