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With bright yellow tape, scattered bullets and blood-spattered fabric, the Bemis Library looked like a crime scene. And for all intents and purposes, last Thursday, it was.

For the eighth year, area teenagers gathered at the library for a three-day CSI police program hosted in collaboration with the Littleton Police Department.

In the first two days, participants explored the science of solving crime and learned about fingerprints, shoe prints, crime-scene diagramming and photography, bloodstain analysis and more. On the final day, they put their skills to the test when they paired up to work an mock crime scene.

Kathy Le, 18, first participated in the CSI program when she was a freshman at Littleton High School. Le enjoyed it so much she came back as a sophomore and again as a recent high school graduate.

Ive learned something new every single time, she said. The community is always just very nice and welcoming and helpful.

Teen librarian Mark Decker initially came from Jeffco Public Libraries, where he hosted a two-hour presentation in conjunction with the Sheriffs Office. When he came to Bemis, he contacted the Littleton Police Department, hoping to start a similar program at his new location.

In his discussions with Littletons crime scene investigation team, the idea morphed into a more intensive multi-day program. Decker said the program is a great opportunity for students to learn about their local police department.

They get positive interaction with the police department. They get to see how hard cops have to work and stuff that they have to deal with everyday, he said.

The CSI police program can be beneficial for those interested in law enforcement, since it provides real-world experience and a practical idea of what a police job would entail. But its not intended solely for those aspiring to join the force. For others, Decker said, its just a cool program where one can get hands-on experience.

Le knows this firsthand. Next year, she will attend the University of Colorado at Denver and study biology on a pre-med track. Though she doesnt plan to work for a police department, Le considers her experiences with the CSI police program invaluable and recommends it for all.

Go for new experiences and try out for it whether you end up liking it or not, Le said.

The Littleton Police Citizen Academy Alumni Association provided volunteers who helped out with the event. Karen Wojdyla was one of those volunteers and said she came on the first day of the program to help set up.

Its nice to come back and actually do the crime scenes with the students, Wojdyla said as she watched two teens investigate a drug deal gone wrong outside the library during their final exercise. Its a great program.

Decker tipped his hat to Cheri McAlister and Bob Silvas, the LPD crime scene technicians who lead the program and volunteer their time to share what they do.

The two CSI people that are here theyre still working, and theyre the only CSI people in Littleton. We had one year when they got called on a case the night before, and we had to adapt, Decker said.

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Teens get real-world experience in crime scene investigation - Columbine Courier

GREENSBORO, North Carolina

In an innovative move to attract people interested in becoming crime scene investigators, the Greensboro Police Department is launching a 16-week CSI academy to train new hires on the fundamentals of the profession.

The impetus for the academy arose from a need to fill an increasing number of CSI vacancies, along with the desire to develop skills in people who want to be CSI.

Under the CSI Academy program, GPD is accepting applications now through August 28 for motivated people with an associate's degree or high school diploma/GED. The applicant must also have 1-3 years of local, state, or federal government experience.

We are looking for 10-15 energetic people who are detail-oriented, eager to learn, and naturally inquisitive, explained Kelly Tranter, Director of the Forensic Services Division.

Applicants selected for employment will then receive four weeks of classroom training in the core skills required of a CSI. Topics include: crime scene/evidence documentation protocol, forensic photography/videography, scene diagramming, report writing, testifying in court, etc.

Then, employees will receive 12 weeks of field training with certified CSIs. Investigators. Upon demonstrating proficiency in all the skills, the newly-minted CSIs may begin responding to scenes to identify, gather, and process evidence.

Crime scene investigation is a very popular career field, said Tranter. And it is growing. We must keep up with the demand for field investigators. Our current CSIs are experienced and well-respected in their disciplines. We have all the talent and resources at our fingertips to train a new group of CSI. The Academy is a win-win situation.

CSI coverage is provided throughout the city 24/7. Duty shifts are normally 10-12 hours per day, approximately 40 hours per week. The full salary range for this position is $33,918 to $56,530. The starting salary is fixed at $36,179.

People interested in this opportunity may apply at: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/greensboronc

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Greensboro Police Department launches CSI Academy to fill vacancies - WXII The Triad

There may be a few budding engineers, roboticists and forensic scientists among the area school-age population after recent summer camps at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.

Twenty-five area students participated in the new discovery camp, an educational enrichment program offered by the universitys Office of Outreach and Continuing Education for the first time this summer to engage students academically during their break from school.

Students participated in two separate week-long sessions in July: one focused on engineering and design, and the other on exploring crime scene investigation.

The idea behind the new camps, said summer youth programs coordinator Lynne Roy, is to introduce younger students to the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The university already offers a STEM career exploration camp to high schools students, she said, and the new discovery camps will provide a similar opportunity for middle school students.

We want to get kids interested in STEM. Thats where the jobs are. We want them to discover new things to hopefully build a career path, said Roy.

School districts sometimes dont have the funds to provide STEM activities that a post-secondary institution can offer, she continued. Providing a setting for such educational opportunities lets students see the capabilities of a university campus.

The first session, offered to students in grades 7-9, featured computer-aided drafting and design, 3-D printers and building and programming with Lego Mindstorms robots.

In the second session, for grades 5-8, students studied fingerprinting, handwriting analysis, blood spatter patterns and chromatography.

The concept for a crime scene investigation unit originated from true crime and detective shows children might see on television.

We wanted to take something kids might have an interest in something they can relate to when they go home at night and turn the TV on and give them a taste of real life, Roy said.

The camps, taught by university instructors from various disciplines including mathematics, engineering and the sciences, attracted students from across Fayette County, as well as from Washington and Westmoreland counties, Roy said.

The sessions typically involved lecture-style instruction in the morning and hands-on activities in the afternoon, touching on a different topic each day, said Roy.

Maybe you didnt like today, but youll still have tomorrow. We wanted to offer different things each day to try to spark an interest, so when they get to their high school years, they can start thinking about what they want to do for a career, she said.

Paul Coltus, a research technologist at Penn State Fayette, said the camp utilized Wards Science kits for forensic lab activities during crime scene investigation lessons. Coltus administered a lesson on blood spatter analysis.

I hope they understand the science involved, the technology, and that its fun its not your typical classroom. Its participation based, so they take away more because they can remember what they did, said Coltus, who also organized a crime scene investigation lesson during the STEM career camp for high school students the week prior.

Hopefully, it will lead them down a path towards science. Its important that its fun and that theyre doing something they wouldnt normally do in the classroom, he said.

The 2017 Summer Youth Program at the university draws to a close this week. The college has offered educational summer camps and academic programs for 20 years. Roy said the various camps offered over six weeks this summer attracted 175-200 students.

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Area students explore new disciplines at university discovery camps - Uniontown Herald Standard

WEST HAVEN >> Crammed into a University of New Haven-owned residence at 196 Rockdale Road, 36 high school students from across the country put their newly learned forensic skills to the test, trying to figure out what happened at various mock crime scenes.

Crime Scene Investigation Academy is a week-long program that gives high school students the chance to gain hands-on experience in the field of criminal justice and forensic science. The campers spent four days learning about fingerprinting, blood spatter analysis, and crime scene investigation as a whole, and Friday they got a chance to apply the skills.

We kind of walk them through the whole process of what it takes to process a crime scene. Both from the legal standpoint and the practical, and then we culminate it ... with this big [practicum], said Peter Massey, director of CSI Academy.

The capstone experience is extremely involved as the students not only had to document and photograph the crime scene, but they also needed to get search warrants, send evidence to the lab for testing and canvass the neighborhood for potential witnesses.

Ellen Lassig, 17, of East Hanover, New Jersey, said she has been to other forensic-oriented camps, but they were larger and not as detailed and experienced. She said everyone participating at UNH gets the opportunity to do something.

Massey said there is no real answer to these scenes and that it is more a matter of process. He said what they are really looking for is ... can [the students] utilize the skill sets theyve gained during the week in this final product ... and present it in a public forum?

Bianca Randazzo, 16, of Norwalk, said while she learned how to determine the cause and manner of death as well as how to act at a crime scene, she also learned the how difficult the entire process can be.

You just think, Oh thats so easy, but then you come here and you have to figure out a whole scenario and you have no information. You just try to figure out by what you have, she said.

Massey said while forensic science and crime scene investigation may seem glamorous on television shows, the work can be pretty toiling in the real world, citing the long hours and unpredictable weather as examples.

The idea is to give the students a real-life look at how this works. They all watch the shows on television, and theyre learning its not like it is on television, Co-Director Daniel Maxwell added.

Some of the campers have graduated high school and going to college while others still are in high school. Maxwell said most of the students want to pursue careers in law enforcement, forensic psychology or forensic anthropology, and CSI Academy allows them to gain hands-on experience to see whether this is what they really want to do.

I didnt have opportunities like this in high school, but I think its a really good way for them to experience stuff like this, added Jennifer Busk, 23, a graduate student at UNH studying forensic science. I took a class that we do exactly stuff like this at UNH, but doing it as a high schooler gives you the opportunity to say, Hey, is this really what I want to do? and maybe even spark that interest and excite them.

Aaron Ostroff, 17, of South Brunswick, New Jersey, said his forensic science class last year was not as in-depth as CSI Academy. He said this camp offers him the opportunity to work on a real case as opposed to fake and silly cases he did in school.

This is the whole deal. This is not a summer camp; this is reality here, Maxwell said.

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CSI West Haven: Students attend forensic science camp at University of New Haven - Litchfield County Times

Posted On August 02, 2017

By Mike Perleberg

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) The last thing many kids want to do during their summer break is learn.

Luk Addington, however, isnt like many kids.

It was the coolest thing ever, Luk says of his experience at the National Youth Leadership Form Pathways to STEM camp at Bowling Green State University in Ohio during the week of July 16-21.

The Lawrenceburg Central Elementary 5th grader was nominated by his 4th grade teacher. When asked if he wanted to go, he jumped at the opportunity.

Because I love robotics and engineering and its just really exciting to me, Luke explains.

Luk, 10, participated in six days of discovery, going through three engaging STEM challenges in the fields of engineering, medicine, and crime scene investigation. He worked with a team of five students to build robots, dissect cow organs, and solve a crime using forensic science tools. The campers kids in 3rd through 5th grade were also taught leadership skills.

Addington would like to be a computer engineer for Apple when he grows up. He particularly enjoyed a camp exercise in which he had to help program a robot to navigate an obstacle course.

The youngster says, without a doubt, that the Pathways to STEM camp was the best part of his summer.

Luk is the son of Sally Standish, of Lawrenceburg, and Randy Addington.

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5th Grader Spent Part Of His Summer Dissecting Cows, Solving Crimes - Eagle 99.3 FM WSCH