Moraine Valley Community College opened its new Crime Lab on Aug. 18, giving students a hands-on space to learn forensic science and crime scene investigation. The college is at 9000 W. College Parkway.
The debut coincided with the launch of CRJ-203: Forensic Science and CSI, a new criminal investigation course in the college’s Criminal Justice Program at 9000 W. College Pkwy in Palos Hills.
Dave O’Connor, assistant professor in the program, said the lab had been nearly two years in the planning before construction crews began work May 16, just after the spring semester ended.
The project wrapped Aug. 6.
“Having taught our criminal investigations course for a number of years, it was great to explain the importance of strong criminal investigations and how they intersect with criminal prosecutions, but those discussions have inherent limitations,” O’Connor said. “I wanted something more than just being able to tell them — I wanted to show them.”
O’Connor said he and his colleagues, Dr. Mike Espinoza and Professor Michelle Skelton, had seen growing student interest in crime scene work and laboratory analysis.
“This course and the Crime Lab provide those students an opportunity to not only address their interest, but perhaps put them on a pathway to a whole new career,” he said.
The lab resembles a small apartment with a bedroom, living room and office space, each outfitted with two-way glass. Cameras in each room record exercises for later review by instructors and consulting professionals. A central collaboration room gives students space to debrief after simulations.
“They utilized it on their very first day of class,” O’Connor said. “Education is about expanding the limits of your knowledge base. The knowledge base that students possess is simply what they have seen on television or in the movies, which unfortunately is often wrong.”
CRJ-203 covers crime scene photography, fingerprint and trace evidence analysis, DNA and biological evidence, firearms and toolmark evidence, evidence processing, report writing and courtroom testimony. The course is taught by attorneys with decades of forensic courtroom experience, police officers with thousands of cases under their belts, and some of Illinois’ top crime scene investigators.
“Simply put, students will not get this forensic crime experience at most four-year universities that are 10 times our size,” O’Connor said.
He credited Moraine Valley’s administration and local law enforcement partners, including the Illinois State Police, Orland Park Police Department, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and Harper College for helping make the lab possible.
“Our administration understood very quickly how important this effort was,” O’Connor said. “Once local agencies heard the details about the Crime Lab and what we were doing at a community college level, they were completely on board.”