Queen City students learn fingerprinting techniques

Mrs. Chickadel’s and Mrs. McCulloch’s Forensics Science classes welcomed crime scene investigators from the Cass County District Attorney’s Office last week to demonstrate different fingerprinting techniques.

Officers Cody Sartor and Hagan Allen demonstrated how to collect prints from a crime scene and offered students a chance to fingerprint themselves.

Prior to bringing in the experts, both teachers had instructed their classes on differentiating between fingerprint patterns, identifying what makes a good fingerprint and discussing what happens if a person does not have “proper” fingerprints because of amputated fingers, scars, skin grafts, etc.

During their studies, students were challenged to gather fingerprints from family and friends to examine and identify what patterns were present while discovering if there were any similarities between family members.

Mrs. Chickadel concluded, “This presentation was a nice way to end the unit on fingerprints. Sartor and Allen re-emphasized what the students had learned while demonstrating how to use critical thinking and prior knowledge to look for prints in unusual places.”