The Lawrence Police Department’s Investigation and Training Center, 4820 Bob Billings, has been turned into a makeshift crime scene this week.

Officers are creating blood spatter, so they can learn how to investigate different crime scenes. They’re using real blood that’s expired from the blood bank.

Blood stains are one of the most overlooked aspects of violent crime scenes, said Mike Van Stratton, a blood stain expert and lab director for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

“Even though officers realize that there’s blood that’s shed : we can actually use that information to take and reconstruct the entire event that took place,” he said.

Stratton said blood can be crucial during investigations, especially shootings or when someone’s hit with a blunt object, as the science of blood stain can be important in proving a criminal guilty.

Investigators from law enforcement agencies across the county, including St. Louis and Utah, are in Lawrence for the week-long training.

The Lawrence Police Department hopes to bring more experts in to teach similar classes, as the agency strives to be a regional learning facility.

“We offer these courses to better our personnel, but also to bring people in to see that, yes, we have the facilities that we can put schools like this on,” said Sgt. Bill Cory, Lawrence police spokesman.

The blood spatter class is a good deal for taxpayers. Two Lawrence police investigators are going through the training for free, because the agency’s hosting it.

Lawrence Police have hosted several training sessions in the past, Cory said, including practical homicide school.

Besides receiving free training, the classes also give the agency contacts with other departments in the country.