Forensic scientists have a blast in Happy Valley
Penn State’s Forensic Science program partners with ICITAP to train North African crime lab personnel in leading-edge shooting scene investigation techniques.
To a common observer, a crime scene may seem like an impossible puzzle; but in the eyes of a forensic scientist, it is a complex and incomplete record of past events—difficult to interpret, but decipherable through science.
“A lot of times, we’re dealing with highly fragmented information,” said Penn State Forensic Science program director Jack Hietpas. “Very rarely do we have a lot of information to work with. We must rely on rigorous scientific principles as the basis for our analysis and interpretation of the physical evidence if we are going to reconstruct such complex crime events.”
From bullet fragments and cartridge cases, entrance and exit holes, particles of gunshot residue, and blood spatter patterns, a forensic expert elicits details of shooter and firearm, shot sequence and trajectories; develops, tests, and reevaluates hypotheses; and painstakingly pieces the scene together through a meticulous, scientific process.
Such skills are invaluable to the criminal justice system, and as the incidence of mass shootings as well as firearm use in terrorist attacks rises, law enforcement agencies are in ever-increasing need of firearms experts who can accurately process, analyze, and interpret shooting scenes en route to serving justice to both the perpetrators of such violence and the victims of those crimes.
Toward meeting that need, Penn State’s Forensic Science program recently partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice’s International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) to train Algerian and Tunisian crime lab personnel in the science of shooting-scene reconstruction.
Over eight consecutive 12-or-more-hour days at University Park, the trainees learned leading-edge forensic techniques and a holistic approach to investigating shooting scenes—identifying, collecting, documenting, and interpreting relevant physical evidence. This was an astounding amount of information crammed into a very short period of time, but the goal was for the cohort to graduate as top-notch forensic scientists, fully capable of training new cadres of investigators back home.
“We’re not training the participants to be simply technicians,” said Hietpas. “That’s really against our mantra. We’re training them to be scientists so that they can interpret the physical evidence and understand it in the context of each individual case. It is our goal that the attendees transfer what they learned here at Penn State to their current and future colleagues.”
ICITAP Senior Forensic Advisor Rebecca Bucht, who works for the agency in Algeria and was one of the inaugural coordinators who made the workshop possible, spoke unequivocally of Penn State’s merit in this regard:
“Penn State certainly has some of the best forensic science professionals—I’d say worldwide— in shooting-scene reconstruction, with a lot of experience, both academic and practical,” she said. “And with the facilities that are available here, it’s an ideal training situation.”
Hietpas, reflecting finally on the results to date, was clearly pleased:
“We’re making a really outstanding global impact here, and I believe it’s because we have such great resources and opportunities at Penn State. It’s rewarding that we’re able to share these assets with colleagues from other countries around the world,” he said. “And we’re having a blast—no pun intended—teaching the students how to work these types of cases.”
Learn more about Penn State’s Forensic Science program at forensics.psu.edu and keep up to date by following them on Facebook (@PennStateForensics) and Twitter (@FRNSCPSU).