Saturday, May 10, 2008

Crime Lab Field Trip

One of Alexandra's enrichment classes this year was about crime science. On Thursday, the kids took a field trip to a real crime lab and I got to go along! The lady police officer was wonderful as she gave us the tour.

This computer helps match up a bullet to the right gun. You have your photo on the left, and when you find one on the right that you think is a good match, you can move it around and see if the pieces will fit together.
The officer also used her own blood to show the kids how the investigators determine if something is blood or not.

She also showed us how they lift fingerprints for identification. She was using small, magnetic pieces to stick to the fingerprints. She told us that every fingerprint is unique because they form in your mother's womb according to what you touch. I wasn't sure about this and looked it up online. It seems that the formation of fingerprints is uncertain.

On our last stop, she showed us where they actually look for fingerprint matches. She talked about the fact that they can only access criminal fingerprints. The prints you give when you get your driver's license or join the military are not usually searchable by police.

4 comments:

Rhonda said...

Looks like a very interesting class. I had never heard of the fingerprint theory. That is something new to me.

Jennifer said...

That's cool! I'll have to see if there is a place like that around here!

Robin said...

What a cool field trip!
You know? Just reading blogs, you can find out the coolest information. I love that! We really are such an intellectual network.
Thanks for the post!

Melissa said...

That is a super neat field trip! I would love for our school group to do that.
Blessings, Melissa
www.homeschoolblogger.com/melissal89

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