Students enrolled in Criminal Investigations classes at Wayne State College (WSC) recently completed investigations into three 'crimes' that took place this fall.
Tara Wiles, a member of the Department of Criminal Justice, along with Graduate Assistant Takiyah Hamik, worked to come up with story lines of victims and suspects and determine what types of evidence was needed to stage the scenes. Together the two set up the scenes with the dummies and the same materials Wiles used to use as a Forensic Technician.
"This semester, I taught three classes of Criminal Investigations to about 55 students. In this course, we learned investigative practices used by detectives for crimes such as burglary, robbery and death investigations. We would spend a few days in the classroom learning the material, and then we would have class at the Crime Scene Investicantion (CSI) House for demonstrations and hands-on practical application "in the field." The students learned accurate note-taking skills, scene sketching, evidence collection and packaging, interviewing and interrogation procedures, and report writing," Wiles said.
Her goal was that by the end of the semester students would be able to walk into a scene, identify what items may be of evidentiary value, communicate with witnesses and suspects, and interpret all the facts to draw conclusions.
"Rather than have an exam, the students' final this semester was a mock investigation. I put them in groups of three, and they had to investigate one of three crime scenes at the House.
"Since this class is more than just a scene thing, I needed them to somehow investigate outside of the scene, as well. I worked with a few members of the Wayne community who acted as mock witnesses for these scene scenarios. There were clues in each of the scenes that would lead the students to various places throughout Wayne, where a 'Witness Statement' would be provided by the victim's employer, or neighbor, or friend. I'm so thankful the people who participated seemed excited and willing to help us! They were: Trisha Peters at White Farmhouse Realty, Jon Lierman at Pizza Hut, Dr. Kelly Wenig at the Holland Academic Center, Lou Wiltse at the Wayne Greenhouse, and Symphony Jareski at Cup of Grace," Wiles said.
She said she was pleased with how well the investigations went, and this past semester's experiences have given her a goal for the future.
"I'd love to keep doing this sort of thing with the community. Sometimes I think there's a divide between the students of WSC and the families who live here. But in doing this, the students are getting out onto the streets of Wayne and meeting people. I'd love to use small businesses in the future, helping to bridge the gap, build relationships, and maybe even drum up some business," she said.
During the Spring 2022 semester Wiles will teach four classes of Introduction to Forensics. This course will dive deeper into the scene processing, where students will learn crime scene photography, how to locate, collect, compare, and identify fingerprints, how to process items/surfaces for DNA, and collect and analyze surveillance footage. She would also like to get into document examination, ballistics, and scene reconstruction with scanning technologies.
Wiles previously worked as a Forensic Technician for the Omaha Police Department, and is trained in forensic photography and videography, several methods of fingerprint processing/comparison/identification, evidence collection (to include DNA) and packaging, scene diagramming with some exposure to scanning (like the Total Station), expert witness testimony, surveillance collection, and firearms safety/collection/processing with some ballistic analysis familiarity. She has responded to over 2,000 crime scenes or related assignments, and has contributed to the identification and conviction of a homicide suspect via forensic investigations.
"I'm so happy to be given this opportunity at WSC. I graduated from this program in 2007 and I feel a huge amount of pride to be able to come back and contribute knowledge and experience to the courses. This House is such an incredible benefit to the students who are going through the program. To my knowledge, it's the only school in the state where Criminal Justice students will be able to legitimately put on their resumes that they have had hands-on experience with Forensic methods. The crime scenes we set up in the House are often influenced by real suicide and homicide scenes I've worked myself. There's a legitimacy that students are getting that students in other programs may not get to experience," Wiles said.
"We (Wiles and Hamik) really enjoy watching the students walk through these scenes, collaborate in teams, and analyze the extensive amount of information as they investigate, just like real detectives. I can't say it enough: it's truly so rewarding," she said.
"I have an incredible passion for the work I'm doing here. While working in the field as a real Forensic Technician was an experience most people only dream about, it wasn't without hardships. It's emotionally difficult to deal with the realities of crime, injury, and death on a daily basis. I was seeing people (victims and their families) on the worst days of their lives, multiple times a week. But here, I get to have all the perks of the job without having to carry that baggage home with me at the end of the day. Instead, I get to influence others who share my passion, get to teach them the things I know and love to do, and also prepare them for the reality of what they'll experience if they go on to do it themselves. I wish I could've had this kind of experience as a student here, and now I get to be a part of building it for others. It truly is my absolute dream job, and I'm so thankful Dr. Jason Karsky (Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice) has taken this chance on me," she said.
