MESSAGE FROM THE 2024 PRESIDENT
Welcome to 2024.
It’s an honor to serve as President for 2024. This will be my second term as your President of SCAFO after serving my first term in 2017. I’ve served with many amazing board members since joining the Board in 2011.
Working together, we’ve produced many great training events, welcomed numerous new members and supported and mentored each other in our professional careers.
I am especially proud of our board members and volunteers of the past 3 years. Despite some challenges within our organization, they came together, got creative, and worked hard to make sure the bi-monthly meetings and training
conferences went on without fail. Our organization gives back so much to our fingerprint and crime scene communities, and law enforcement at large.
SCAFO provides us the ability to not only train but to network with so many professionals in the field. I truly believe in an organization that works together where everyone can come together to build something long lasting.
It was Henry Ford who said, “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
I am looking forward to an exciting year and hope to see all of you at our bi-monthly meetings and this year’s conference.
Very Respectfully,
Josie Mejia
Quote of the Week
“SWGFAST defines the term “exclusion” to mean “the determination by an examiner that there is sufficient quality and quantity of detail in disagreement to conclude that two areas of friction ridge impressions did not originate from the same source…. Explicitly dividing the old non-identification determination into inconclusive and exclusion determinations reduces ambiguity,but in operational casework the distinction is often not important. Occasionally, the distinction between an inconclusive and an exclusion may be important for exculpatory evidence, if the latentis of high probative value (e.g., on the handle of a knife), or if the latent indicates that another person was present at a crime scene. However, the probative value of an exclusion is usually minimal because excluding a person does not mean that the person did not touch an object. In most casework, an exclusion has the same operational implications as an inconclusive, and an erroneous exclusion usually has the same operational implications as a missed ID.”
– Factors associated with latent fingerprint exclusion determinations by B. Ulery et al, 2017
Bi-monthly Training Meetings
Mark Your Calendars
Be sure to check the website for updates and important information. Please note, the dates below are subject to change pending on venue availability.
Training Dates
– FEBRUARY 3RD
– APRIL 6TH
– JUNE 1ST
– AUGUST 3RD
– SEPTEMBER 25TH – 27TH
– DECEMBER 7TH
The recently concluded 33rd annual conference in Hotel Paseo, Palm Desert, CA was a success, thanks to the cooperation of every single board member, a team that ensures excellence in ways I admire. I am also thankful for the participation of our speakers, sponsors and vendors.
To the entire membership in attendance, I hope you all had a fantastic time, learnt a thing or two, created good memories and connected with colleagues. For those who could not attend this year, know that you were missed.
Lastly, I know how important keeping SCAFO a well-respected organization is and I couldn’t be prouder to serve a body that honours that. I encourage us to keep it up for as long as time avails!
Warmest wishes,
Josie Mejia, 2024 SCAFO President