Why teach crime scene management to forensic university students?

Abstract

Despite enhanced forensic collaborations between law enforcement agencies and universities, crime scene management remains a domain seen more as technical than scientific, largely carried out by sworn police officers qualified as scene of crime officers (SOCOs), confining forensic graduates to specialized expertise fields. Under such circumstances, we must ask ourselves why and how do we provide a generalised dedicated course to academic pupils who are not primarily intended to join such teams, excepting sometimes to assist them on a specialized field (explosion, arson, etc.)?Currently in Quebec, forensic graduates cannot join crime scene units attached to police forces, mainly because of unions, which argue about the need to be an experienced police officer before qualifying for a crime scene course.Based on the operational experience of the author, who created the foundational graduate forensic programme in Quebec, Canada, this paper will explain why such an academic course is still of high importance, its rationale within an academic curriculum, its goal and its implementation. Challenges are still to be considered, but selected feedback from students who understood that the aim of this course is distinct from their formal support disciplines, encourage such an approach.