The meeting room at the Mattapoisett Free Library on August 1 became a temporary “crime scene” so that kids could learn a little bit about CSI and the science behind it.
“Detective for the day” Rob Magee, with some assistance from his father, Rochester Police Chief Paul Magee, gave some fingerprinting and dental impression demonstrations with about a dozen kids, while urging them to take a look around and use their investigative abilities to try to spot anything funny that might be going on around them.
Slowly and carefully, the children looked around the room, spotting some items that perhaps did not belong in a library. There was a lacrosse stick lying on top of the piano and a soccer ball randomly placed on the closet door. But you had to look up in order not to miss the most conspicuous of items that do not belong, like a yellow shirt draped across the overhead lighting fixture, along with a windshield ice scraper. It was easy to miss the baseball cap placed atop the projector affixed to the ceiling, but between all of the kid detectives, all items were accounted for.
“That shows observation powers that are required to investigate a crime scene,” said Rob, congratulating the little detectives for their keen eyes.
The group split in two, one bunch exploring the science of fingerprint identification with Chief Magee, while the others went with Rob to learn about comparing dental impressions.
The chief took full sets of fingerprints of each child, all of them delighting in the experience and comparing each other’s fingerprint to see the differences in the lines and swirls.
Rob helped his group fashion small Styrofoam plates into a means of taking impressions of their teeth to compare.
This was Rob’s presentation, but Chief Magee said Rob asked him to informally assist him in the demonstrations.
When asked if Rob would follow his father’s footsteps into the law enforcement field, Chief Magee said, thankfully, no, and the chief is relieved that Rob was going to pharmacy school.
This was just one of the many fun children’s activities the library has planned for the summer. Visit www.mattapoisettlibrary.org for more information about future events.
By Jean Perry
