OVER 200 PEOPLE FROM 10 COUNTRIES TOOK PART IN A COURSE ON PROFILING UNKNOWN PERPETRATORS OF CRIMES AT VFU "CHERNORIZETS HRABER"
The third edition of the course Profiling of Unknown Perpetrators of Crimes (Forensic and Psychological Aspects)" organized by the Faculty of Law at Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" provoked huge interest. More than 200 people from Bulgaria, Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, United Arab Emirates took part in the training. Participants in the course were specialists from various professional fields - legal practitioners, psychologists, linguists, national security specialists, teachers, doctors, economists, IT specialists, investigative police officers, operatives, lawyers, assistant prosecutors, experts, legal consultants, civil servants, social workers, representatives of private business, psychotherapists, doctors and nurses, as well as fans of forensic science and criminal psychology. Students from 15 Bulgarian universities also participated, as well as forensic science students from London Metropolitan University. There were doctoral students from VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" and the Medical University - Varna. The youngest participants were high school students from I and IV Language High Schools in the maritime capital.
The course was taught by Prof. D. Sc. Yonko Kunchev - Dean of the Faculty of Law at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", Todor Todorov and Velina Vladimirova - criminal psychologists. In the four-day course at a highly professional level, they explained the forensic and psychological methods of building a profile of an unknown perpetrator of a crime. The training was conducted using real cases from practice. Participants were engaged in solving practical tasks related to profiling. Their feedback on the course is excellent. Many of the participants express a desire to participate in other initiatives organized by the Faculty of Law at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar".
"The courses of the Faculty of Law develop a community of diverse participants united by their interest in forensics," comments Prof. Yonko Kunchev. "The first edition of the course on profiling unknown perpetrators of crimes ended with the establishment of the Criminology Club at Varna Free University. After the second edition in 2022, the the Corps of Witnesses for the State Authorities, which supports the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Varna and Plovdiv in conducting procedural and investigative actions - inspection, search, seizure, line-up and investigative experiments started its work. In June this year, we plan on holding a master class for profilers, in which the best performing participants from the third edition of the course will be included. The training in the qualification courses contributed to strengthening the interest in the master's degree programmes offered by the Faculty of Law", added Prof. Kunchev.
The course of Prof. D. Sc. Yonko Kunchev “Forensics: Investigation Actions" has also started. Its duration is 30 academic hours. More than 90 people from various professional fields take part in the training. At the initiative of the participants, after its completion, a round table will be organized at the university on February 19 at 2 p.m. to continue the discussion on the legal, theoretical and practical issues, examination and evaluation of evidence in the investigation process. An online connection is provided for participants from other cities.
In March and April 2023, the Faculty of Law at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" will hold the innovative course "Video Analysis and Facial Identification", in which the latest aspects of facial identification expertise will be examined due to their extreme importance in judicial practice in the study of video recording and identification of the perpetrator. The course will be taught by the experts from the practice: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ludmil Georgiev and Dr. Plamen Mitev.
By the end of the academic year, there will be other courses on theoretical and practical issues related to the collection, research, verification and evaluation of evidence in the criminal process, which are provided with a good material base and excellent specialists from science and practice. Varna Free University has been established as a leading educational institution in this field because of the complex master's degree programmе in forensics, its laboratories in forensics, the distinguished specialists who teach in the bachelor's and master's degree programmes and in the qualification courses in the field of forensics and expertise.
