Although lacking some of the high-tech instruments - and Gill Grissom - Grade 10 students from Parkland Composite High School in Edson, received a day-long lesson in forensic science at the Palisades Stewardship Education Centre.

Arriving at the Palisades Centre at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 1, the students wasted no time getting down to business, being whisked right from the bus and into the garage teaching building. 

The Grade 10 students spent the rest of the morning learning the finer points of forensic science techniques with Parks Canada’s human-wildlife conflict specialist Terry Winkler. In national parks, forensic science is used in cases of poaching, wildlife attacks and DNA monitoring of trophy animals, said Winkler.

“One of the main rules of investigation,” said Winkler, “is never to change or touch or alter anything until it has been identified, measured and photographed.” Winkler went on to explain the four types of evidence that are used for investigative purposes. 

There is real evidence, such as rifles and bullets, documentary evidence, such as phone records and credit card receipts, oral evidence obtained from witnesses and circumstantial evidence, which is “something that doesn’t really prove your case, but it’s something that might be a clue along the way,” Winkler said, adding that “the more evidence you can gather when you’re doing an investigation, the better off you are.”

Winkler also delineated investigative roles for the students. There’s the lead investigator, “the quarterback of the scene,” the searchers, who find clues and flag them, a documentations person, who draws an overall map of what happened and a photographer, said Winkler. 

Once the theoretical portion of the lesson was complete, Winkler moved into discussing the more practical aspects of investigations. Students were taught how to preserve a scene by roping it off and establishing entry and exit points, taking a DNA sample, which “is one of our prime tools for solving crimes,” said Winkler, collecting tissue and hair samples and searching for bullets and casings with a metal detector. Winkler also discussed the importance of wearing gloves to prevent contamination of the evidence, as well as protecting against numerous diseases carried by wildlife.  

After lunch, the students broke off into investigative teams to practise their forensic science skills. Teams were equipped with field kits that included a camera, Q-tips, tape, a knife, evidence collection envelopes, a flashlight, in addition to a few other investigative tools. 

The teams combed through the Palisades’ property finding bullet casings, cast foot prints as well as pieces of an elk carcass, which they had to collect tissue and hair samples from. Although some students were a little put-off by tearing hair from an elk carcass, the teams got the job done. “Think about everything you see, hear and find as potential evidence,” was the advice Winkler imparted on the grade ten students.

Although poaching “is a relatively low amount... two to five a year that we know about,” said Winkler, about 250 animals are hit on the highway and train tracks every year.