Pre-Arrival Activity - Forensic Investigation

Welcome to Forensic Science. We hope you will enjoy your studies here at Staffordshire University and we look forward to meeting you in September.

In order to gain more of an idea about what exactly is involved in Forensic Investigation we have designed this website to allow you to have a look at our facilities and also to get you thinking about some activities we would like you take part in.

Firstly, we have some virtual tours of our Crime Scene House and some of our laboratories for you to have a look at.

In the Criminalistics Laboratory you can see students carrying out analysis of footwear, fingerprints, tool marks and forged documents, using a range of equipment.

In the Analytical Centre you will be carrying out analysis of suspect powders, suspect liquids, body fluids, paint samples, fire accelerants, and gun shot residues.

In the Crime Scene House we have included a number of potential crime scenes that you may come across, and this is where you will learn how to accurately process a crime scene. This will include ensuring that you abide by any anti-contamination procedures (such as wearing white suits, gloves, mask etc.), learning how to photograph the scene, identifying potential pieces of evidence, and ensuring appropriate collection and packaging of that evidence.

Hopefully that will have given you an idea of some of the exciting things you will be carrying out during your time here. We have also included four activities that you should aim to complete before you arrive, as these will form the focus of your first tutorial with your personal tutor.

What do you have to do?

You will need to complete the following four activities :

Activity 1 – Fingerprint Identification

Fingerprints can be categorised into three different pattern types – Loops, Whorls and Arches. Can you identify which of the three fingerprints below is a loop, which is a whorl and which is an arch?

Open the fingerprints in word format

Can you find a match between the partial fingerprint to one of the other three fingerprints? It may help to print out a copy of the fingerprints in the link above.

Activity Two – First Attending Officers

First attending Officers (FAO's) are the first police officers to attend a crime scene.  What are the main duties of a FAO?

Activity Three – Forensic Casework

In order to solve a crime numerous different types of evidence can be analysed, including:

    * Body fluids such as blood, semen, and saliva
    * Analysis of blood patterns
    * DNA analysis
    * Trace evidence such as fibres, glass, soil, paint and plant material
    * Contact evidence such as fingerprints, footwear impressions, bite marks, tool marks and tyre impressions
    * Fire Accelerants
    * Explosive or Incendiary Devices
    * Drugs of Abuse or poisons
    * Questioned documents for handwriting analysis, ink analysis and paper analysis
    * Firearms including analysis of the weapon, the spent cartridge cases, bullets and gun shot residues.

Find at least one criminal case where forensic evidence, such as those listed above, played a key part in the conviction of the assailant. Remember, your tutor likes to learn about interesting cases so try and find less well known cases (so avoid the usual examples of OJ Simpson, Yorkshire Ripper, etc). Bring any information you find along to your tutorial for your tutor and your fellow students to have a look at.

Activity Four – Discussion Point

With the growing popularity of Forensic Science television programmes such as CSI, Waking the Dead, FBI Files, Silent Witness, etc, what effect do you think they have on Forensic Science as a whole? Do you think it is a positive or negative effect? Have a think about this and talk to your friends and family about what they think and we can discuss these opinions in your first tutorial. Remember, everyone is entitled to their opinion and there are not necessarily any right or wrong answers to questions like this.

You may like to look at the following resources to help you with these activities:

   1. http://www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/sciences/forensic/forensicfacilities/index.php
   2. Although I wouldn’t usually recommend that you use Wikipedia, in this case it will give you a broad overview of Forensic Science. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic
   3.http://www.discoveryuk.com/the-loop/all/crime/ 
   4. Jackson ARW and Jackson JM. Forensic Science. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.
   5. Saferstein R. Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science (7th or 8th Edition). Prentice Hall, 2001.

If you have any questions or queries don't forget you can always contact your Faculty Student Guidance Advisor: