Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation

Barry A. J. Fisher served as the crime laboratory director for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a position he held from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. He is a Distinguished Fellow and past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and was awarded the Academy’s highest award, the Gradwohl Medallion. He served as president of the International Association of Forensic Sciences, president of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, and is a past chairman of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors—Laboratory Accreditation Board. He has lectured throughout the United States, Canada, England, Australia, Singapore, France, Israel, Japan, China, Turkey, and Portugal on forensic science laboratory practices, quality assurance, and related topics. In 2000, he led a forensic science delegation to lecture to forensic scientists in the People’s Republic of China. Since retiring, Fisher has consulted for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United States Department of Justice, International Criminal Investigative Training Program (ICITAP), and Analytic Services Inc. David R. Fisher currently works as a criminalist supervisor in a large public forensic laboratory in New York City. He has worked on hundreds of homicide, sexual assault, and property crime cases and has testified in court and in the grand jury as a DNA expert on numerous occasions. Fisher is certified by the American Board of Criminalistics and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He also maintains membership in the International Association for Identification, the Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists and is an associate member in the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts. Fisher also has much experience in mass fatality incidents. After the events of 9/11, he helped with the identifications of victims from the World Trade Center attack. As an intermittent federal employee with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT), he was deployed to the Gulf region in 2005 to aid in the identification of victims from Hurricane Katrina.

Introduction. First Officer at the Crime Scene. The Crime Scene Investigator. Specialized Personnel at the Crime Scene. Processing the Crime Scene. Establishing Identity. Trace Evidence. Blood, Forensic Biology, and DNA. Impression Evidence. Firearms Examination. Arson and Explosives. Investigating Sexual Assault. Burglary Investigation. Motor Vehicle Investigation. Homicide Investigation. Digital Evidence. Appendix A. Appendix B. Bibliography. Index.