The Bizarre and Grisly World of Forensics Training

The grisly crime scenes in Jeroen Hofman’s photos aren’t real. They’re painstakingly detailed, remarkably realistic simulations designed to teach would-be cops in the Netherlands the art and science of forensic investigation.

The sets, inspired by actual events, are meticulously modeled by instructors who go so far as to dress actors as corpses and torch fully-furnished rooms to make everything as real as possible. Hofman documents the exacting and surreal world of forensics training in his latest series.

The Dutch photographer always has been interested in criminal investigations. “Finding the truth in forensic science is a fascination I’ve had since I was a little boy,” he says. “Television and series like CSI dragged me into the subject.”

He’s been working on the project for more than two years, chronicling students training at police academies in Apeldoorn and Ossendrecht and at the Netherlands Forensics Institute in The Hague. It takes four years to become a forensic investigator, and students dabble in all disciplines before choosing a concentration like homicide or cybercrimes.

Using forensic stepping plates, an investigator has made his way to the victim. In this simulated crime scene, every detail of the victim is captured with a handheld 3D scanner.Using forensic stepping plates, an investigator has made his way to the victim. In this simulated crime scene, every detail of the victim is captured with a handheld 3D scanner. Jeroen Hofman

Beyond the classroom and laboratory, students work in simulated crime scenes crafted with the greatest attention to detail. Instructors want their students to experience situations—be it a homicide, a car bombing, or explosion—in as lifelike a situation as possible. Actors in make-up and fake blood portray murder victims, for example, and cars are tossed down hills to depict an accident. In one image, Hofman photographs students excavating bodies. Instructors buried plastic skeletons alongside animal meat three months before, so presumably students would experience the sight and smell of rotting flesh.

Students also gain first-hand experience with advanced forensic technology. Crimes scenes are recorded with a 3D scanner, for example, to carefully document everything from furniture placement to bloodstain patterns. Thermal imaging cameras reveal heat signatures, and spectral cameras detect biological material. Students are taught to be hyper-vigilant of preserving the crime scene and not contaminating evidence, which is why they use plastic stepping plates to move around a room without leaving shoe prints.

Hofman captures the gadgets, sterile lighting and grim scenarios with a macabre curiosity. His clinical photos reveal the incredible skill and prowess of forensic investigators, and the surreal, occasionally twisted humor of simulated death and destruction.

“Everything that is shown in my pictures is already common for the students. They don’t seem surprised anymore when a semi-naked actor is in full dead body make up. Victims can even simulate rigor mortis. And at the end the actors just get up and walk away like nothing happened,” he says.

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