News

Course will be hosted by the Ward County Sheriff’s Department in North Dakota August 11-13, 2025. Click here for more information  

Any deliberate effort made by an offender before police arrive to alter the pristine condition of a crime scene to purposely thwart the investigation and frustrate the overall criminal justice process is the essence of crime scene staging. Crime scene staging could be increasing due to public fascination with crime scene related media, enhanced awareness of forensic science application, and/or offenders’ belief in their understanding of how crime scenes should look. This comprehensive, 24-hour course is designed for crime scene investigators, detectives, crime laboratory analysts, and other forensic professionals involved in crime scene examination related work. This course explores what is known about crime scene staging and instructs students on how to use a new methodology for the early detection and analysis of potentially staged crime scenes. This course also integrates critical documentation techniques used to create a permanent record of bloodstain pattern evidence and/or firearms-related incident evidence for the purpose of a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary crime scene reconstruction towards supporting or refuting claims made by a would-be crime scene stager.

Regular and Emeritus members can now find the MAFS 2025 BOD Nomination Form within the Resources tab at the top of the page.

Please complete this form to indicate your interest in one of three open MAFS Board offices: President-Elect, , Meeting Treasurer or Communications Manager. Your responses will be used to create your Nominee Biography. The Nomination Committee Chair, Kathy Boone, will confirm your interest prior to elections.  Only Regular members in good standing may hold office. See the MAFS By-laws and Administrative Rules for full list of responsibilities.  

All forms must be submitted by June 15, 2025.  If you have question or do not receive confirmation,  contact Kathy Boone at kboone@isp.in.gov.

Greetings from the American Board of Criminalistics,

We are convening a panel of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to determine the cut score on our newest examination, Seized Drugs Analysis (SDA). The cut score of an examination is the lowest score a test taker can earn and still pass the examination. This exam was written to assess the competency of a person with at least one year of full scope seized drug analysis for a Forensic Science Service Provider (FSSP). The panel will be held July 17, 2025.

To help us determine the cut score, we are looking for experts who are involved in training new Seized Drug Analysts and determining whether a trainee is competent in the discipline e.g., hands-on training, evaluation of trainees for competence. You do not need to be a supervisor or manager to participate. As a member of the panel, you will be asked to define a forensic scientist who is considered minimally competent, and experience as a trainer is critical.

If chosen, on July 17, 2025, you will participate in the panel discussion with the guidance of a facilitator via Microsoft Teams. An individual acting as a Security Liaison (SL) will be with you in-person to provide the materials you need and manage the security of testing materials. You may be asked to travel a short distance to your SL’s location, but the only materials you will need to provide is a computer capable of attending the Teams Meeting. Any travel expenses incurred will be paid by ABC. If you are selected for the panel, you may not sit for SDA or Drug Analysis examinations for five years.

Panelists who are ABC-certified will receive 3 points towards recertification; however, you do not need current ABC certification to participate. The panel discussion is anticipated to take approximately 8 hours, and there will be assigned readings in advance of July 17, 2025. Please take a moment to fill out they survey found at this link:

https://form.jotform.com/251005490692151 [form.jotform.com]

Regards,

Shawn West

President

Tanna Brown

Chair, Examination Committee

The Johnson County Sheriff's Office Crime Lab is hosting a Shooting Incident Reconstruction Course from Oct 6^th to 10th , 2025. 

The instructor, Michael Haag has over 20 years of experience, has taught this course all over the U.S, Canada and Europe. This course will be hands on and and focused on practical techniques. 

Course Information Flyer

Course Syllabus and Outline

Course Registration Form

The American Board of Criminalistics (ABC) has exciting news to share!  Beginning July 1, 2025, we will be using electronic testing for our new/ISO accredited examinations!  This process will be much more convenient for our candidates.  We have tested this process with our Forensic Science Assessment Test (FSAT) and with field testing of our new Seized Drug Analysis (SDA) examination and have received very positive feedback regarding the test taking experience.  What does this mean for you?

• Exams will no longer be offered at regional and national meetings; rather, potential candidates will have the convenience of less travel by taking the exam at their own laboratory or one in close proximity.  Exams can be taken on your computer after downloading the appropriate software.
•  Electronic exams are secure using a Safe Browser application.
•   Proctors will still be required in-person to add additional security.
•  The requirement to act as a Proctor has been expanded to allow any current ABC certificant to take on that role for electronic testing.  These new examinations will no longer be offered in paper.
•  Exam outcomes (pass/fail) should be available sooner than paper.
• 
  

The following exams will be converted to electronic testing as of July 1, 2025:

• Biological Screening
• Forensic DNA
• Foundational Knowledge

Seized Drug Analysis will be offered electronically once it is released from field testing later in 2025.

We hope that you are just as excited as we are about this new experience for test-taking; however, we understand that you may have questions.  Please do not hesitate to reach out to your Member Director, the ABC Registrar, or the President with any questions.  We will continuously monitor the testing experience to ensure that it is successful for all our candidates.  Please visit our website at criminalistics.com for more information on the electronic testing process as it becomes available. 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will be offering the Introductory Fire Debris Analysis for the Forensic Chemist class for US federal, state, and local government laboratory analysts from July 21-24, 2025. This is a four-day course designed for analysts in the early stages of fire debris training or with less than a year experience in conducting fire debris analysis casework. The course is tuition-free and will be offered at the ATF Forensic Science Laboratory – Washington in Beltsville, Maryland.

Introductory Fire Debris Analysis for the Forensic Chemist covers the basic theory and concepts analysts need to understand in order to help them gain initial competency from their agency. Classroom learning will be enhanced with hands-on exercises and small group assignments.

The class flyer may be found here and the application form here.

Bowling Green State University's Delta Delta Epsilon chapter is hosting a virtual "Post-Graduation Panel for Forensic Scientists" on November 19th at 3:30 PM EST. The Zoom link can found here and a flyer about the event may be viewed at this link.

Register for the webinar here.

The American Board of Criminalistics needs your help!  After many months of preparation, we are ready to offer field testing of our new Seized Drug Analysis examination.  We are seeking candidates to take the field test for the Seized Drug Analysis exam.  There is no application or sitting fee to sit for this field test.  If a candidate successfully completes the examination and wishes to be certified, they only need to pay the application fee, a savings of $250! The ABC needs field testing of new certification exams to help evaluate the exams. 

PLEASE NOTE:  We anticipate using electronic testing for this field test.  We are still finalizing the development of this platform.  At this time, we will NOT be allowing the use of MacOS devices.   More information on the examination and the electronic examination process can be found on our Seized Drug Analysis page.

If you wish to take the examination, please complete the application form found on our Application Process page.   You do not need to pay any application or examination fees at this time.  We will post offerings on our Offerings page.  Please keep an eye out for offerings.  Once you identify an offering that you wish to attend, please complete the Request for Examination Seat form found on our Application Process page. 

We are also seeking hosts for the Seized Drug Analysis examination.  If your agency wishes to host an exam, that can be arranged.   Please review the requirements for hosting examinations.  Due to the technical nature of these offerings, we are requesting that a Local Arrangements Coordinator be identified and complete the necessary checklist prior to requesting an examination.  The links to the checklist and the Request to Host the examination can be found on our Host an Examination page.  At this time, we will not be offering electronic examinations at regional or national forensic meetings or conferences.