Viewpoints » Editorials

Subscribe

Forensics courses could lead to crime lab here

  • Print
  • •
  • •
  • Post a Comment
  • •
  • Favorite
  • •
  • Report an error Report error
    • Thank you for your submission.
      Error report or correction
      Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  
      Sending report
    • Close
  • •
  • Originally published May 9, 2008 at 8:18 p.m., updated May 9, 2008 at 8:18 p.m.

Maybe Horatio Caine (actor David Caruso) and his “CSI: Miami” crew weren’t there, but the forensic science used to solve a pretend crime at the University of Houston-Victoria was the real thing.

Becky Cleugh, a student herself at the Sugar Land campus, arranged a “crime scene” to give students at UHV a challenge to their skills, with the dummy of a red-headed woman lying on the floor with clues to her killer’s identity all around her.

“Part of forensic science is criminal investigations,” said professor Richard Gunasekera, who teaches the forensic biology and criminalistics class. “They’ll use scientific method to reconstruct a crime scene.”

The class is part of UHV’s new master’s program with a concentration in forensic science and criminal justice or biology, Gunasekera said.

The crime scene set up for the students may have been just a game, or more properly a classroom exercise, but we hope it may lead to an actual crime lab in Victoria some day.

Advocate reporter Leslie Wilbur followed the students around the crime scene as they examined evidence, took note of some and passed over others, finally coming up with the correct answer to “Whodunit”?

Final projects for the forensic biology class weren’t all intrigue and mystery, though.

Student Rebekah Shimek worked on a project explaining how bringing a crime lab to Victoria might help prosecute rapes.

Currently, investigators must send DNA evidence away for laboratory analysis, Shimek said. “A lot of contamination happens,” she said. Handling all elements of an investigation locally might encourage victims to report rapes, she added.

The closest crime labs now are in Houston and Corpus Christi, Gunasekera said.

Scientists at UHV can perform many genetic tests such as identifying bodies burned by fire. Getting the certification the lab needs to deal with crimes would speed up analysis of some evidence, Gunasekera said.

We agree with Gunasekera’s goal of being “helpful to the community.” The forensic biology and criminalistics class is another educational asset for UHV, and a crime lab in Victoria would certainly fall into the category of being helpful to the entire criminal justice system here.



  • Print
  • •
  • •
  • Post a Comment
  • •
  • Favorite
  • •
  • Report an error Report error
    • Thank you for your submission.
      Error report or correction
      Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  
      Sending report
    • Close
  • •