In the past fourteen months I’ve posted very sporadically. This post will review some highlights of 2010 and will, hopefully, be the start of more frequent posts.

Casework: I had some very interesting cases in 2010, which included forensic photography, photography analysis, video analysis and image authentication. This included one case where I testified in a Seattle courtroom where the witness has nothing in front of them (no table, no podium, no barrier) and is close enough to juror number 1, that we shared the same water pitcher. It included the first case where I used colorization to show the movements of two individuals in a case, which turned out to be a method that I now use frequently. There were no objections to this method by opposing counsel, and it’s very effective at showing individual movement in a complex video scene. I authenticated two photographs for the prosecution in the Anna Nicole Smith prescription drug case. Unfortunately, the defense attorneys stipulated to my report so I didn’t get to testify in that interesting case.

Workshops: In 2010, I presented workshops in a variety of locations, including Dallas, TX, Fairfax, VA, Indianapolis, IN, Kansas City, MO, Denver, CO, and Seattle, WA. Most of these were either sponsored by Resolution Video or LEVA. I had the pleasure of co-presenting a forensic video analysis with Grant Fredericks at the 2010 LEVA conference in November.

In-House Training: The San Francisco Police Department and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department  each had me up to their agencies to provide forensic photography training during 2010, and I also provided forensic image analysis training to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the year.

Organizations: I continue to be on the forensic photography certification board for the International Association for Identification (IAI), and remain on the editorial board for their journal – the “Journal of Forensic Identification.” Early in the year, I met with a group of forensic video analysts to update the LEVA “Best Practices for the Acquisition of Digital Multimedia Evidence” guideline.

Training: I managed to get in a little training during the year also. In May I took Dr. John Russ‘ Forensic Image Processing and Analysis class at North Carolina State University, and in August I managed to attend part of the DSI – Las Vegas conference (including an excellent presentation by John Penn II from Adobe).

It’s been a full, busy, and fulfilling year with interesting cases, the opportunity to present training to a lot of excellent forensic personnel throughout the US, and to get some training as well. In my next post I will discuss some of what’s in store for 2011 – it should be another exciting year.