Trine’s Cold Case Unit hosts Indiana Search and Response Team CHAT event
October 09, 2024
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Jan Harkner-Abbs, CEO of the Indiana Search and Response Team, speaks to Trine University
students at an event on Sept. 26.By Faith Fegley English ’25
On Thursday, Sept. 26, Trine University’s Cold Case Unit hosted a CHAT event with
the Indiana Search and Response Team (ISART).
The event featured a team of investigators and police dogs from ISART. They educated
those in attendance on the training methods used to train search and rescue dogs when
working on investigations for missing persons, live searching, and cadaver recovery
efforts.
“Students learned that each dog on the team specializes in searching certain types
of scenes that range from arson [and] fire scenes, cadaver scenes, missing person
scenes or live-find scenes, and in drowning scenes,” stated Erica Hutton, Ph.D., assistant
professor of criminal justice at Trine.
“We were able to learn about the science of scent in canines that are used in law
enforcement investigations,” continued Hutton, “[as well as] the types of mechanisms
used for training canines for scene searches alike.”
Hutton received the opportunity for ISART to speak on campus through previous training
with ISART on campus for a youth career camp. The team worked with the Indiana State
Police to train local youth in basic safety techniques.
Trine students also have the ability to enroll in the Cold Case Unit program on campus
and applications are accepted throughout the year for review. The program gives students
the opportunity to work on unsolved criminal cases in the region and it is open to
all majors on campus.
The event had a turnout of 70 students, as well as a Trine alumnus and coach. Students
also had the opportunity to meet the rescue dogs after the event.
Trine University has named longtime assistant vice president for athletics and athletic director Matt Land as its new vice president for advancement as part of the transition to the upcoming presidency of Tony Kline, Ph.D.
The Trine University Theatre production of “Midsummer/Jersey,” a hilarious high-octane re-telling of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” set on the boardwalk of a seaside town in modern-day New Jersey, opens at 7 p.m. Thursday on the stage of the Ryan Concert Hall in the T. Furth Center for Performing Arts.
Laci Roy, a Trine University sophomore from Ligonier, Indiana, majoring in biology, was one of 28 first-generation Indiana college students named as a “Realizing the Dream” recipient by Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI).