LEWISTON – Even for a staged crime, the suspects bungled almost everything from the start.

One suspect accidentally stabbed the other during the home invasion. One dropped his hat inside the apartment they were robbing and the other left the knife behind.

The mock crime was acted out Tuesday night to teach local residents about the intricacies of crime scene investigations. And while the bumbling burglars made things relatively easy for police, there were some weird twists along the way.

That’s the way police like it. Because in crime investigations, everything is not always as it seems.

The scene looked real enough. Frantic people were running around. Police were trying to get things under control and preserve evidence. A news reporter burst on the scene and started asking questions.

Things got ugly right away.

“We don’t need the press around right now!” barked Roger McKeone, a 68-year-old academy member playing a police supervisor. “We have a potentially dangerous situation, and we don’t need civilians in the area.”

The reporter took a few steps back but did not go away. Another supervisor was called to the scene, and he was as loud and adamant as the first.

“Out!” bellowed 67-year-old Norm Marcoux, pointing to the door. “When we have something to say to the press, we’ll say it.”

With the boisterous journalist put in his place at last, the business of crime scene analysis got under way.

The situation was relatively simple: A pair of men had burst into the apartment of a young woman as she returned to her home in the early evening. The men threatened her with a knife while ransacking the home for valuables. Then a friend of the victim arrived unexpectedly and the bumbling began.

One suspect lost his hat with a company logo as he fled. The knife he had been inadvertently stabbed with was also dropped.

Enter the group of nearly two dozen people playing the roles of investigators, witnesses and other characters. Their job was to look closely at each piece of evidence, even in the midst of chaos and confusion.

“Realism is what we like at these things,” said Lewiston police Detective David Chick, who organizes the mock crime scenes each year and writes the scripts.

“I’ve really been enjoying being in the academy,” Marcoux said. “And this part is a lot of fun.”

Meanwhile, at the substation, the drama continued. For more than two hours, the group dusted the scene for fingerprints. They gathered evidence and questioned the young victim and her friend. They came up with descriptions of the suspects and alerted other police officers to be on the lookout.

More evidence turned up: Handprints on a door, blood from the stab wound, stolen goods at a pawn shop. The group at the Lewiston substation Tuesday night had to analyze it all.

The work paid off in the end. The blood from the knife matched that of a local bad boy named John Dough. Fingerprints led police to another known local character named Durt Bagg.

Dough was found soon enough, but Bagg was not. A very detailed composite sketch was circulated at once.

“Hey,” said Paul Kedzeiski, the man playing the role of lead detective. “That looks like the reporter who was here at the very beginning.”

Case closed. The final suspect was identified as the meddling journalist who had caused a ruckus at the very start of the investigation.