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Team 4
Kristine, Alex, Achal and Jordyn
Monday, August 6
Today was our first day at the forensics in the classroom. We did a lot
of different activities; which we enjoyed very much. The first thing we
did was a lecture from the OSU police department. We learned how to map
a room, the different types of evidence, and chain of custody, just to
name a few. After lunch, we saw cadaver dogs and how they worked.
These dogs can smell 30 times better than us, which allows them to find
human remains. After we learned about the dogs and their handlers, we
got to see the dogs in action. The three dogs went outside and found
different things. Then we went inside and watched episodes of CSI:NY
and Bones. Overall, the coolest thing we did was see the cadaver dogs
working. We were amazed with how quickly they worked. The most
challenging thing was mapping the room because we had never done it.
The funniest thing was seeing the experts point out all the flaws in CSI
and Bones. We learned a lot today but one thing was how police officers
handle crime scenes. There is a lot more than what you see on TV We
had a lot of fun and we can’t wait for tomorrow.
Tuesday,
August 7
Today we had a round table discussion where we learned about
all kinds of things from lab work to presenting evidence in a court
room. In the afternoon after a lunch of delicious ziti, we learned
about crime scene photography which was the coolest because we got to
see photos of actual crime scenes. The most challenging thing was
coming up with good questions for the round table discussion. The
funniest thing was seeing other photos that “messed up.” The photos
were not very good and Professor Angel pointing out all the things
wrong. Overall, we learned many things, from how to cast shoeprints to
how to photograph a crime scene. We had a lot of today and learned many
new things. We are looking forward to learning about DNA tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 8
Today was the third day at Forensics in the Classroom. We spent all day
working with DNA with Dr. Carol Park. A few of the things we did were
test blood type, sent horse blood through a centrifuge, separated white
blood cells from red blood cells and prepared a gel to get a DNA
fingerprint. We learned a lot, including how to pipette and how to
balance blood tubes. After we tested for DNA, we watched the movie
Gattaca. With all we did today, it was hard to pick on coolest
thing, but we thought the centrifuge was neat. We put our blood in a
machine that spun the blood to separate the white blood cells from red.
The funniest thing yesterday was watching Achal freak out from all the
blood. He hates blood and he really didn’t like the blood clot. The
most challenging thing we did was pipetting very carefully. We had to
get a thin layer of blood out of a tube. We had a lot of fun today and
are looking forward to ballistics.
Thursday, August 9
Today we got a glimpse into the life of forensic scientist, Ms Yezzo.
Ms Yezzo works in a lab with trace evidence. She uses programs like
NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistics Information Network) and AFIS
(Automated Fingerprint Identification System) to test/examine different
things. After Ms Yezzo’s presentation, Captain Rose came back to Metro
and taught us how to lift fingerprints and make casts of different
objects. For example people cast fingerprints, quarters, books, and
words. The coolest thing we did today was make the casts. We had a lot
of fun coming up with different objects to cast. It was very neat to be
able to use a technique the real police use everyday. The funniest
thing was watching everyone go crazy with the fingerprint powder. The
powder is very dark and spreads easily and it ended up everywhere. The
most challenging thing we did today was understanding what trace
evidence is. Trace evidence is a very broad group so we had to figure
out what exactly it is at a crime scene. We learned a lot today about
what happens at a lab and how the lab determines who fingerprints belong
to. Also, we learned how to powder and lift fingerprints and, as I
mentioned earlier, how to cast an object. Today was another interesting
day and tomorrow we will put everything to use when we process the cars.
Friday, August
10
Did you know that almost everything you eat has bugs in it? Well,
believe it or not bugs are everywhere. We learned this when David
Shetlar, an entomologist from Ohio State, taught us about bugs. He
showed us how bugs are used in forensics to determine how long a body
has been there. After the lecture, we went outside and saw three animal
bodies that smelled very bad. After lunch we went to the parking lot
and processed cars. These were the cars that the police thought
transported bodies to Waterman Farms. Even though it was very hot and
we were the only car in the sun, we learned a lot and had fun. We found
many fingerprints, a lot of trace evidence, and various objects that we
hope will help us in court.
The coolest thing about
entomology was going outside and looking at animals. The coolest part
of the cars was just the whole experience of processing cars. It was
neat to see what the police and FBI do everyday. The funniest thing in
the morning was when we went to see the animals and everyone stood as
far away as possible because it smelled so bad. When it comes to
processing the cars, the funniest thing was when Kristine lifted a print
off the “select” button and Jordyn jumped when the radio came on. The
most challenging part of the bugs was eating after seeing and smelling
the dead animals. The most challenging part of the cars was doing all
of the paperwork and working together as a team. No one knew how to do
the paperwork so it was a challenge to complete. We learned many things
about bugs, like how daddy long legs are not spiders. Also, we learned
how to process a car. Today was did field work and we can’t wait to dig
up bodies next week.
Monday, August 13
Earlier
this morning we learned about human Osteology, or the study of bones and
their names, positions, and identifications. After a lecture from
Professor Pinto we got to identify and site different bones. The most
challenging thing today was by far trying to figure out where different
bones belong on a skeleton. After we ate our lunch at picnic tables in
a beautiful park outside Lord Hall, we traveled to Waterman Farms and
did a fingertip search which was the funniest thing because Professor
Angel had to keep the pace and we ran out of flags well before the end
of the search. After that we moved on to the most challenging thing of
the day which was that it is harder than it seems to make a right angle
in order to box off your crime scene grid.
Tuesday, August 14
Today was our first full day in the field. We spent all day at Waterman
Farms finishing what we had started yesterday. Yesterday we began
preparing our dig site by setting up our perimeter and clearing our all
the vegetation. We started today by drawing the grave site as it was.
Once the drawing was complete, we began removing layers of dirt to find
the body. After layer we had to draw our grave site to scale. We dug
layer by layer and still hadn’t found anything after one foot down.
That was very frustrating because all the other groups were finding
things half a foot down. When we finally got to the body, about two
feet down, we removed the body and drew the empty grave. Now, the
digging was over but we still had a lot of work to do. We had to fill
out all the paperwork, make sure the drawings are complete, and fill the
grave. Although it took us a while we had a lot of fun and learned a
lot.
Overall the coolest thing was
looking for the body and sifting through all the dirt, just like a real
CSI. The funniest thing was filling the grave because we did it really,
really slow. We joked that it took us longer to dig up the body than
fill the grave up. The most challenging thing was the paper work, just
like processing the cars on Friday. The paperwork was incomplete and we
had to finish it at the end. We learned a lot today and a few of the
things were how to sift dirt, how to use brushes to clean off a body,
and what a real CSI does. We had a lot of fun today and we can’t wait
until tomorrow.
Wednesday,
August 15
Today was a day full of exciting and fun things to do. We
took notes on forensic anthropology which was very interesting. Did you
know that you can determine a persons ancestry from the skull? And that
you can determine the height just with one bone? It was really
interesting to learn such things. Then we practiced determining the
age, race, stature, and gender, all from a single bone. We went to
stations to do this. In one station, which was our first, we saw animal
bones which were kind of like our very own bones. After this, we
started to analyze the body we found in the grave. We only had five
bones, but still we were able to determine age, ancestry, stature, and
sex. From the information we were able to determine we found the
victim. He turned out to be a man was missing for over a decade. The coolest thing that we did is really hard to choose,
but we thing that it is the computer program that told us the
probability of the ancestry and sex that the person is. The funniest
thing was sometimes misinterpreting the bones. The most challenging
thing was determining the race of the person. Overall, today was filled
with challenging, exciting adventures and fun.
Thursday, August 16
Today we learned a lot about forensic
pathology from a veteran autopsy giver, Dr. Larry Tate. We learned from
him the root and history of the word forensics, which actually comes
from the Roman Forum which is where ancient trials were held. He also
taught us the difference between a coroner and a medical examiner. A
coroner is an elected official and a medical examiner is appointed.
After Dr. Tate entertained us
with a game about what an ME or Coroner would do in certain situations,
we had to prepare for court. Preparing for court was very challenging
because some of the essential paper work wasn’t done right and it was
hard to correct it. The coolest and funniest thing was learning about
all of the real but bizarre cases he had handled.
Friday, August 17
Today was the last day of forensics camp.
We went to court to present our evidence we had collected the past two
weeks. Each group went into the “court room,” which was at Metro, and
attempted to prove Mr. Bailey was guilty. The jury, which were the
groups not on trial, gave the verdict after each case. The first two
groups were found not guilty, our group had a hung jury, and the fourth
group had problems but overall everyone did very well in court.
There was so much to learn today
and we could use a whole page to describe what we learned, but we might
run out of pencils so we will only put a couple. One thing was how to
be an expert witness with real judges. Also, we learned how much your
paperwork saves you in court. Even though everyone had been saying
that, we saw first hand how vital it was. The coolest thing today was
just experiencing court and getting the whole experience. The funniest
thing today was when one of the lawyers went onto the stand as an expert
witness and the other cross-examined. They were almost arguing back and
forth and it was very funny. The most challenging thing was getting on
the stand and presenting your case. Even if you were right, the lawyers
would make you feel like you were wrong.
Over the past two weeks we have
learned a lot and have had many great experiences. We learned so much
it would be impossible to list everything. The coolest thing from the
whole camp was the court room and putting everything we had worked on
together. The funniest thing was our group trying to fill our grave
back up once we were done digging up our body. The most challenging
thing was working together and filling out all the paperwork. We had a
great time the last two weeks and now we can all watch CSI and know what
is right and wrong.
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