Students get lesson in crime scene investigation
By Matt Simko
IV Leader Staff, May 5, 2005
The IVCC Chemistry Club hosted its first annual CSI: Oglesby event on April 23 at IVCC's Main Campus.
Fifteen students from La Salle-Peru and St. Bede Academy attended the event, which according to Chemistry
Club advisor Matt Johll was designed to answer the "great interest in crime investigation by giving students a taste of what really goes on and what is needed in terms of an education for a career in crime scene investigation."
Over the course of the day the students were introduced to the techniques of crime scene investigation though various lectures and hands-on activities, including participating in a mock investigation of a crime scene that was set up in the Physical Sciences Lab.
The day's activities began with a session that highlighted possible career and educational paths for those interested in crime scene investigation and introduced the challenge for the day, which was a competition in which the two schools were to use what they learned to analyze a mock-up of a crime scene and then write a report. The session presenters judged the reports on for accuracy and presented the winner with a plaque.
Each school's delegations broke up into small groups and each group attended a session in which the students received instruction on a specific crime scene investigative technique that they then used to analyze the evidence from the mock crime scene.
Members of the Criminal Justice Association gave demonstrations on how to document a crime scene and then had the students put the information to use on the mock-up. Another group met with physics instructor Dominic Sarsah and members of the Physics Club, who demonstrated how to use the shape of blood spatters to determine the angles by which they were formed.
In another session, Timothy Horger, a biology instructor at IVCC, gave the students instruction on DNA analysis and helped the students use electrophoresis to identify possible suspects for the crime based on a pool of names and representative DNA.
Other sessions included forensic mineralogy, taught by geology instructor Mike Phillips, and Johll presented a session on the uses of electromagnetic radiation and indented writing recovery.
After collecting evidence, the groups met and used facial composite software to create a sketch of President Bush that was judged for its accuracy. The groups then wrote and submitted their reports and ate lunch while the reports were judged. When the judgment came in, LaSalle-Peru High School came out the winner.
Brielle Hackman, a sophomore from St. Bede Academy, said the day was "fun, informative, and interesting" and that she learned "mainly about how much detail was involved."
Johll said that the idea developed from the Chemistry Club officers who had originally considered holding a Forensic Science Day.
He added that the project was intentionally kept small so that the club could keep everything running smoothly, but that they look forward to inviting more schools in the coming years and making this into an annual project.