MSSU CSI Lab
By: Gretchen Bolander
Updated: February 15, 2013
JOPLIN, MO--- The Missouri Southern Criminal Justice Center has a new C.S.I. Lab. The space is dedicated to crime scene investigation and developing physical evidence that a crime has happened.
The laboratory space is equipped for everything from forensic photography to evaulating which gun fired a bullet left at a crime scene. Students learn both how to collect physical evidence and then what to do to make the best use of evidence, like fingerprints.
MSSU Criminal Justice Department Head Dr. Stephen Verrill said, "That's just a small part of it - it goes on to footprints. It goes on to blood evidence, shell casings, casings from fire arms, things that leave tool marks."
There's also a mock apartment specifically designed to be used as a crime scene. Students must go through the apartment and collect evidence much in the same way police investigate any actual crime scene. Professors say it's a great hands on tool and one that is pretty unique among higher ed criminal justice programs.
