Citizen C.S.I. Academy Class of 2009 Graduates

by Paul Saulnier 5/21/09

Citizen CSI Academy Class of 2009 Graduates

Class Roster (alphabetically): Sylvia Bodmer, Jillian Colarusso, Heather Dillon, Mindy Elias, Mary Gimblett, Kristen Godfrey, Edward Jeye, Lisa Jobe-Carmack, Todd Kagno, Celest Kok, Jackie LaPointe, Kim Marsden, Arthur Norley, Michael Pelon, Jessica Pelon, Patrica Pereira, Shawn Peters, Donald Porter, Paul Saulnier, Mark Signore, Kathy Sparre, Peggy Stoddard, Lisa Zais, Gary Zegel.

Also pictured are Kevin Kosiorek from the Boston Police Crime Lab and Jack Drawec (in white) is a Dt. Lt. from the Mass State Police (2nd & 3rd from the left), Adam Hall, instructor within BU's Biomedical forensic Sciences Program (6th from left), Dr. Tara Moore, Director of the Program in Forensic Anthropology at Boston University (8th from left in blue), and Bill Powers, Director of Professional Studies in Applied Forensic Studies at BU (7th from the right). Last but certainly not least is Rose Warren, center in the jeans and dark polo shirt, who made sure everything came together and worked perfectly every week.

The last class put all the training from the previous eleven classes into practice by investigating four mock crime scenes. Each class had two professionals leading the group.

Below, Kevin Kosiorek and Jack Drawec describe the scene in the basement as reported by the officer who responded to the call: a man whose wife went missing months ago (remember we are talking fiction here) was found sitting in the basement looking at her remains. It is suspected that she was buried elsewhere and then exhumed and placed in the basement.

Our assignment was to secure and document the scene, and recover the evidence.

Photography is a very important part of CSI and starts with the approach to the scene.

Right off the bat, Dt. Lt. Drawec screams at the photographer for violating the first rule of CSI photography: no live people in the shots. This is because all photos become part of the evidence and photos with people can be misinterpreted by a jury (what was he laughing at or was she stepping on evidence?)

Then photos are taken in sequence, overlapping to include all 360 degrees.

Then close in on the scene for more detailed pictures.

Identification cards are added, as are scales:

Closeups of individual pieces of evidence are next, being careful not to contaminate the site by stepping on footprints in the dust or dropping a pen or reading glasses on the body.

(Thanks to Rose Warren for donating her dress shoes to the cause.)

Careful sleuthing discovered this foot print in the dust...

...which was lifted by our footprint expert.

We have a suspect!

Next, our fingerprint expert went to work on the empty Bud bottle.

A little heavy on the powder but effective.

Here is why you don't include living people in the pictures. Our fingerprint expert, along with her assistant from CSI Australia, display anything but a somber mood.

Meanwhile outside, the other classes have secured their sites and are retrieving plastic body parts scattered by local wildlife (and I don't mean the Selectmen).

Back in class after all the bodies and evidence have been collected, Bill Powers explains to Tara Moore and the class why he expects to be called Dr. Powers at next year's Citizens C.S.I. Academy.

Every session went beyond the allotted class time because the students would not let the instructors go. We were all sad to realize that this was the last class. So check HollistonReporter.com often for notice to register for the next class. Enrollment is very limited. You will not be disappointed if you are lucky enough to be selected.

On behalf of the entire class, thank you Tara and Bill and Boston University for their time and effort spent to educate the residents of Holliston on crime scene investigation.

Posted in Police/Fire, Comings/Goings.

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