Video: Jake Meskell checks out the brand new forensic science facilities at NTU
Nottingham Trent University is now home to one of the biggest crime scene training facilities in the UK.
A former two-storey student accommodation at the university’s Clifton campus has been converted into a training crime scene which can be configured to look like a house, bar or shop.
It can be used to replicate a number of scenarios in homes and businesses, including burglaries, assaults, sexual offences, drug searches and cyber crime.
There is also a room for blood pattern analysis, where students can see how blood moves under different conditions, and a CCTV room with access to 26 cameras including face-tracking so students can be assessed on how well they do.
Principal lecturer in forensic science at NTU Emma Rixon thinks it now places the university among the best in the country for the course.
She said: “It puts us up there in terms of universities that teach forensic science.
“We had a very good crime scene facility previously but this one is even bigger – so in terms of our competitors, we are right up there now.”
The students are trained to identify evidence such as fibres, footwear marks, DNA evidence and digital evidence from mobile devices and laptops.
It will also be used by other external forensic and law enforcement agencies, which Emma Rixon is ‘very excited’ by.
She said: “I am especially thrilled by the new blood laboratory, as this offers us potential to carry out research and develop further teaching in this area.
“Being able to configure the facility into a bar or shop is very important as there can be particular forensic challenges with business venues which you perhaps wouldn’t get with domestic ones.
“The improved CCTV is also fantastic and we can’t wait to put it into use.”
The new facility replaces the smaller crime scene house on the campus.
