On the Job 

A dead “body” on the couch, a gun on the floor and a suspicious note were among the items 35 Bowling Green State University students found recently in a house staged as a crime scene.

Students from the “Introduction to Forensic Science” class, working in groups of five, searched the house during a three-day period and documented the scene through photos, sketches and notes. They looked for evidence and placed placards next to items they thought significant. Finally, they collected, marked and sealed the evidence.

Agents from the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) helped instructors from the Center for the Future of Forensic Science at BGSU set the scene — including the victim, a mannequin — at the university's Forensic Investigation Scenario House, and they offered guidance to the students during the training.

Jeffrey Lynn, chief of forensic standards and training for the center, said, “The strategy we’re using for this class is to expose the students to a variety of the evidentiary types that might be encountered at a scene of crime. In succeeding weeks we’ll look at the evidence they collected at the crime scene from the crime lab perspective. We’ll begin to explore the scientific analysis techniques employed and the significance of the scientific findings as they relate back to the scene.”

Collaboration between the university and BCI resulted in the building of a state-of-the-art crime lab, which opened in 2014, on the campus. Today, the university offers undergraduate specializations in forensic biology, forensic chemistry and forensic criminal investigation.