Criminology Crime Scene Day
Last week our A-Level Criminology students participated in a Crime Scene Day facilitated by Simon Smith of Zakon Training. Two students who attended the training--Imogen and Indiana--wrote a report of the unusual day at Sheldon Sixth Form.
We were introduced to Simon at the beginning of the day. He has worked in a variety of criminal positions throughout the years and he gave us several fascinating first-hand stories of his experiences in each field. He presented us with a real-world scenario that he had personally handled and we proceeded in the same manner.
To get a sense of when an emergency call came in and to begin our investigation into Jola Addams's murder, we first listened to a 999 call. We examined the initial stages of a murder case in the morning; prior to this, we were unaware that this was a murder. We examined the roles of police officers, who were the first to arrive on the site, followed by detective sergeants and crime scene investigators, who both took charge of the scene in an effort to collect as much evidence as they could.
We listened to every interview with witnesses and the victim's close friends. These claims evolved during the day as we learned that people weren’t telling the truth. Later, we visited a crime scene reconstruction in a remote location where we examined all the available evidence and began to piece together what had happened.
After gathering all of the evidence in the afternoon, we were able to arrest our suspect and conduct an interview to confirm that we had the right individual. Next, we acted out a court case in which each of us took on a distinct position, including that of a juror, judge, or barrister. Regretfully, the jury returned a not guilty verdict, forcing us to free our suspect. Since this was a genuine case, Simon informed us that the general verdict was guilty, and that the offender received an 18-year prison sentence. All things considered, this was an extremely helpful day for our academic work and possible future employment.
