SUNBURY, Pa. — A police car sat outside Shikellamy High School, and crime tape blocked a stairwell on Wednesday. A hallway was a bloody mess, but luckily none of it was real. This was a crime scene presentation for the school's Law Enforcement Club.
Chief Shawn Williams heads the Shikellamy School District Police Department, but he spent most of his 30-year law enforcement career investigating homicides with the state police. Last year, he formed a law enforcement club at Shikellamy High School with about 50 members.
"Just give the students, 'Hey, this is what you're in for, this is what the job entails.' And you can have a really satisfying career," Chief Williams said.
On this day, Williams simulated a crime scene based on a homicide he worked on while in the state police.
"Put evidence markers down, carry a camera, carry a flashlight into a scene, not touch anything, and learn how important it is to do it right the first time," Chief Williams said.
Williams set up the scene to look as real as possible, short of having a body there.
"With little clues throughout the entire scene so they can pick it out and they can critically think about it," Chief Williams said.
Many of the students in the club want to go into law enforcement after they graduate, so they appreciated the simulation.
"I never get anything like this in a classroom. I want to so bad, but this shows me that it's something that I can actually do later in life," Julianna Huffert said.
"You don't get this in a regular classroom, so it's what you think is going to happen, your observations, that's the basis of all of it," Jaylin Martinez said.
"It was fun, definitely something new. I haven't done this before, and a fun experience," Kamren Hall said.
Williams says that while some people may think the simulation was too extreme, the students learned a lot from the hands-on presentation.
Check out WNEP’s YouTube channel.