On the 18th of October, 2013, a member of the forensics team came into Monkstown to do an exercise based around a real life case. We had to gather all the pieces of evidence in the 3 rooms and at the end put them all together to catch the killer.
We were given an hour and a half to complete the task, where as the actual case took 18 months to solve. In the biggest room or "hall", a large picture of the victim lying dead with 3 bullet holes in him was at the back wall, in the room on the right there were small domes with 'evidence' inside them, and in the room on the left there were similar domes but also with charts that you had to match up. My favourite part of the exercise was at the end when my class mates acted out the murder. I thought the experience was enjoyable, and you got a good idea of the sort of things forensic scientists did as a profession.
The CSI experience was a truly enlighting experience. It gave us a real insight into what forensics might be really like. It is not what is portrayed in the tv shows where a team of two or three glamourous looking people solve a crime in a mere two or three days.
The CSI experience was a truly enlighting experience. It gave us a real insight into what forensics might be really like. It is not what is portrayed in the tv shows where a team of two or three glamourous looking people solve a crime in a mere two or three days.
In actual fact the particular case we were working on took 18 months to process all the evidence, arrest all the suspects and get the accused to trial. I feel now that when I next watch the show I will have a different view of what it is really like. It will almost be comedic to watch.
It was amzing to see all the steps in true detail and have a go at using the equipment ourselves. When we did it, we had to try and solve the murder of a small time drug dealer in teams of two or three.
All the evidence was laid out for us and we had to get all our information. The real challenge was taking a step back and looking at the big picture.
The true murderer was under our nose the whole time and it only occured to us at the very end who it might actually be. All and all it was a very well spent morning and it was a really nice change to the normal school life.
CSI investigation
It was the 18 of October and all of my class, 4DM, and 4POT were going to try and work out a crime. We arrived down to Mr.ferguson's classroom and the whole place was set up like a crime scene. There was police tape over a big picture of a dead body beside a burned out car.
It was the 18 of October and all of my class, 4DM, and 4POT were going to try and work out a crime. We arrived down to Mr.ferguson's classroom and the whole place was set up like a crime scene. There was police tape over a big picture of a dead body beside a burned out car.
Everyone was sitting down while the instructor explained to us what had happened, the people involved, the diferent stations of evidence and how we should go about trying to work out who did it and the motives they had. She gave out data sheets for us to record our findings on and help us.
We got into groups and went about the different stations such as fingerprinting, handwriting, autopsy, ballistics and blood samples to name a few. The investigation was pretty difficult, even after collecting all of the evidence.
I learned that you had to step back and take a big look at the situation to find it out. In the end I got the motive and the murderer correct. We finished with an explanation of how it all happened in real life and some people got to go in body bags and forensic suits. I really enjoyed the day and learned a bit as well.
Today on the 18/10/2013, my class and I went to a CSI Investigation in Mr Ferguson's and Mr Fitzmaurice's room to try and solve a crime that was given to us by our Australian instructor. The classrooms where set up with pieces of evidence and clues that helped us figure out the crime that we had to find out.
The instructor told us all about the crime which had happened in real life but the name of the person killed was changed , which I felt made the investigation much more exciting and interesting to do. We were given a sheet with four suspects on it , these four suspects were "The Drug Dealer", "The Couple" who were both male and female and "The Accused". On the sheet where lots of question where we had to tick the box for the name of the person being found to do the crime. These questions involved DNA , Digital Evidence , Handwriting and lots more.
When we had finished all the questions we had to take into consideration the people accused of certain stuff and figure out who was the killer. This was much harder than it seemed but with clues around the classrooms I was very capable of dealing with the toughness of the investigation.
When we were all finished the lady told us what had happened and we found out who the killer was. The killer was "The Drug Dealer". I personally thought the killer was "The Male Couple". I enjoyed the CSI Investigation very much as I felt it was a chance to see how tough it was to solve crimes. If I had the chance I would love to do this again as I felt it was very enjoyable and tough at times.
Text: , T.M., C. McG., F.T., M.W.