And it’s not over yet… we’ve got something happening almost every evening at the museum over the next month, including:

Sins of the City Walking Tours
Until the end of September

Spend some time on Vancouver’s shady side. Our always-popular “naughty little walking tour” sold more than 1200 spots last week thanks to a special promotion through Groupon.com; they always run every Wed, Fri and Sat at 4:00 PM, but we’re adding extra tours all the time because of this huge increase in demand.

When the tour ends, be sure to check out restaurant row in Gastown and grab dinner and/or drinks with your friends.

Get in touch for more info or to book a spot.

Forensics for Adults Workshops
Every Tuesday and Thursday through August at 6 and 9 PM

Nothing says “hot summer evening” quite like spilling a little blood or inspecting a firearm with your friends; these fun and interactive workshops are running one last time in 2010 so be sure to catch them while you can. Topics include:

• Aug 10 – Material Evidence
• Aug 12 – Ballistics
• Aug 17 - Fingerprints
• Aug 19 – To Be Announced (but it’ll be awesome!)
• Aug 24 – Blood Spatter
• Aug 26 – Forensic Pathology

Workshops run twice each evening, at 6:30PM and again at 8:00PM. Tickets are only available through our online store.

Vancouver International Fringe Festival
September 9 to 19, multiple times

Looking for a place to chill? We’re a venue for two different shows at this year’s Fringe including the cool “Unplugged Cop” and the chilling “After the End“, two very different shows that use our space in interesting and unexpected ways.

Get tickets to these shows directly from the Fringe Festival website.

It’s already been a busy summer, and with everything going on this month (and next) it’s not going to let up anytime soon. We can’t think of a cooler place to spend a warm summer evening, but we might be biased…

Our newest program, Forensics for Adults, is no exception, having received some great attention recently. A few weeks ago, a great article appeared in Vancouver Courier, titled “Autopsy Class Sells Out Fast“.

Here we are on Global BC’s Saturday Morning news to promote the workshops:

(Video courtesy our our brand-new YouTube account!)

If you’d like to check these fun workshops out, information (and ticket sales) are available here.

Photo by John Biehler. Some Rights Reserved.

We’ve been so overwhelmed by the popularity of our “Forensics for Adults” workshops that we’ve added another series. On Wednesday nights in June, come to the museum to learn the basics of bloodstain pattern analysis, autopsies and firearms. We’ve also added a new workshop where we’ll be looking at broken glass, frayed rope, tool marks and more. Workshops (and dates) are as follows:

Blood Spatter
June 9 at 6:30PM or 8:00PM
This hour-long workshop will look at the messy (and precise) work of bloodstain pattern analysis. We’ll explore how the properties of blood and the physics of a situation can influence the spatter found at the crime scene by conducting our own experiments. Expect to get a little messy. If you’re prone to fainting, this isn’t the workshop for you.

Photo by John Biehler. Some Rights Reserved.

Forensic Pathology
June 16 at 6:30PM or 8:00PM
This hour-long workshop will explore, in detail, how autopsies are performed and how information can be gathered from a body to determine cause of death or solve a crime. We’ll get up-close-and-personal with some of the tools used for these kinds of investigations, all in the real facility that was once Vancouver’s city morgue (almost 15,000 autopsies were performed here between 1932-1980). Fainters probably shouldn’t take this one either.

Material Evidence
June 23 at 6:30PM or 8:00PM
This hour-long workshop will explore, in detail, the main kinds of material evidence found in crime scenes, from broken glass and fibre samples to tool marks. We’ll get up-close-and-personal with some of the tools used for these kinds of investigations, all in Vancouver’s former crime lab. Unless duct tape makes you faint, this workshop is fainter-approved.

Photo by John Biehler. Some Rights Reserved.

Ballistics
June 30 at 6:30PM or 8:00PM
This hour-long workshop will look at the kinds of evidence investigators use when a firearm may have been involved in a crime. Analysis of bullets (ballistic fingerprinting), bullet impacts, and trajectories as well as other firearm-related evidence will be discussed. (No, you won’t get to fire a gun but you’ll have so much fun it won’t matter.) This workshop is also fainter-friendly, we think.

Please note that tickets will not be available by phone or in-person; we will only be selling tickets online. Also, we’re not sure when/if we’ll be running these workshops again… this may be your last chance.

We are proud to announce our first forensics-themed workshop specifically for adults; our first topic will be forensic pathology, or the study of the causes of death. We will be offering two workshops each Tuesday evening, no matter which workshop you register for, you’ll be able to visit the museum for 30 minutes before and after your session.

• Forensic Pathology – April 13 at 6:30pm or at 8:00pm
• Blood Spatter – April 20 at 6:30pm or 8:00pm
• Ballistics – April 27 at 6:30pm or at 8:00pm

Seemed fitting to start with pathology, since the Vancouver Police Museum is housed in a building that was once the city morgue and autopsy facility (almost 15,000 autopsies were performed here). We also have an impressive collection of tools from that time, from head clamps to bone saws. This workshop will get up-close-and-personal with these tools, while discussing the process of an autopsy and associated investigation, from crime scene to funeral home.

(Additional workshops may be announced if these ones are successful…)

Also, please note that tickets will not be available by phone or in-person; we will only be selling tickets online. (Where you’ll also find more information about each session and its contents.)

Really, why should the kids have all the fun?