Local Youth want to explore careers with people already in the field to see what it takes to be part of that career. I had a 6th grader from Lone Oak Middle School ask about a career as a Forensic Scientist like what they saw on TV.  I emailed the Paducah Police Department's Community Relations Officer and Criminal Justice Department Head at West Kentucky Community Technology Campus - Paducah (WKCTC). They were excited to see interest in their career fields. They asked Attorney Nick Jones to join us to get a full view of what happens to a case. We also had a couple of teen leaders from the SET Leadership Board in attendance who were named our Tech Specialists to help with the youth and any hands-on projects throughout the day. 

The planning process included creating a mock crime scene in the basement of the Extension Office, a mock courtroom, an interview room, and an evidence processing room. We had to limit the class size to 20 students.This was due to classroom size and demonstrations. 

The kids started the day learning about the education involved in becoming a detective and a Forensic Scientist from the Department Head of WKCTC. He was a retired detective from the Paducah Police Department. Then Detective Wilson and Hicks led demonstrations on how to handle a crime scene. The kids pulled fingerprints from the sign-in sheet and learned some photography tricks. They moved downstairs to process their mock crime scene where Mr. Bones died from unknown causes. They collected evidence and had our witnesses/suspects moved to our interview room for questioning. The interviews were done in a classroom where we had two main interviewers and the witness/suspect at a table together. The detectives and attorney advised on what questions could be asked and in what manner. Then the youth had to present all the evidence to our attorney to ensure they had all the evidence to have a strong case in court. Once the attorney said they "had enough to take the case to court", we moved to the mock courtroom. They then learned how the courtroom had a certain structure and some elements that were required to make the case at hand strong enough to convict the suspect. 

Throughout the day, the youth was encouraged to ask questions and to be hands-on. They were dubbed as Jr. Detectives for the day. They were given notepads to take notes of the crime scene to help keep their thoughts in one place. A few of the kids stated, "I did not realize math was a big piece of processing a crime scene." They also did not know some of the science behind blood splatter or how DNA testing has changed investigations. There was an impact on a couple of the kids who wanted to learn more about this field and asked for more information from detectives and attorney. The attorney offered an internship during the summer to the older students at the Prosecutor's office. The Police Department offered a Jr. Community Police Program to dig deeper into what the Paducah Police Department does. WKCTC had a small camp about Forensic Science for Middle Schoolers. 

Some of the middle schoolers have decided to focus more on courses that could help them get into criminology in college. They talked to the WKCTC Criminology Department Head about the best courses to take in high school to prepare for the criminology career field. 

There was also an interest in starting a 4-H Club about Forensic Science and some more career days to explore other careers in other fields.