Crime Laboratory Essentials

The “Crime Lab Essentials,” webinar in the Capital Litigation Initiative: Crime Scene to Courtroom Forensics Training series funded by the US Department of Justice, will take you inside the state-of-the-art Metro Nashville (TN) Police Department Crime Laboratory (MNPD-CL). 

The “Crime Lab Essentials” webinar features a tour of the crime lab conducted by forensic scientists that covers the following forensic disciplines: 

• latent prints,
• firearms,
• forensic biology (DNA),
• drug identification and toxicology.

After describing a mock crime, MNPD-CL forensic scientists will demonstrate a behind-the-scenes, step-by-step look at laboratory analysis and report writing. The “Crime Lab Essentials” webinar training will also discuss quality assurance, laboratory errors, chain of custody and evidence security.

Webinar panelists include:

Professor Carol Henderson is the director of the award-winning National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law (NCSTL) at Stetson University College of Law. Professor Henderson has planned and managed NCSTL’S development since 2002. NCSTL provides the only comprehensive searchable database of science, technology, and law in the world (www.ncstl.org). Recognized as an international authority on forensic science and law Professor Henderson has presented more than 280 lectures and workshops to thousands of forensic scientists, attorneys, judges, law enforcement professionals and military personnel worldwide on the topics of scientific evidence, courtroom testimony, and professional responsibility.

Ann Talbot, the Director of the Metro Nashville Police Department Crime Laboratory. Ms. Talbot, who has been serving as the Acting Director and Quality Assurance Manager for the MNPD lab during its final design stages and since its January 2014 official opening, has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement forensic work. She previously served as the Crime Laboratory Director for the Albuquerque (NM) Police Department and the forensic laboratories of the New Mexico State Police. Talbot’s bench experience was in serology/DNA, hair and trace analysis, drug chemistry, toxicology (blood alcohol), and crime scene investigation. She has been qualified as an expert witness.

Christine Funk started her career in the Minnesota Office of the Public Defender in 1994. In 1995, she was assigned her first forensic DNA case. Not a scientist by training, she struggled to understand the complexities of forensic evidence. Over the years, Christine’s forensic caseload expanded to include arson, broken babies, drug chemistry, as well as the study of false confessions and eyewitness identification in the context of complex litigation.

In 2013, Ms. Funk moved to Washington, D.C., to become General Counsel for the Department of Forensic Sciences. This provided additional insights as to how forensic science fits within the criminal justice system.

Currently, Ms. Funk consults with members of the criminal justice stakeholders, as well as those writing about forensic science – from investigative pieces to movie scripts to a television pilot. She serves on the Legal Resource Committee for the Organization of Scientific Area Committees. She is also on the AAFS Standards Board.Previously, Ms. Funk has served on the Board of the Minnesota Innocence Project, the Forensic Laboratory Advisory Board for the state of Minnesota, and the White House Sub-Committee to the Sub-Committee on Forensic Science in Education, Ethics, and Terminology.