ASU students practice forensic skills at APD crime scene class

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - College students in Albany got the unique opportunity to practice their forensics skills at a Crime Scene 101 class on Saturday.

Because of the high demand from previous years, the Albany Police Department (APD) decided to expand the class to students interested in the field.

Many crime scene technicians are getting the inside scoop on how a crime scene is perceived in movies, versus in real life. Officers hope students take away the necessary skills to apply them to different scenarios.

“That is also known as the CSI effect. So, what you see on TV is not actually reality to what we do in the realm of crime scene investigation and forensic science. It’s a lot of work and it’s very tedious,” Deandra Francis, Crime Scene Technician for APD, said.

The class started back in April and gives students hands-on experience with baseline measurements, fingerprinting and evidence collection.

“The most exciting thing was the baseline when we did the baseline measurements where we had the point zero from the object. And then we had to know the distance from the object to the actual person,” Tre’Von Williams, an Albany State University (ASU) student, said.

“My favorite part was the crime scene mock thing, and it was like a crime scene and we had to take photos and stuff,” Dean Smith-Iddings, a Lee County Highschool student, said.

Students were also able to network with professionals that they could work alongside one day.

“One piece of advice that I would give anybody is to take advantage of the free resources, ask questions when needed, and if it was easy everyone would be doing it,” T’Nija Robinson, ASU student, said.

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