Founders & MDs of CSI Training and Events Ltd. and Creators of Crime Scene Assistant
What led you to form CSI Training and Events?
We are ex-crime scene investigators who used to work for Northumbria Police. Whilst working together, we pondered what would we do if we weren’t CSIs, we knew we were passionate about the subject, so wouldn’t want to leave it behind entirely. During these conversations we came up with a business idea, it involved using our CSI skills and knowledge to run crime scene and forensic workshops in schools. We thought it would be a great way of engaging students with STEM subjects, showing them how these skills are used in real world jobs. In 2012 government funding cuts hit public services hard and our department was reduced by almost 50%. We decided then to jump ship and start our business. Despite loving the CSI role, we no longer enjoyed the environment we were working in, so decided to take the chance.
We originally started delivering school workshops and that is something we still do, but the business and what we offer in terms of training and events has expanded and developed over time.
Who do you work with?
Educational establishments, corporate businesses, and frontline responders.
Tell us about the range of events you host?
We run educational workshops at all levels of education. Our sessions are delivered over a half day, full day, or we run full programmes of work, which are delivered over a period of three days to a week. We deliver BTEC Crime Scene Investigation in colleges. We lecture at university, and we also carry out module development at college and university level. In addition, we run careers events.
We run corporate team building events for businesses of all sizes, which we have ran both nationally and internationally. We have a couple of different events that people can choose from, ‘Clue Done It’ and ‘Who Done It’ (forgive the names, all the creativity went into the events themselves!), a forensic trail and team bonding exercises. We run these over half or full days.
We run forensic awareness training for frontline responders. We also created an app ‘Crime Scene Assistant’ to support this training.
We love delivering all our events, we usually have as much fun as the participants! We receive fantastic feedback from our clients (which is always a great thing), they seem to have a lot of fun in the sessions but learn a lot too.
What are their duration?
They completely vary depending on the event type. They can be anything from one hour, up to a full programme of work, delivered over a week.
What topics are covered?
All things Crime Scene and Forensic Investigation, including careers in those fields.
Is there any required or recommended reading or preparation prior to?
No. We provide participants with the knowledge and practical skills they will need for the event, on day.
Are resources and materials provided?
Yes, we provide all resources and materials for the day. In practical sessions, participants get to use the equipment that CSIs utilise in the field (after we teach them the skills to use them of course!).
In certain events, participants get to keep some items, including CSI coveralls, their own inked fingerprints and any fingerprints or footwear marks that they recover!
What are you currently working on?
We have just finished an extremely busy few months of running events. Now things have calmed down a little, it gives us time to focus on development.
As mentioned above, we have a forensic awareness app “crime scene assistant”, we are currently working on updates and new sections.
We are also working on setting up additional online resources and creating video content.
What are your plans for 2024?
In 2024 we will continue to deliver our amazing events in person, but we are also going to have a real focus on growing/developing the business digitally.
csitrainingandevents.com
crimesceneassist.com