​Instructor: Amy Santoro, MFS, CBPA, CSCSA     
Course length:  32 hours

This four-day (32-hour) Advanced Crime Scene Investigations course is designed for crime scene investigators, technicians, and detectives who have a moderate level of experience working in the field of crime scene investigations.
 
Topics:

Day 1:  8 Hours
Students will learn the scientific underpinnings of presumptive and confirmatory tests for blood, semen, and saliva. Students will learn how to better explain the reactions while testifying in a court of law (lecture and hands-on).
  • Hands-on exercise: Students will use tetramethyl benzidine, phenolphthalein, and Hematrace (or similar) to test a variety of stains

Implementing a non-destructive blood searching workflow, students will learn the best way to process scenes when searching for latent blood to ensure the best possible sample is collected for DNA analysis (lecture and hands-on).
  • Hands-on exercise: Students will be provided with targets which have been stained with blood (neat, diluted, and cleaned stains included). Students will implement the blood searching workflow and will practice locating stains and testing with presumptive tests. Students will use tetramethylbenzidine, phenolphthalein, and luminol in this exercise. 
 
Students will evaluate complex overlapping bloodstain patterns and evaluate stains for collection (lecture and hands-on).
  • Hands-on exercise: Students will be given a target with a variety of overlapping bloodstains from a variety of mechanisms. Working in groups, they will use the size, shape, distribution, location, and appearance of stains to separate discrete patterns and identify the best stains for sampling.
 
Students will learn about sequential processing regarding biological evidence and chemical enhancement
 
Day 2:  8 Hours 
Building on the skills they learned on day one, students will learn about processing major sexual assault crime scenes, including scenes from prolonged/consistent sexual abuse. 

Students will learn how to systematically search and process evidence for the presence of seminal fluid with the goal of selecting the best stains for laboratory DNA analysis and streamlining the evidence submission process (lecture and hands-on).
  • Hands on exercise: Students will be provided with a variety of targets to evaluate for the presence of seminal fluid. Students will use an ALS to locate stains, test stains with an Acid Phosphatase spot test, and test AP positive stains with a PSA test.
 
Students will learn about advanced on-scene dead body processing in sexually motivated homicides (lecture).

Advanced persons processing lecture: discussion about processing witnesses, suspects, and victims as it relates to sexual assaults and homicides. Topics will include sequential processing of potential shooters and ALS photography of assault victims (to document trace and biological evidence as well as latent/healed injuries). 
 
Day 3:  8 Hours 
Students will learn how to prepare for mass fatality scenes (including homicides of multiple persons/mass shootings). Case presentations from mass shootings will be reviewed, and the students will review how to assemble a supply kit for mass fatality scenes (lecture).
 
Students will learn a systematic approach for dealing with bullet damage in major crime scenes, includes scenes with multiple areas of damage on various substrates. A methodology for tracing bullet flight path and "road mapping" corresponding damage will be discussed (lecture).
 
Students will learn how to evaluate potential firearms evidence on scene, how to evaluate fired projectiles to associate them to areas of damage present within the scene, and how to triage evidence for forensic laboratory analysis, and how to triage evidence to gather information about the minimum number of firearms involved in an event (lecture and hands-on).
  • Hands on exercise: Students will examine fired bullets, fired cartridge cases, and fired shotshells/shot pellets and note the class characteristics of each. Using firing pin impression shape, breech face marks, rifling, etc., students will determine the minimum number of firearms represented and will learn how to group items to concentrate DNA collection.
           
Day 4:  8 Hours
Students will incorporate the skills they learned all week into a series of mock scenes.

Blood testing: Students will view a case presentation. After viewing a photographic presentation, students will divide into groups to test mock evidence, which will be a recreation of actual evidence tested by CSIs in the case. Students will have to use presumptive and confirmatory tests for blood to test their evidence.
 
Sexual assault table top exercise: Students will view a case presentation. After viewing a photographic presentation, students will view a mock crime scene, which will be modeled after the actual crime scene. Students will divide into groups and determine what processing should be done at the scene to locate semen stains from the assault. As a class, students will process the scene step by step in a round table style. Students will use presumptive and confirmatory tests for semen to test their evidence.

Officer involved shooting incident mock scene: Students will view video and hear radio traffic from an officer involved shooting incident. Students will then view a mock crime scene, which will be modeled after the actual crime scene. Students will collect evidence from the scene, evaluate the evidence using skills learned on day 3, and answer investigative questions.
Amy Santoro, MFS, CBPA, CSCSA  
Holding ​a Bachelor of Science degree in Forensics and a Master of Science in Forensic Science,  Amy Santoro is recognized by the International Association for Identification as a Certified Crime Scene Analyst. ​ 

Amy enjoys teaching and has taught courses in crime scene investigation and forensic photography to law enforcement and forensic practitioners. She is also an adjunct university professor, teaching  undergraduate classes in forensic biology and general forensic science.

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