President’s Message

Greetings from the Minnesota Division of the International Association for Identification! I hope your holidays were memorable and relaxing. As President this year, it is my honor and privilege to serve the members of this organization.

I must admit, within the past 5 years I have often thought about what I would write in my President’s Letter. It has quickly crept up on me and now I need to put those thoughts to paper. I thought I would write a little bit about myself, my plan for the Division in the upcoming year, and the conference in Duluth in October 2012.

For the past nearly four years I have worked for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Crime Laboratory as the Latent Print Section Lead. Prior to working at the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, I spent seven and a half years at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as a Latent Print Examiner. During my time at the BCA, I also worked on the Crime Scene Response team and actually began my career there as an intern in the toxicology section. I also work as an adjunct professor at Hamline University, where I teach a fingerprint class in the spring of each year.

More importantly, I have a wonderful wife and two ambitious little boys that I enjoy spending as much of my free time with as I can. I am an avid sports and outdoor fanatic. Our family loves going to Twins games, camping, biking, and hunting. I love to play golf; however, it does not care for me playing it. And since I majored in chemistry, I like to dabble in brewing my own beer.

MN Division in 2012

My goals as President this year are that we start increasing attendance at the annual conference and provide attendees with useful information, new training, and a memorable experience. This past year, membership voted an increase of $10 to the annual membership dues and the division currently has almost $20,000 in the checking account. With that said, I think we have the resources to start reinvesting more of this money into the annual conference. I plan on accomplishing this by bringing in professional speakers from across the country with various backgrounds, while providing additional platforms for networking in our field.

2012 Conference

The fall conference is mostly set and I am very excited about what we have lined up. The conference is planned for October 10th thru October 12th, 2012, in Duluth. Lodging and the conference presentations will take place at the Inn on Lake Superior, which is a very short walk to Canal Park. A block of rooms has been set aside for $99/night. The 2012 conference will be one that nobody should miss. Some of the highlights are a presentation by two individuals that worked on the Scott Peterson/Laci Peterson case; Christine Funk, a criminal defense attorney, will be giving a presentation on how she prepares to cross examine witnesses; and nationally renowned latent print examiners, Glenn Langenburg and John Vanderkolk, will be discussing statistical models and the philosophy associated with the comparative sciences, respectively.

It is going to be a very packed schedule for the conference, but I believe that everyone should be able to walk away from the conference having learned something new. I look forward to seeing you all in Duluth!

Sincerely,

Scott Ford
2012 President
MN Division of the International Association for Identification