Howard Payne University’s criminal justice program will conduct exercises as part of its annual Criminal Justice Investigations class on Tuesday, April 28, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at HPU’s campus location at the corner of Austin and Coggin Avenues in Brownwood. During this time, there will be crime scene tape, emergency vehicles and other normal police operations one would expect to see at a major crime scene.
Dr. Paul Lilly, chief of HPU’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) and assistant professor of criminal justice, said the community should not be alarmed at the proceedings.“This practical exercise is designed to submerse the students into a realistic crime scene and aid them in applying what they have learned in the classroom to real-world situations,” he said. “The crime scene will test the students on what they have learned in the course during the spring semester.”
The students will be divided into Crime Scene Investigative Teams, each team having approximately 45 minutes to process the crime scene and collect all types of potential evidence. Examples of the duties the students will conduct is the identification of potential witnesses to the crime and the identification of both physical and biological evidence such as potential weapons and/or blood, DNA or microfibers.
The HPU DPS will again join the criminal justice program and its students in helping make the crime scene as realistic as possible. The DPS uses this scenario exercise each year to aid in providing the DPS officers with regular ongoing in-service training to help them remain current with modern technologies and procedures.
For more information, contact HPU’s Department of Public Safety at (325) 649-8609.
Pictured above are students who participated in the crime scene exercise last year.
