Training

Crime and forensics open day

by Mark Rowe

A University of Portsmouth event is designed to open the world of criminal investigation, forensic studies and psychology to the public and follows an inaugural event in 2012. At this free event visitors can wander through a ‘real’ murder scene, look for evidence and talk to scene of crime officers to find out how crime scene investigators work with forensic biologists to piece together clues. The forensic facial reconstruction team will show what marks on human skulls can reveal to investigators, while experts will demonstrate how fingerprint evidence is collected and used.

Other stands and exhibits will include forensic biology with a DNA exhibits and trace evidence, digital imaging and computer crime and an entomology exhibit explaining how insects can help solve crimes.

University lecturers will be on hand to talk about criminology, forensics, psychology, law and technology discuss some of their more unusual research such as how to spot a liar, how investigators use our memory recall and how criminals decide on their targets. Psychologists will explain how, by interviewing offenders, police are working out how to best use CCTV to help fight crime.

Special guests include Hampshire Police, who will have a range of experts from areas such as crime scene investigation (CSI) and a team from the International School for Security and Explosives Education, who will talk about their work with forensic bomb explosive analysis and have real examples of detonated devices.

There will be an opportunity to test your memory as a witness at the Memory Stand and a Cluedo Treasure Hunt for children. Throughout the day there will be mini lectures on topics including –

How criminal trials work (in the ‘mock court’)
Silent Witness – forensic pathologists at work
Discrimination, mental illness and crime
How reliable are eyewitnesses at crime scenes?
Digital forensics and crime scene reconstructions
Police and social media – how social media fits into police-work
Role of forensics in serious and major criminal investigations
Wildlife crime and the trade in endangered species

Professor Steve Savage, Head of the University’s Institute of Criminal Justice Studies (ICJS), said that it’s a chance for anyone at all to discover the secrets known to specialist criminologists.

“You’ve seen it on television but this is a unique opportunity to talk to the real experts and find out what goes on behind the scenes of a genuine criminal investigation.

“We ran the event in 2012 and it was such a success we decided to run another – a family day out with a twist and we hope that as many people as possible will come and join us.”

A talk about courtroom procedure will run in the University’s mock courtroom where students from the University’s law courses will appear in wigs and gowns and where a video showing a crime and the resulting trial will run periodically. The University of Portsmouth event is organised by staff and students at ICJS and the departments of Biological Sciences, Psychology, Computing and Law and in collaboration with Hampshire Police and other local partners.

When: Saturday 22nd March from 10am to 4pm; no booking required.

Where: University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Burnaby Rd, Portsmouth PO1 3FX.

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