VIDEO: Students Learn Detective Work from Westborough Police

On Friday, May 13, fourth graders at the enjoyed a visit from Det. Sgt. Glenn McLeod and Det. Gary Hassett of the . Teachers Laurie Woodward and Meagan Washington invited the detectives for an intriguing talk about mystery and solving crimes.

Det. McLeod shared his experience solving crimes. “We start with asking questions,” McLeod explained, “because it starts as a fact finding mission. We don’t make any assumptions. Next, we put gloves on and collect evidence. This way our own fingerprints are not on anything so we are careful not to add evidence to evidence. Finally, we process the evidence for information.” 

Det. Hassett showed the students how to find fingerprints at a crime scene. He did so with a hands-on demonstration showing different ways to get fingerprints from items. He explained that fingerprints are all unique and a great deal of information can be acquired from a single print. When necessary, Det. McLeod added, duct tape can be used to get fingerprints. 

The captive audience learned that footprints offer information as well. Detectives are able to make molds of shoe prints in the mud, dirt or even snow. Because different shoes have different treads and because everybody walks differently, there is much to be learned through footprints. As a precaution, law officers on a crime scene wear shoe covers so their prints are not left on the scene.

“Bad guys always bring something to a scene with them and they always take something away,” Det. Hassett assured the students who questioned the possibility of not having enough information to solve a crime.

As part of a reading unit on mystery, fourth graders visited websites such as FBI for Kids to read mysteries about detective work. In addition, they have read short mysteries in class and followed up with discussions on plot structure, the mystery genre and ingredients of a mystery: characters, setting, plot, clues, red herrings and such. While reading, students learned to recognize the vocabulary and jargon used by mystery writers. 

Fridays have been especially mysterious for fourth graders at Mill Pond School. As described by Laurie Woodward, “we have invited Mystery Readers into our classrooms each Friday. These are parents or staff members who write five clues about themselves. Clues are read prior to their visit, then kids try to guess who will be coming to read to them.” So far, the young detectives have been been able to get to the bottom of the case of the mystery reader.

The fourth grade sleuths in room B130 solved the mystery of crime scene investigation - learning about fingerprints and footprints, fact finding, eye witnesses, collecting evidence and solving crimes. Case closed.

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