LAKE COUNTY, Ohio — Lakeland Community College is home to a new kind of "training room" that will help law enforcement recreate realistic, real world scenarios as they prepare for a life of crime solving and field work protecting Northeast Ohio communities.
Dan Winterich is a former BCI crime agent turned educator that now teaches at Lakeland Community College. He spoke to 3News about how the new training room will play a vital role in helping future law enforcement officials prepare for real life situations as they transition from the classroom to the streets.
"I use that experience to create these crime scenes and having this room is amazing because I can make it really as realistic as possible based on cases I worked"
The room also designed by Winterich's personal work experiences. From the crime scene, to the evidence and even how the victim was killed.
Fall of 2023 is the first time the college is offering this mock crime scene room, and it is luring students to a career in law enforcement.
Like Andrew Guarino who graduated from Lakeland and came back for this one class,
"I do want to be an investigator one day so I wanted the real hands on experience doing this."
Makenzie Polunus says she's encouraged so many women have signed up for the class, "I can do that so maybe why don't I try it."
The criminal justice department spent all summer turning a classroom into a crime scene apartment and the students are not only excelling, but are excited about getting an upper hand in preparation for their potential new careers.
Miguel Salsero says he is encouraged by the practical experience, "I always struggled with what I wanted to do until I took a forensic class."
Nick DiTirro teaches cybersecurity right next door, "Forensics has been around for a long time but digital forensics is pretty much a newer field."
And combining these two, says Winterich, it's a match made in forensic heaven, "When they go out to that crime scene in real life they've already experienced it."
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