The Catamount statue, the Yerba fridge handle in Cat Pause, and the Grundle ice cream scoops all have one thing in common: They’re covered in the fingerprints of UVM students.

Fingerprint identification is just one example of the many forensic biology technologies UVM police use to solve campus investigations, Detective Barry North said.

“We investigated the break-ins (on campus),” North said. “It’s usually a combination of physical evidence such as DNA or fingerprints, eyewitness testimony and electronic evidence.”

Between 2021 and 2023, the UVM campus had 39 burglaries, according to data UVM Annual Safety Report 2023.

UVM police are the first to respond to these burglaries with three levels of evidence processing: patrol officers, detectives and non-police crime technicians, North said.

“At any crime scene, the first priority is securing the crime scene and making sure that no evidence there is destroyed,” North said. “(Evidence) can be destroyed by moving, lifting, touching — anything like that.”

Responding patrol officers are tasked with securing the scene and beginning initial evidence collection. Police academies teach a basic understanding of crime scene training, which includes searching for shell casings or processing DNA, North said.

Depending on the crime, a detective may be called to the scene during the second level of evidence processing to document who’s going in and out, guaranteeing everything is admissible, North said.

After that, non-police technicians may be called in to help if the scene may take hours to process, or if a higher skill set is desired, such as a scene with many points of physical evidence. The Burlington Police Department has two of these technicians available for such situations, North said.

At UVM, that level of skill is not normally required because stolen property remains the most common crime at UVM, North said. It is a case-by-case consideration whether forensic biology, which analyzes the biological materials of the item, is used in these investigations.

“It depends on the value of the item. A $200 bike is unlikely to be processed,” North said. “Car theft is much more common – then we would take DNA samples.”

Twenty motor vehicle thefts occurred in Burlington between 2021 and 2023, according to UVM Annual Safety Report 2023.

2024 saw an increase in car thefts in Chittenden County, according to a March 26 WCAX article.

In these cases, UVM Police have a fleet of cars at their location to conduct more extensive searches of recovered vehicles. In vehicle theft crimes, officers look for DNA evidence or other materials to identify the perpetrator.

Every time a car is moved, a police officer must watch the entire process to make sure the evidence is admissible in court, North said.

“A big part of forensics and crime scene investigations is paying attention to the details of those pieces, not just the technique of swabbing a piece of DNA,” North said.

Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George focuses on these details in court to ensure any evidence presented is authenticated. The chain of custody, or paper trail of any evidence, is intensively tracked to ensure the evidence remains admissible in court, she said.

“If we want to use (a phone) at trial, we have to bring the law enforcement officer who had the first phone (at the scene) … Then (a separate person) would have to come testify and say “I did it”. phone pit and that’s what I found.”

A phone dump refers to the process by which data from a cellular device is extracted to find evidence, George said.

For forensic biology in Chittenden County, the growth of mobile devices has driven a significant shift to the use of digital forensics. Snapchat, phone downloads, text messages and Facebook are examples of forensics used to prove cases, according to George.

“It’s pretty rare that we’re dealing with DNA, it definitely happens in larger cases,” George said. “Armed robbery, homicide or sexual assault, those kinds of cases will almost always have some sort of biological forensics.”

Here at UVM, students have the opportunity to take “Introduction to Forensic Biology” to further explore topics related to DNA, fingerprint identification, and more. The class completes both a Natural Science and Race and Racism in the US requirement and will be offered in the Spring 2025 semester.

“During the pandemic, I’ve been watching ‘Criminal Minds’ and ‘Law & Order,’ and I’ve always found evidence gathering really interesting,” said sophomore Leah Theroux, currently a student in the class. “When I found out this class was offered, I wanted to take it.”

There has been a lot of interest in the course from students since it has been offered here, Professor Linden Higgins said.

“This class has been capped for about four years, even when it was at 120 (student enrollment),” Higgins said.

The course looks at crime scene investigation, evidence collection methods, as well as fingerprint and blood spatter analysis, Higgins said.

Throughout the semester, biases and errors in these areas are kept at the center of the class. Systemic issues such as racism in the justice system and false convictions are the subject of many conversations, Higgins said.

“The first thing that comes up with DNA typing is how often post-conviction DNA work reveals that there was a false conviction and they have a racial fingerprint,” Higgins said. “We did a deeper dive and it became clear that it needed to be a critical thinking class.”

The class has a weekly in-person case review, and 50 percent of those are for accused people from historically marginalized populations, according to Higgins.

“I want people to come out saying, ‘If I keep track of reliability and validity and recognize that these biases are happening in my own brain and in the society around me, then I can find a way to change,'” Higgins said.