Sacramento State Program Gives Future Sleuths A Crime Scene To Explore

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Criminal justice meets CSI for students at Sacramento State, with special hands-on learning for those transitioning into a career in law enforcement.

Bullets, blood, but no body. It's all the makings of a real-life crime scene.

"This isn't easy like a movie," said instructor Stephen D'Arcy. "Or what they see on TV. It's completely different."

He runs the CSI lab at Sacramento State. The former Placer County undersheriff gives student-detectives 10 minutes to search for evidence, document the crime scene and figure out who did it.

"A woman is screaming," senior Daniel Pichardo said. "We don't know what she's screaming. Gunshots fired. First responder was already here."

Within seconds, what was once a two-dimensional process becomes three.

"To be able to walk around and touch things and investigate on things, and to be able to use my own critical thinking and come up with ideas, it's very beneficial," Pichardo said.

Students are taught to include everything in a crime scene and exclude nothing. The one thing the majority of the students did catch were the bloody towels in this trash clan. However, the one thing they excluded was looking up and seeing this bullet slug in the corner of the wall.

But the exercise doesn't stop here. Students still have to interview witnesses, execute search warrants and present their findings to the district attorney's office.

"I knew from the beginning their job was hard. But doing this really puts it into perspective how hard it actually is for them," said senior Mariah Braddock.

Even with the mock-murder and mayhem, the only real-life drama that lies ahead it making the grade.