Students at Hamline University in St. Paul got the chance to get hands-on experience at a mock crime scene overnight.

Students in the forensic science program did a complete investigation to put the skills they’ve learned to the test.

Those skills include collecting evidence, taking photos and creating a crime scene report.

“We’re trying to simulate practice as best as we possibly can, that’s really the goal, because if we’re able to do that, this is where they get to make mistakes. And this is where they get that experience of knowing that this is what I want to do,” said Hamline University Program Director of Forensic Science Jamie Spaulding.

The students were called to the campus at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday to investigate a staged murder, complete with mannequin victims, footprints, bullet casings and St. Paul police officers.

The university staged the scene in an old Hamline-owned house that was repurposed this fall.

Hamline is the only Minnesota university with a forensic science major, the program says, and one of the few in the Upper Midwest.

“There are very, very few places that have students in the middle of the night out there actually doing the real world work, which is the only way I think I can appropriately train students to do this work,” Spaulding said.