forensic photography

Ever watched CSI and thought "Shucks, that might be a fun job" ?

Well nearly everyone has. And colleges have noticed.

According to a new report from Laura Kwerel almost 160 "Crime Scene Investigator" degree programs have sprouted up in recent years...and they're a bit of a ruse according to some.

"Of the 160-some forensic and crime scene programs listed on crime-scene-investigator.net, 10 are online degrees, 27 are certificates, and 46 are two-year degrees. Many offer a mixed bag of criminal justice and introductory chemistry courses that some experts worry don't prepare people to do much of anything.

"You're not going to get out of a certificate program and all of a sudden police agencies are going to beat your door down and say, 'Oh will you come and work for me,' " said R.E. Gaensslen, head of the forensic science masters at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "That's not happening."

The murkier programs have varying names, from certificates in "crime scene investigation" and "forensic photography" to two-year degrees in "criminal investigations." Many claim to prepare students to be crime scene investigators, a real profession that involves gathering evidence and can be separate from police officers.

Still, said Gaensslen, getting a certificate in evidence-gathering may just be an expensive piece of paper."

My favorite part is this exchange with an admission director of an online degree program:

"Gordon Larsom, online admission coordinator for a 2-year, online criminal investigations program in Florida, said that despite what people may say about online degrees, theirs is a valuable program.

"We offer a degree where you would be studying virtually the same curriculum as the campus students would, with the exception that you don't have to physically go to a classroom," said Larsom, at Florida Metropolitan University.

Larsom said that in addition to requiring two years of online study, his students use a "forensic science kit" to do live investigative practice outside of the classroom. He said the program prepares students to become things like independent forensic science consultants, fingerprint technicians and print examiners.

"The degree itself is going to get you in the door," said Larsom. "And there is additional class work that can be taken, like biology classes, that would assist you in specializing in an area.""

What say you? Are any of these programs legit? If so which ones? If you studied for one of these degrees, what did you get out of it?

Full story

CSI on Amazon

And in case you've never seen it before, here's that wonderful David Caruso CSI montage of all his intro sequences:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/_sarYH0z948[/video]