Course description
MSc Crime Scene Investigation
This course is aimed at professional crime scene investigators or managers who have already acquired some professional experience. Practical work is undertaken in the University's on-campus 30-room Crime Scene House Laboratory which is fully equipped with CCTV, chemistry and computer laboratories.
More information
Stage 1
Introduction and Professional Studies
This module is designed to introduce you to the issues related to studying beyond undergraduate level. It applies to students on taught postgraduate courses and those who are embarking on a programme of research. The module encompasses issues such as enrolment, health and safety, using Blackboard, report writing and referencing, ethics, plagiarism, time management and numerical techniques. You will also examine discipline specific areas pertinent to your pathway, which will offer you a particular grounding, skills base or understanding required at the early stage of your study. You will be introduced to personal development planning, by keeping a formal log book.
Principles of Crime Scene Science
The module uses a case scenario to introduce to the principles of crime scene science and provides you with an understanding of the methodologies associated with recovering physical evidence.
Scene Recording and Imaging
This module introduces you to using scene recording and imaging in support of forensic investigation. It also provides you with an introduction to the procedures, processes, practices and techniques that are involved in recording crime scenes that may be subject to forensic investigation. It covers the importance of accurate scene recording to proper scene interpretation and reconstruction, recognising the different uses to which scene recording may be put in support of the various stages of an investigation from the earliest stages right through to court. You are introduced to the tools available to support recording and imaging, enabling you to develop the practical skills associated with the subject to back up your theoretical knowledge.
Stage 2
Image Processing and Analysis
This module provides you with an understanding of image processing, enhancement and analysis techniques used in investigating crime
Legal Issues and Evidence Reporting
This module explores the legal and procedural contexts in which forensic science operates, providing you with opportunities to develop skills and knowledge relevant to the gathering, examination and presentation of evidence in a range of situations.
Intelligence and Analysis
This module develops your understanding of the position and contribution of forensic science to intelligence-led policing. You will look at where and how forensic science can provide intelligence and how forensic intelligence is used at both a tactical and a strategic level.
Stage 3
Research Project
This is the culmination of the programme of studies. You will undertake a challenging problem related substantially to your discipline. The project is linked where possible to an industrial or external partner organisation, which may even host your work and substantially direct the activity. Where this is not possible, a real or simulated real problem may be chosen as subject for the work. It is, however, expected that even where the problem is simulated or hypothetical, it will be treated as if real. The project outcomes project should be at a publishable standard.
Course structure
Core modules include Introduction and Professional Studies, Scene Recording and Imaging, Intelligence and Analysis, Image Processing and Analysis, and Legal Issues and Evidence Reporting. Options in Drugs and Toxicology, Computer Forensics and Forensic DNA Analysis are available if you have extensive knowledge of the core module content.
Careers
Graduates can expect to be employed as scene-of-crime officers and managers.
Industrial experience
On each master's degree you'll complete a project related to professional practice. This, along with the involvement of practitioners and academics in the delivery of these courses, ensures that they are relevant to the requirements of the criminal justice system.
Intermediate awards
Our master's degrees can lead to the award of a postgraduate certificate at Stage 1 (60 credits - 3 modules), a postgraduate diploma at Stage 2 (120 credits - 6 modules) or, on completion of a research project, the MSc.
Block release study
The course is available on a block release basis: you'll study for one week between 9.00am and 6.00pm with follow-up days in the next four weeks and accompanying assignment work.
