Lunch in the cafeteria is supposed to be uneventful, right? Now imagine the surprise of students when a crime scene truck pulled into the parking lot of the school late March! You might have wondered, what happened in the school that was so bad? Well, the truck was here for the forensics class, as a replacement activity for their yearly field trip to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, NJ. 

This past month, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office crime scene truck came for an in house field trip for the Emerson forensics class, which was arranged by Emerson’s own Police Officer Glenn Howard.

The forensics class is an elective which prepares students for careers in criminal justice, such as lawyers and forensic scientists. In the class, students learn about many different things, including how to analyze drugs, hair, blood, fibers, finger prints, human remains, and solar analysis.

“When you go into the truck, it has all the laboratory equipment required at a crime scene. It’s used to gather pieces of evidence and do preliminary chemical testing on the go,” said Mr. Deo.

The class had the opportunity to explore the inside of the truck and talk with two Bergen County officers. Although the class is limited to juniors and seniors for its mature content, Mr. Deo invited the Bergen County Special Services, along with their teachers, to the visit as well. 

“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we could not go to visit. So, we decided to bring the visit to us,” said Mr. Deo.