Moderator Bio
Barry A. J. Fisher
Barry A. J. Fisher served as the Crime Laboratory Director for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department from 1987 until his retirement in 2009.
His current interests concern the interrelationship between forensic science and the law, along with public policy issues concerning the timely delivery of quality forensic support services to the criminal justice system. To that end, he represents the American Academy of Forensic Sciences on the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations, which represents six national forensic science professional organizations and works to influence public policy in forensic science at the national level. He has served as a member of the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section’s Ad Hoc Innocence Committee to Ensure the Integrity of the Criminal Process and as a member of the American Judicature Society’s Commission on Forensic Science and Public Policy.
Fisher is a Distinguished Fellow and Past President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and was awarded the Academy’s highest award, the Gradwohl Medallion. He served as President of the International Association of Forensic Sciences, President of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, and is a Past Chairman of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors – Laboratory Accreditation Board. He is a founding director and served on the Board of Directors of the National Forensic Science Technology Center from 1995 until 2007. He is a member of the U.S. Department of Justice Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Advisory Council.
Fisher is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Forensic Sciences, the Journal of Forensic Identification, Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology, Forensic Science Policy and Management, and the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. His textbook, Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, now in its 7th edition, enjoys wide popularity. He is also the co-author of Forensics Demystified and Introduction to Criminalistics: The Foundation of Forensic Science.
Fisher is an alumni member of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents, a life member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and a member of the IACP’s Forensics Committee.
Fisher speaks throughout the United States and has lectured in Canada, England, Australia, Singapore, France, Israel, Japan, China, and Turkey on forensic science laboratory practices, quality assurance, and related topics. In 2000, he led a forensic science delegation to lecture to forensic scientists in the People’s Republic of China.
