Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is transforming an old building near Southwest Boulevard and 17th Street into a crime scene investigation laboratory for students in its forensic sciences graduate program.
The school purchased the building, 1712 S. Phoenix Ave., at a city of Tulsa auction for $135,000 in 2014.
Total cost of the project -- scheduled to be completed in May -- is $325,000.
Once complete, the facility will be used to train graduate students in crime-scene investigation techniques and to provide training for area law enforcement officers.
Garage doors, which were walled over from the original building, are being returned to allow students to practice vehicle investigations.
The building can also be used to train canine units.
"It's going to have a multi-functional use, and in our opinion all those uses are going to benefit the city of Tulsa and state of Oklahoma making the places we live safer and more secure," Allen said.
The renovation work in the building, which housed Fire Station 6 from 1958 to 1990, includes wiring the facility for audio and video, which will allow students to review their work for what they did right and ways they might have contaminated the crime scene.
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