CAC News lecture Skip Palenik

John D. DeHaan recently penned a lecture-article for the California Association of Criminalists newsletter (CACNews) entitled “The Role of Science in Criminalistics—Are We Going the Wrong Way?” (Q1, 2018). In the article, DeHaan mentions Microtrace founder Skip Palenik amongst the important specialists who have contributed to the field of trace evidence in criminology. The relevant passage follows:

“You will gain tremendous respect for the contributions of trace evidence specialists (and other pioneers in serology and biology) to our field [criminalistics]. A few of the pioneers in trace evidence: Max Frei-Sulzer (1913-1983, Zurich Switzerland), microscopist who invented the tape lift method; George Popp (1861- ? , Frankfurt, Germany), chemist, serologist, trace evidence; Edmund Locard (1877-1966), France, Locard Exchange Principle for trace evidence; R.A. Reiss (1875-1929, Lausanne, Switzerland), forensic photography and trace evidence, founded the Institute for Police Science; John Glaister (1892-1971, Egypt and Glasgow), published an encyclopedic work on Hairs of Mammals and Humans, 1931; James Osterburg (1917-2012), police chemist, wrote the landmark text Introduction to Criminalistics, 1949, that included trace evidence and instrumental analysis. This line extends, of course, to our own E.O. Heinrich and Paul Kirk, and even our contemporaries like Skip Palenik and Faye Springer.”

For more details of our academic lineage please click here.

And we encourage you to read DeHaan’s full article here.

California Association of Criminalists (CAC)

The purpose of the California Association of Criminalists is to foster an exchange of ideas and information within the field of criminalistics, foster friendship and cooperation among the various laboratory personnel, encourage and, if possible, financially support worthy research projects, encourage the compilation of experience data of value in the field, promote wide recognition of the practice of criminalistics as an important phase of jurisprudence, promote a high level of professional competence among criminalists, encourage uniform qualifications and requirements for criminalists and related specialists, disseminate information to the law profession concerning minimum qualifications for physical evidence consultants, provide a board of review in cases involving differences of professional opinion when requested, encourage the use of improved testing procedures and methods of presentation of conclusions, encourage the recognition of the CAC and its purposes among other appropriate groups and societies,lend assistance, whenever possible, in the formulation of college curricula and law enforcement programs,when appropriate, to review and act upon any pending legislation which appears to be related to the field of criminalistics, establish, maintain, and enforce a Code of Ethics for criminalists, establish, maintain and manage an Endowment Fund to fund scholarships, research projects, special classes and other activities in keeping with the objects and purposes of the CAC and support certification testing programs for individuals engaged in the practice of criminalistics.

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