On Tuesday, May 11, we held our last meeting of the crime scene group. Sgt. Monkman, a detective with the Upper Darby Police, came to talk about his career, to explain some interesting cases, and to answer questions. He was only supposed to stay for one hour, but he ended up staying for two because of all the great questions and discussion.
The coolest thing I learned was that the UD police used to have an undercover car that was a taxi. They were trying to stop some purse and wallet theft in the 69th street area. Unfortunately, people kept hailing the taxi because they could see it didn't have any passengers. So, the police department assigned a second officer to ride in the backseat so it would look occupied. This plan helped the department cut down on crime in the area!
Sgt. Monkman volunteered to help us out with another program like this in the future. We are planning on running a series of programs about the forensic sciences again, probably next year sometime.
Until then, here are some books you might want to check out of the library:
Ballistics by Barbara B. Rollins and Michael Dahl (J 363.25 R)
Blood Evidence by Barbara B. Rollins and Michael Dahl (J 363.25 R)
The Bone Detectives: How Forensic Anthropologists Solve Crimes and Uncover Mysteries of the Dead by Donna M. Jackson (J 363.2 J, Oversize)
Cause of Death by Barbara B. Rollins and Michael Dahl (J 614 R)
DNA Fingerprinting: The Ultimate Identity by Ron Fridell (614.1 F)
The FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation by Tristan Boyer Binns (J 353 B, Oversize)
Fingerprint Evidence by Barbara B. Rollins and Michael Dahl (J 363.25 R)
Juvenile Crime by Marcia Satterthwaite (J 364.36 S)
Sensational Trials of the 20th Century by Betsy Harvey Kraft (J 347.7 K)
Teens in Prision by Gail B. Stewart (J 364.3 S)
Also, examine these websites:
http://www.fbi.gov/kids.6th12th.htm
The FBI Youth website gives you an inside view of agents’ work. You might want to follow a case through the FBI lab or experience a day in the life of an agent.
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/handbook/intro.htm#topintro
This is the real field guide for FBI agents dealing with forensic investigations. Click on the links
across the top to learn about different aspects ofevidence collection and analysis.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0402_030402_tvwildlifecrimes.html
This National Geographic news article explains how forensic investigators solve wildlife crimes such as illegal hunting or selling of products made from endangered species.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sheppard/analyze.html
Learn about DNA fingerprinting by doing a virtual experiment on this site from PBS.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/andes/
Five centuries ago, a teen-aged girl was sacrificed in Peru as an offering to Incan gods. Her frozen body was found preserved in ice a few years ago. See how forensic anthropologists investigated her life and death using CT scan images.
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