PANAMA CITY — Students at Florida State University Panama City will be able to pursue studies in crime scene investigation, as of Aug. 1.
The school is offering a bachelor of science degree beginning in the fall semester. FSU professor Charla Perdue and Bay County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Lt. Koren Colbert will teach classes in the program. Colbert has been with the BCSO for 25 years, while Perdue received her criminology degree in 2003.
Perdue said the program complements the school’s existing underwater crime scene investigation program, which started in 2000. Anything students can be taught to do in the water they also can be taught to do on land, Perdue said. There are 11 required main courses in the program and students must complete a semester long internship with a public safety and security related agency.
--- WEB: MORE ON THE PROGRAM»»
What separates FSU Panama City’s program from other crime scene programs, Perdue said, is students will be taught in investigation skills that employers are looking for.
Along with a lecture classroom, there is a separate lab room with microscopes, fingerprinting kits and various machines that measure blood alcohol levels and hold biological samples.
“If a student gets a job in a small town with little or no technology they know how to sketch and photograph a scene with precision,” Perdue said. “If they get a job with a larger agency with a bigger budget that has access to 3D laser scanners to document a scene, our students can do that as well.”
Colbert said part of the hands-on experience students will get is working with buried bodies and skeletal remains in mock investigations.
--- WEB: MORE ON THE PROGRAM»»
Crime scene investigation can be challenging and difficult work, Colbert said, with the worst of humanity often seen in the field.
“It really takes a unique individual to deal with the circumstances involved in crime scene investigation,” Colbert said.
When investigating a scene, Colbert said, you have to see it as a piece of a puzzle and methodically document the evidence. A crime that took seconds to commit, Colbert said, can take weeks and months to examine.