SIUE partners with the Illinois State Police, SIU School of Law, SWIC, and the City of Belleville to create the only accredited forensics program in Southern Illinois.

Elza Ibroscheva, Vice Chancellor for Assessment, Accreditation and Academic Planning and Professor of Mass Communication, said the program was developed in response to Gov. JB Pritzker’s call for reforms related to forensic investigations. She said there is a shortage of expertise due to the sheer case load, but there is not enough qualified workforce to adequately complete the tasks required for the investigation.

“As a result of this shortage, we have an open case that has not been resolved,” said Ibroscheva. “How we can solve this or contribute to solving this problem is to provide the training students need to be employed in this field, as the field of forensics is highly dependent on a specific field. Competence in scientific fields such as chemistry, biology, pharmacology and anthropology.

Chemistry Professor Ed Navarre worked with Biology Professor Luci Kohn and Anthropology Professor Corey Ragsdale to develop a curriculum that meets the accreditation requirements of the American Academy of Physics. He said one aspect of his curriculum is evidence of patterns involving things like fingerprints and footprints.

“No one on campus really has that kind of expertise, because no one on campus is trained by the police as a forensic scientist. We have the interaction and the interaction that we need,” said Navarra.

State Police Deputy Mayor Dennis Cobb said there will also be a State Police research lab next to the old Lindenwood campus, which will create opportunities for collaboration, dual programming and internships.

“The Illinois police seized the opportunity. They’ve wanted a forensics lab for a long time, and next door is a building with labs and classroom space,” Cobb said. It gave me an opportunity to think about what it would be like to be in the same place as others, whether it was continuing education for judges, lawyers, and other law enforcement agencies, or police academy. What happens when you collect groups in the same physical space?”

Cobb said this is also a unique opportunity to have an anchor partner in a place where others can build to address criminal and community justice issues together.

“My long-term hope is that more community-based organizations and other law enforcement-related activities will take place there, building a community of practitioners and academics to address pressing challenges.

Courtney Breckenridge, Research Fellow at the Center for Predictive Analytics, is working to implement a strategic plan. She said she wanted to make sure that educational opportunities remained in the Belleville community after Lindenwood was integrated into a traditional campus, but that the location was also an opportunity to explore environmental justice. I have.

“Because Belleville is surrounded by Superfund sites, it is an area with a lot of previous or current industrial use,” says Breckenridge. Do you provide compliance and oversight for federal agencies?”

One perspective they want to bring, Navarre said, is to allow people to get entry-level jobs instead of getting a degree, giving students the experience to become a leader and the current It is about giving an education that transcends convention.

“These practices change very slowly because we have to test them a lot, but then we educate people on how and what ideas become practices,” Navarra says. “Our students are exactly the people who are moving forward and have the potential to become the heads of our labs rather than just employees. prize.”