SAFE Aug 28 2015 Conference 

The Scientific Aspects for Forensic Document Examiners — July 31 & August 28

The focus of the August conference is:
"Equipment and Technology used in Forensic Document Examination"

All times stated are Pacific Daylight Savings Time.  Please use the chart at the bottom of the page for time conversions or go to www.dateandtime.com

Speaker #1

Speaker #1:      9:00 – 10:00 AM
Presenter:         Dr. Larry Miller
Topic:                The Use of Infrared in Forensic Document                                                     Examination
 
Larry S. Miller, Ph.D., CDE, D-BFDE is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City.  Dr. Miller is a forensic document examiner holding board certifications from NADE and the Board of Forensic Document Examiners.  He is Director of the Graduate Certificate Program of Study in Forensic Document Examination at ETSU.  He is the author or co-author of numerous scholarly articles and seven textbooks, many now in sixth and seventh editions, including Police Photographyand Crime Scene Investigation.

The presentation will focus on the use of Infrared radiation with forensic document examinations. The presentation will cover digital cameras, filters, and lighting necessary for infrared reflected and luminescence examinations.  Sources to obtain such equipment will also be provided.

10:00 – 10:10 AM Break

 

Speaker #2

Speaker #2:       10:10 – 11:10 AM 
Presenter:          Dr Jeff Kukucka
Topic:                  "Combating Confirmation Bias: Can Forensic Science Benefit from Importing Eyewitness Identification Procedures?"

About the speaker:  Dr. Jeff Kukucka is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. He earned his PhD in 2014 from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.

About the presentation:   

In this presentation, I will discuss our ongoing program of research to test methods of counteracting these sources of bias. First, Kukucka and Kassin (2014) found that individuals who knew that a suspect had confessed even though the confession was recanted saw greater similarity between handwriting samples from the suspect and perpetrator, and were more likely to incorrectly believe that the suspect had authored the questioned sample, relative to individuals who were unaware of the confession. In a follow-up study, we replicated these findings by showing that the same individuals adjusted their own judgments after learning of the confession. (Time permitting, I will also present a third study in which we tried to identify the conditions under which this bias effect was most pronounced.) Taken together, these findings underscore the value of sequential unmasking to protect against bias.

Break:  11:10-11:20 AM PDT

peaker  #3

Speaker # 3:      11:20-11:50 AM PDT

Presenter:         David Zweig
Topic:                Zarbeco MIScope and the Filter Wheel

About the speaker:  Dave Zweig has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Optics from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester.  He spent 10 years working for a defense contractor in the area of large space optics, including extensive involvement with NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Telescope.  Mr. Zweig founded Zarbeco, LLC in 2001 to commercialize the then newly developed USB imaging technology, including USB cameras and microscopes.  The MiScope handheld digital microscope was introduced in 2004.  Zarbeco was one of the first companies to offer a compact USB microscope with IR and UV illumination, and continues to develop products that cater to the document examination community.

About this presentation:

This presentation will introduce the MiScope handheld digital microscope and demonstrate its uses in the examination of documents and hand writing.   Different examination techniques such as direct and oblique illumination as well as IR reflectance and UV-induced fluorescence will be shown and explained using the MiScope.  In addition, IR luminescence will be demonstrated using the  MiScope Filter Wheel accessory.

Link to their website:  http://www.zarbeco.com/

11:50 Announcements and break for 1-hour Lunch

Lunch Break:    12:00 – 1:00 PM   The Zoom session will remain open even though we have no speakers in this hour.   Members are welcome to converse and interact with each other over the Zoom line!

Register Now! 

Speaker #4

Speaker #4:     1:00-2:00 PM

Presenter:        Mike Wakshull
Topic:               "Will courtroom bias cost you your next case?"

About the Speaker:

 Mike Wakshull is vice president of SAFE. He is a court-qualified forensic document examiner located in Temecula, CA. He partners with attorney clients to deliver results that often lead to early settlements. 

About the Presentation:

Courtroom bias is a serious problem. Black’s Law Dictionary identifies four types of bias: actual bias, advocate’s bias, implied bias, and judicial bias. This presentation also examines expert witness bias. Methods for recognizing bias and reducing the effects of bias in the courtroom are examined in this presentation

Break from 2:00-2:10 PM PDT

Speaker #5

Speaker #5         2:10-2:40 PM PDT

Presenter:          Franco Luck
Topic:                  Projectina, and a demonstration of the                                                 equipment

About the speaker:  Sales Manager, North America, Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology will demonstrate their Projectina equipment.

At Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology, we believe that the development of forensic science products is just as important as customer support and service. With over 500 installations in 70 countries, Forensic Technology has spent almost 25 years building a solid reputation for helping users anytime, anywhere, and whatever way possible. Our acquisition of Projectina in 2011 more than doubled the number of products in our portfolio. In addition to ballistics equipment, he now offer microscopes, crime scene equipment, and a full suite of document examination products. Over the last 4 years we have made great strides in order to deliver the same level of support our ballistics customers have come to expect. Whether from our headquarters in Montreal, Canada, or from our support offices in the US, Switzerland, South Africa, Ireland or Bangkok, our support personnel and on-site technicians know that your work has to be accurate and on time

Link to their website:   http://www.ultra-forensictechnology.com/projectina

Break:  2:40-2:50 PM PDT

Speaker #6

Speaker #5         2:50-3:20 PM PDT

Presenter:           F. L. “Jim” Lee, Jr.
                                    FDE, MS, BS, D-ABFDE 
Topic:                  "An Introduction to Imaging, Filtering and Illumination Instrumentation as Applied to Questioned Document Examination and the Enhancement of Document Evidence Aided by A Video Spectral Comparator (VSC) and/or Electrostatic Detection Apparatus(ESDA)"

About the Speaker:  Jim Lee is a Sales Applications Engineer with Foster & Freeman USA and is in private practice as a questioned document examiner. Jim is sole proprietor of Summit Forensic Document Examination Laboratory in Utah. He completed his two-year basic training in questioned document examination at the US Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory in 1984 from which he retired from in 1993 as Division Chief of the Questioned Document Division at the US Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory in Japan. He is a Diplomate of and a past-Director of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners (ABFDE), a Life Member of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners (ASQDE). He currently, serves on the Scientific Working Group for Documents (SWGDOC).

About the presentation:

Imaging of questioned document evidence has progressed from the use of the human eye to the analog camera, to the digital camera to the use of the most sophisticated scientific instrumentation known to man such as the use of video spectral analysis (VSA) instruments. This presentation will introduce the attendee to the utilization of various means and instrumentation used to either optically enhance or physically develop and capture document evidence utilizing a VSC and/or ESDA.

 

Break 3:20-3:30 PM PDT

Speaker #7:     3:30-4:30 PM  PDT

Presenter:       Dr. Bryan Found

Topic:              "Err was Forbidden: The Changing Culture of Error Exploration in Forensic Pattern Evidence"     

*NOTICE:   This presentation is not allowed to be recorded under terms of the Victorian goverment.  We will not record it, and we hereby provide notice that you are not allowed to record this presentation by any means or device (Video or Audio).  We appeciate your understanding and hope that you will join us Live for this awesome and important presentation.

About the speaker:  Dr. Bryan Found, internationally known author and researcher in forensic document examination, presents “To Err was Forbidden: The Changing Culture of Error Exploration in Forensic Pattern Evidence”

Link to his website:  http://www.signatureforensic.com.au/content/view/23/51/ 

Closing announcements will follow, this is our last speaker for the day.

Time Table for participants around the globe

For areas not listed, or for confirmation of conversions, please check http://www.dateandtime.com

               United States - Canada - Central -and South America Time Zones

                    Hawaii            Pacific             Mountain           Central             Eastern

Open           4:30 AM          8:30 AM          9:30 AM            10:30 AM        11:30 AM
1st Larry     5:00 AM          9:00 AM          10:00 AM          11:00 AM        12:00 PM
2nd Jeff       6:10 AM        10:10 AM         11:10 AM          12:10 PM         1:10 PM
3rd Dave    7:20 AM        11:20 AM         12:20 PM            1:20 PM          2:20 PM
Lunch          8:00 AM        12:00 PM           1:00 PM             2:00 PM         3:00 PM
4th Mike      9:00 AM          1:00 PM            2:00 PM            3:00 PM         4:00 PM
5th Franco 10:10 AM         2:10 PM            3:10 PM            4:10 PM         5:10 AM
6th Jim       10:50 AM         2:50 PM            3:50 PM            4:50 PM         5:50 AM
7th Bryan    11:30 AM        3:30 PM            4:30 PM            5:30 PM         6:30 PM
Ends           12:45 AM        4:45 PM            5:45 PM            6:45 PM          7:45 PM 

                                                                                                                              SATURDAY          SATURDAY

                            UK         So. Africa     Europe     Malaysia     Austrailia      New Zealand
Open        3:30 PM    4:30 PM      5:30 PM    10:30 PM    1:30 AM        2:30 AM
1st Larry  4:00 PM     5:00 PM      6:00 PM    11:00 PM    2:00 AM       3:00 AM
2nd Jeff    5:10 PM    6:10 PM      7:10 PM    12:10 AM     3:10 AM      4:10 AM
3rd Dave  6:20 AM    7:20 PM      8:20 PM      1:20 AM     4:20 AM      5:20 AM
Lunch        7:00 AM    8:00 PM      9:00 PM      2:00 AM     5:00 AM      6:00 AM
4th Mike    8:00 PM    9:00 PM    10:00 PM     3:00 AM     6:00 AM      7:00 AM
5th Franco 9:10 PM  10:10 PM   11:10 PM     4:10 AM     7:10 AM      8:10 AM
6th Jim       9:50 PM  10:50 PM   11:50 PM      4:50 AM    7:50 AM      8:50 AM
7th Bryan 10:30 PM  11:30 PM   12:30 AM      5:30 AM    8:30 AM      9:30 AM
Ends        11:45 PM  12:45 AM     1:45 AM       6:45 AM    9:45 AM     10:45 AM

Register Now!