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.

On Wednesday, June 2 from 6:00-9:00PM, you are all invited to the museum and try your hand at a handful of crime-investigating activities, from analyzing blood spatter and bullet evidence to identifying tool marks and foot prints. This event will be adults-only, as some of the material presented will be somewhat graphic.

The Police Museum, of course, is housed in a building that was once Vancouver’s City Morgue and Coroner’s Court; over 15,000 autopsies were performed in this space between 1932 and 1980 and countless pieces of evidence were analyzed downstairs in the City Analyst’s Lab. This place is as close as you can get to CSI:Vancouver.

Photo by Kim Werker

Stay tuned for additional announcements about this event; we’re working hard to line up some great surprises for you all!

If you plan on attending, please RSVP in the comments below or at http://vancouvertweetup.com/; we’d like to get a rough idea of the number of attendees so that we can plan accordingly.

See you soon!

(Also, we’ve posted the next series of our “Forensics for Adults” workshops. You can find info (and tickets) here.)

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?

Alongside our workshops we are pleased to announce the launch of our Jr. Forensic Investigator’s club.  The club is open to youth age 7-14 who participate in our seasonal workshops.  Becoming a member is easy (see details here) and youth can receive some great museum-related benefits once they complete their workshops. We are excited to offer this opportunity to further engage youth in the fascinating world of forensic science. Those who become members during the break will have the opportunity to attend a ‘members only’ event on Friday March 12th.

If you aren’t able to attend a workshop then come by between 9:30am and 4:00pm March 8-12 to try your hand at one of our Drop-In Crime Scene Investigations. For more details about Spring Break activities  make sure to visit our website.

Spring Break was busy for us, in fact it was easily the busiest the museum has ever been; we ran forensics-themed workshops and our drop-in investigation and were completely overwhelmed with visitors. Without buying a single piece of advertising or sending out a solitary press release, we were so busy that we came very close to being over-capacity in our building.

How do we follow up that success? Do it again, with a little better planning this time. (Now that we know how popular these activities can be…)

On select days through the summer, we will be hosting a new series of workshops for kids seriously interested in forensic science. Each workshop will go hands-on with a different topic, including fingerprints, impression evidence (foot and tire prints), forensic entomology (bugs) and ballistics. A workshop for older students on blood spatter will also be offered. After the workshop, students are welcome to explore the museum and put their new skills to the test with our Forensics Drop-in activities at no additional charge. ($10/student, $5/member; spaces are limited and reservations are required.)

Our topics include:

• Fingerprints – Every time we touch something we leave unique marks. Come learn about the types of fingerprints, how we find and collect them and how we analyse them. Suitable for ages 7-12.
• Impression Evidence – Footprints, tire treads, bite marks and tool marks. Come find out how we use all different kinds of impressions to catch bad guys. Suitable for ages 7-12.
• Forensic Entomology – Sometimes, creepy crawlies provide the best evidence to solve a crime. You’ll learn all about bugs and how they make great witnesses. Suitable for ages 7-12.
• Ballistics – This workshop will explore how we analyze guns and bullets as evidence. . Suitable for ages 7-12.
• Blood Spatter – What story do these shapes and patterns tell us? Not for the feint of heart, this workshop will explore the basics of blood spatter analysis. Suitable for ages 10-15.

Workshops run for one hour. There are only 25 spaces in each workshop, so book soon! (The schedule of workshops is available here.)

Hopefully we can recreate a little bit of our Spring Break Miracle.

The secret (don’t tell the competition) is that people buzz about us now in a way they didn’t used to. The advertising we’ve done in various family publications and the effort we’ve put into giving kids who come here an amazing experience has paid off. Although we’ve recently updated our website to include a whole bunch of additional information on our birthday packages, most of our bookings come from people who’ve heard that we’re “a great place to have a party”. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that we’re reasonably priced… birthday parties are definitely a racket these days. (Can you imagine paying $70/child for a birthday party?)

As we can, we’ll continue to expand our birthday party offerings to include more items for goodie bags, better decorations, more space for food, and possibly even packages appropriate for adults. (Who doesn’t want to have their birthday party in a morgue?)

The planned schedule is as follows, with each workshop running from 11:00-11:45AM. We may add additional times if these workshops prove to be as popular as we expect them to be.

• Mar 16 – Fingerprints
• Mar 17 – Impression Evidence
• Mar 18 – Forensic Entomology
• Mar 19 – Ballistics
• Mar 20 – Blood Spatter (for older kids only!)
  

For more information, check out the details here. There are limited spaces in each workshop, so register your kids early.