This year’s forensic week started off similarly to the previous years, but here is an overview. On the first day, Mr. Glen Garside came and discussed what forensics is as a whole. He taught us about the different types of forensic evidence such as shoe impressions, bite marks, and documents. He also discussed digital forensics and made a point that content put onto the internet will always be there. Lastly, we learned about methods of finding out the information that you are looking for as a forensic investigator. He likes to use the “Why + How = Who” concept which in short means if you can find out why the crime was committed and how the crime was committed then you can find out who committed the crime.
On Tuesday, Corporal Russell Benefield Sr. came to discuss in more detail on crime scene investigation. He broke down the steps of investigating a crime scene into simple steps. Identify the evidence (observation and search), document your observations, have physical evidence processed, and then collect your thoughts based on the acquired information. We learned that lots of pictures are taken for later review and use in court. We also learned about a tool that forensic investigators use to collect evidence. It is called blood reagent spray. This chemical has the ability to illuminate blood even if it has been cleaned up with bleach. This oftentimes leads the investigators right to their culprit.
On Wednesday, Corporal Benefield returned to demonstrate the use of tools while investigating a crime scene. First, we learned how to collect a DNA sample from a suspect as well as properly package it to be sent off for testing. Next, we learned how fingerprints are collected. We went through the process of leaving our fingerprints on a card and by using magnetic powder we were able to reveal our fingerprints. Lastly, Mr. Garside demonstrated the use of chemicals mentioned earlier. He had put fake blood around the room, then cleaned it up. He then turned off all of the lights and sprayed the chemicals around the room. Immediately the areas where the blood had been lit up bright blue.
On Thursday, we had our crime scene investigation. The scene depicts a scenario that occurred in a two-story condominium. A woman was found dead in the upstairs bedroom of the condo. When we got there to investigate the husband was sitting downstairs where we learned that he had stage 4 brain cancer and was bound to a wheelchair. There were several pieces of evidence including books discussing how to follow through and commit suicide. We found a page in a book that described the exact way in which the suspect had died.
On Friday, we presented our findings and conclusions of the case to the rest of the class. Our group pretty quickly concluded that this was a suicide that the husband had known about but had chosen not to intervene. This was made even more apparent when we learned that the woman had stage 4 breast cancer. Our ideas were right, but our terminology was a bit off in our presentation, which we got heavily questioned on, but overall, we had the right ideas.
I found this year's forensics we a good bit more enjoyable because I have 2 years of previous forensic week experience to pull from when we did our investigation. This year's scenario was also a little bit easier, and it was satisfying knowing that we were on the right track to finding the right answer. Overall, it was an awesome experience and I'm glad that I have been able to be a part of this for the past few years.
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