CSI symposium brings experts to campus

How do the experts really solve a crime?

It takes a lot of people working together as a team to figure out what happened. There are so many different aspects to processing a scene that no one person can handle it all.

This was the lesson of the CSI Symposium, which brings professionals to Norwich to explain what they really do, and not how television shows portray them. The symposium was held on March 23 and 24.

One presenter, who was an expert in blood splatter patterns, explained how a case was solved by using the inconsistencies in the defendant's testimony in comparison to the evidence, according to Kevin Morse-Berry, a 20-year-old junior at Norwich.

For four years a variety of professionals have come to Norwich to demonstrate to students the type of work they would undergo if they went onto careers in these fields. The CSI Symposium is designed to teach students that this field of work is nothing like what the television shows portray it to be.

The CSI Symposium consists of a variety of lecturers. Each lecturer has a specific field of expertise.

Lecture topics included computer forensics, crime scene processing, digital media, child abuse investigations, WMD's (weapons of mass destruction) and forensic ondontology.

Some professors in the criminal justice department have made it a requirement to attend the lectures.

Criminal justice major Jonathan Currier, a 20-year-old sophomore from Aurora, Colo., said, "I had to go (to the symposium) for my classes but I was looking forward to it anyway."

The speakers were "straight forward and honest," he said. "They recognized us as college students and that this is our possible profession and we should see (the details) as it is."

Morse-Berry, majoring in history from Derry, N.H., was also required to attend the event for a course. However, he took an interest in more of the gory details of the crime scenes.