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Rise in forensic studies
YOUNGSTERS who perhaps did not have a clue about career choices have taken the first steps towards a life of crime busting – thanks to top-rated television shows.
YOUNGSTERS who perhaps did not have a clue about career choices have taken the first steps towards a life of crime busting – thanks to top-rated television shows.Watching Gil Grissom using bugs to solve murders in Las Vegas in Crime Scene Investigation, and tell-tale fibres and scientific know-how aiding his colleagues Horatio Caine in CSI: Miami and Mac Taylor in CSI: New York, has fired the imagination of some viewers who now want to follow in their footprints.
The result today is that you can find a group dressed in white coats analysing evidence collected from a crime scene just as if they are taking part in CSI: Peterborough – but, in fact, they are studying at Peterborough Regional College.
Grissom – actor William Petersen – who delights in showing his TV team how science can catch a killers, would surely be delighted that the college is now offering courses in forensic science and criminology.
There have been several cases of criminals getting ideas from the CSI shows that they thought might help them evade capture, but they have always been tripped up by the painstaking work of the real-life forensics experts who work hand-in-hand with detectives these days.
The college course not only teaches students the secrets of evidence collation and analysis, it also touches on the territory of Robbie Coltrane's larger-than-life character in Cracker, by covering the increasingly important field of using criminal psychology to unmask suspects.
The course began in September, and 50 students with dreams of becoming scenes-of-crime officers or forensic technicians are the first to embark on it.
Curriculum team manager Liz Ingram said: "We've had a lot of interest in the course and a very high number of students applied.
"I think CSI: Miami and programmes like that are where people initially get their interest from. I know the students are showing a great interest in the course and seem to be enjoying it."
Criminal psychology, forensic photography, criminal investigation procedures and traffic accident investigations are just a few of the fascinating subjects the students will study over the course of two years.
Using specialist kits, the groups have been learning how to carry out fingerprint analysis, and researching the make-up of fruit flies to learn more about genetics.
Another practical task is creating e-fit images, where students partner up to role-play as witnesses describing a suspect.
But it isn't all using hi-tech gadgets – there is a strong science element to the studies.
The students are learning about chemistry, biology and physics, as well as honing practical and investigative skills.
To find out more, or to enrol in a course for next year, call Peterborough Regional College on 0845 872 8722 or e-mail info@peterborough.ac.uk.
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