Photos by Eric Ayres Officer R.J. Faldowski of the Wheeling Police Department helps Criminal Justice students at the West Virginia Northern Community College process a mock crime scene Monday on campus outside the B&O Building.
WHEELING — Students in West Virginia Northern Community College’s Criminal Justice program crossed the yellow crime scene tape and went to work collecting evidence as part of their coursework.
With the help of officers from the Wheeling Police Department — along with a bullet-riddled mannequin on a bench outside the B&O Building, the students in the Criminal Investigation and Identification class got a chance to get some hands-on training on campus outside of the classroom.
“The kids love the hands-on experience,” said instructor John Lantz, director of the Criminal Justice program at WVNCC. “Here at the college, we’re really trying to instill that. This is just one facet of the learning that they’re getting here at the college. It’s a step toward their careers. ”
Lantz noted that because of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing, unique hands-on opportunities offered through scenarios like the mock crime scene were not possible over the past year and a half. With in-person classes taking place and with officers from the police department able to participate now, Monday’s mock crime scene — along with some unseasonably pleasant fall weather — presented a perfect opportunity to practice handling tasks that a future crime scene investigator would perform on the job.
“It’s a great experience for the students,” David Barnhardt, director of Communications and Student Recruitment at WVNCC, said. “They can learn a lot in the classroom, but once you get out in the field and get some hands-on experience, it’s invaluable.”
For students who cannot attend classes in person, however, courses in Norther’s Criminal Justice Program are available online. Currently, more than 50 students are enrolled in the program.
“It’s a good program,” said freshman student Cooper Curto of Moundsville, one of six students in the Criminal Investigation and Identification class. “I love what I’m doing so far. With what we’re doing today, you get to see how much goes into investigative work. It’s intense — even more attention to detail than you may realize.”
Students strapped on rubber gloves and thoroughly combed the crime scene around the victim in teams, placing evidence tags on every out-of-place object in the area — from cigarette butts to coffee cup lids, and even some bullet casings were found. Students eventually located a fake gun that Lantz and the officers had planted in a nearby trash can early in the morning while setting up the mock crime scene.
WVNCC campus officer R.J. Faldowski of the Wheeling Police Department was also on hand helping students collect evidence, along with recruitment officers who work closely with the college’s Criminal Justice program.
“The officers really love building a rapport with the students here at the college,” Lantz said.
Once the evidence was marked, the students went back to collect it into evidence bags, logging each item and signing off on the chain of custody. The items were taken back to the crime lab at the Education Building on campus, and next week, they will learn how to collect fingerprints from the items. Lantz said grant funding received about a year ago helped WVNCC build the crime lab to be used as part of their courses related to criminal investigations.
The program also works with a Criminal Justice Advisory board made up of local law enforcement professionals, who note that graduates coming into their organizations for the first time truly benefit from previous hands-on training that compliments education in the classrooms.
“This kind of breaks the monotony up a little bit,” Lantz said of the mock crime scene training. “Let’s get out in the fresh air and actually enjoy the real-life experience that a law enforcement officer would get.”
WVNCC offers two-year criminal justice programs that focus on everything from private investigations to law enforcement, corrections and criminal law. Graduates of the associate’s degree program often go on to enroll in the police academy or transfer to a four-year institution to complete their bachelor’s degree in a related field of study.
For more information on Northern’s Criminal Justice programs, visit www.wvncc.edu.
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West Virginia Northern Community College Students Work Mock Crime Scene in Downtown Wheeling - Wheeling Intelligencer
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