A Howard Payne University team recently won first place in a crime scene investigation competition at the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice conference in Oklahoma City. HPU students competed against six other teams from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

HPU participants included Jessica Huckaby, sophomore from Brownwood; Alsatia Jowers, junior from Brownwood; Jacob Salazar, junior from Lockhart; Amy Segura, senior from Brownwood; and Blake Wynn, senior from Rockwall. The team members were students in a crime scene investigation course taught by Dr. Paul Lilly, assistant professor of criminal justice and director of HPU’s Department of Public Safety. Lynn Humeniuk, director of HPU’s criminal justice program and associate professor of criminal justice and sociology, and Gina Gibbs, instructor of criminal justice, accompanied the team to the competition.

“These were dedicated students who represented HPU in a very professional manner,” said Humeniuk. “I am so very proud of these five students, Ms. Gibbs for guiding them at the conference and Dr. Lilly for preparing them in class.”

At the competition, students were asked to demonstrate their knowledge in conducting an investigation by securing the crime scene, finding evidence and creating logs for all information related to the investigation, all in a span of 40 minutes. Each member had a specific task to handle, but the team worked closely together to ensure complete diligence.

Gibbs said she was very impressed with how the students conducted themselves during the conference and at the competition.

“It is very rewarding to work with such outstanding young men and women,” she said. “Our students’ professionalism, courteousness and preparedness made a strong impression on the conference attendees. I am very proud to have them represent HPU.”

The students also attended several roundtable panels and lectures at the conference, during which they learned about many important issues and studies related to the criminal justice system. Topics included incarcerated women, the difficulties students have in online classes and the dangers of the dark net.

Dr. Lilly was unable to attend the conference but said he was proud of the students for winning their first competition.

“Crime scene and criminal investigations are very difficult subjects to learn, and both fields take a tremendous amount of studying accompanied by practical training to master,” he said. “For these students to have taken first place in the competition, and to do so the very first time HPU has ever competed, is simply remarkable. Words cannot adequately express how proud I am of them.”

Pictured above are HPU criminal justice students (left to right) Gina Gibbs, Blake Wynn, Jessica Huckaby, Amy Segura, Alsatia Jowers, Jacob Salazar and Dr. Paul Lilly.