President’s Message

Greetings from the Minnesota Division of the International Association for Identification! For the last 5 years, I have waited my turn and tried to learn from those who have served ahead of me as the organization’s president. Now, as the time has come to step up and lead the organization, I can’t believe how fast the time has flown.

I’d like to give you a little background on who I am. I have been employed as a Deputy Sheriff with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office since 1997. For the last eight and ½ years, I have been assigned to the Sheriff’s Crime Lab Unit. In that capacity, I have worked as a Crime Scene Technician and as a Certified Latent Print Examiner. Most of my experience has been in Latent Prints.

In a way, that transitions to where I would like to see our organization go in 2010. We have tremendously talented Forensic Scientists and Crime Scene Investigators that work in the state. The two groups have always coexisted, but the Minnesota Division of the IAI has been seen as an “identification” and “latent print” group. I believe if we work to meld the two groups together, we can emerge as a stronger entity.

President Kornmann built on the previous conferences by offering a hybrid of crime scene processing work, along with lectures, case studies, and information updates. I would like to continue the path he has started us on. With that in mind, I am working to secure a facility in the metropolitan area that would allow us to hold practical exercises on day one of the conference, with a lecture and topic day on day two of the conference. I would also like to continue the tradition of the Crime Scene Competition that began at the 2009 conference.

2009 also brought about many questions in the world of Forensic Science regarding continuity between how agencies process crime scenes and collect and process items of evidence. The qualifications of forensic scientists and crime scene investigators have also been scrutinized more closely then ever before—and rightly so. We owe it to the people that we serve and to the agencies that we are employed by to be on the same page, and offer the very best product that we can, as professionals. With the tough economic times that departments throughout the state are experiencing, it is vital that we maximize the training that we offer. It is my hope that offering quality forensic science education at a reasonable price will allow us to grow and prosper as a group.

I look forward to this year, with a certain amount of nervousness but also great excitement. We can build on the skills that we all have now, share our ideas and experiences, and provide an even greater product to the people that we serve. Thank you so much for the opportunity!

Diane Nelson
President
Minnesota Division of the International Association for Identification