A new student organization, the Crime Scene Investigation Club, recently launched at Weber State University this fall semester.
Kira McLelland, a Weber State University student and club president, said members of the Criminal Justice Department at WSU have been organizing unofficial events including outings to hockey games and barbecues in the past.
Following a few meetings in August to discuss the necessary steps for official club formation and reaching out to the interested students, the initiative of having these gatherings established as a recognized club was set.
Although the club has just launched, it has already established weekly meeting times, a clear vision and goals for the future. The meetings take place every Friday at 2 p.m. in Lindquist Hall.
Their objective is to work on a specific crime scene investigation task or to go out and do an activity that would foster social interaction among members. The purpose of the gatherings is not only to share interest in the criminal justice field but also enrich members’ knowledge and understanding of the real world crime scene investigation processes.
“We want to provide some unique opportunities that we do not have in classes,” McLelland said.
The club has many missions, one of which is to combat misconceptions about the forensic science field, stemming from the so-called “CSI effect”.
“In the field we talked a lot about the CSI effect, there are a lot of crime shows out there, and a lot of people think that the crime scene investigation is like in those popular TV shows … so our main goal is to explain how it really works in the real world and to spread the word out,” McLelland said.
To accomplish these plans, the club members are planning on organizing workshops with guest speakers and doing operations that would allow them to learn more about photography, fingerprinting and other essential skills to the field.
Club members are looking into learning options, and one of them is getting involved in community projects that would focus on high schools and junior highs. One idea for a project includes using 3D scanners to create blueprints of school buildings that later would be shared with local SWAT teams. This operation would contribute to enhancing emergency response during incidents. Another plan is to conduct fingerprinting operations at local elementary schools to provide a reliable identification package that would be shared with students’ parents to use in case of any emergency.
The WSU Crime Scene Investigation Club continues to grow through weekly newsletter sent out every Wednesday and by expanding its online presence through their Instagram account @csi_wsu1.
