EDMOND The W. Roger Webb Forensic Science Institute program on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma began in 2009 with fewer than 100 students, said Dwight E. Adams, UCO Forensic Science Institute director.

Today the forensics program is growing with more than 500 in the program, he said. The credit for such rapid growth goes to the faculty, Adams added.

Adams joined faculty members at the Edmond Economic Development Authoritys 4oclock 4cast with an update of the forensics program.

We require more of our students than any other program in the country, Adams said. Students must combine their forensics degree with another degree on campus in order to specialize in a specific discipline of forensic science.

Digital media is a rapidly growing field of forensic science, said Mark R. McCoy, associate professor Forensic Science Institute and School of Criminal Justice.

We look for digital types of evidence in all types of crimes, McCoy said. All crime scenes contain digital evidence.

Be careful about throwing away items containing a hard drive, such as an old printer, he said. Somebody could pick it up, remove the hard drive and recover confidential documents, he said. There are ways to be able to delete that data.

We are constantly looking for things where people who may want to hide evidence may hide it, McCoy said.

Just because digital evidence has been altered does not mean it has been destroyed. An arson fire ravaged a building that contained a surveillance camera with a digital hard drive. The imagery was recovered regardless of the smoke, heat and water damage, McCoy said. The owner of the building was the arsonist.

Remember BTK? McCoy said.

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